Whitman & Dorsett Win in Weymouth - GBR

Scott Whitman & Julia Dorsett (USA) have won the final round of the ISAF World Cup of Sailing in Weymouth Photograph:Courtesy US Sailing

The strong and shifty gusts in Weymouth didn't deter two US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics (USSTAG) teams from winning gold medals today in the Paralympic classes at Sail for Gold, the final ISAF Sailing World Cup event, in Weymouth England.

It only took one race for Scott Whitman (Brick, N.J.) and Julia Dorsett (Westchester, Pa./Boca Raton, Fla.) to clinch the gold in the two-person SKUD-18 class, but they sailed the second race and won that too.  The Sonar team of Rick Doerr (Clifton, N.J.), Hugh Freund (So. Freeport, Me.) and Maureen McKinnon-Tucker (Marblehead, Mass.) also won a gold medal in the Sonar class after two tough races today and a successful week of bullets.

Today was the final day of racing for the three Paralympic classes and the final day of fleet racing before tomorrow's Medal Races for nine out of 10 Olympic classes.

Winning a gold medal in the SKUD-18 class felt "amazing," said skipper Whitman after racing. "I love it." His crew, Dorsett, said they succeeded in keeping the boat moving in the big wind, which she says keeps the sailing "exciting." She added: "These conditions are really similar to what we train in in Newport, R.I., so we're comfortable. It was nice there weren't any big waves; it was nice and flat."

"We're going to hopefully keep riding the wave for the next three years [leading up to the 2012 Paralympic Games]," said Dorsett.

Whitman and Dorsett also won the ISAF Sailing World Cup standings in the SKUD-18 after winning gold medals at two ISAF World Cup Events: US SAILING's 2009 Rolex Miami OCR and Sail for Gold. 

Held at the venue of the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games in Weymouth/Portland, England, Sail for Gold is the seventh and final stop of the International Sailing Federation (ISAF) Sailing World Cup 2008-2009 series. 

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