Following a two year absence from the Paralympic campaign trail, Team Captain Hook returned to competition at the United States Disabled Sailing Championship in St. Petersburg, Florida.

In the Sonar class, the British team, with John Robertson at the helm, walked away with the regatta, displaying excellent boat speed, skills, tactics and strategy.  For the U.S. teams, it came down to a duel between Rick Doerr, who represented the U.S. in Beijing in 2008, and Bert Foster of Wayzata, Minnesota, skipper of Team Captain Hook.

This was the first major event for Team Captain Hook with new main sheet trimmer, Mike Hersey of Hyannis, Massachusetts.  Returning to trim jib was David Burdette of Baltimore, Maryland.   Although Rick Doerr won the points battle, Team Captain Hook proved to be a strong contender, with outstanding boat speed, tactics, strategy, and mostly good starts.  On the last day, the team was leading in the first race, when an equipment failure caused the team to drop from first place to sixth.  Had that not occurred, Captain Hook would have beaten Doerr by a point.

The other 2 expected-to-be-competitive teams, Andy Fischer (Bandit) and Paul Callahan (Sail to Prevail), did not do well and finished 9^th and 10^th, respectively, out of 10 boats in the regatta.  Callahan had mechanical problems with the steering system, and Team Bandit struggled in their first big event.  We are sure that both teams will overcome their problems and will be competitive in the future.

Stay tuned for the next event, which is the Rolex Miami Olympic Class Regatta on Biscayne Bay, January 23-29, 2011.

Team Captain Hook intends to represent the United States at the Paralympic Games in Weymouth, England, in 2012, and bring home a medal.  The next 2 years will be jam-packed with training and regattas, including several trips to Europe.   A successful campaign will only be possible with financial help from our friends.