The inaugural Paralympic Sailing Regatta, part of the Sydney 2000 Paralympic Games, gets underway tomorrow morning (Sydney time) on October 21 with the local meteorologists forecasting a classic Sydney seabreeze of around 20 knots.

After today’s shakedown practice race for both fleets, the Great Britain Paralympic Sailing Team Manager Cathy Foster reported that Great Britain’s Sonar and 2.4mR classes are in good form. “We learnt a lot during the practice race today and now the team’s really looking forward to getting on with the real thing. Everyone is in good spirits and if the forecast comes to fruition we’re in for a classic regatta,” said Cathy.

However, despite the prospect of trademark Sydney Harbour conditions for the opening few days, last month’s Olympic sailing regatta proved that consistency through the broad range of conditions Sydney Harbour can churn up will decide the medals in six days time.

Commenting on the strategy for the regatta, Sonar middleman Andrew Millband said: “It’s not going to be an easy regatta and there are no certain winners as a handful of crews are very competitive but we’ve proved in the past we can be consistent and we’ve got the stamina and experience to pull it off here. Like the rest of the Great Britain team, we are just eager to get on with it.”

The regatta schedule is as follows

Saturday 21st October – Racing starts Sonar and 2.4mR classes

Sunday 22nd October – Sonar racing (2.4mR lay day)

Monday 23rd October- 2.4mR racing (Sonar lay day)

Tuesday 24th October – Sonar and 2.4mR racing

Wednesday 25th October – Sonar racing (2.4mR layday)

Thursday 26th October – 2.4mR racing (Sonar layday)

Friday 27th October – Sonar and 2.4mR last day of racing

Friday 27th October – Paralympic Sailing Regatta Medal Ceremony

Good luck messages

Friends, Family and supporters can send good luck messages by email to SailingTeamGB@hotmail.com