Events
Three sailing events were held. All were mixed events, meaning that men and women could compete together.
International disability classification in sailing is done by a committee, which gives each competitor a number score with lower numbers corresponding to more severe disability. Sailors were classified under the IFDS Functional Classification System 2005 (FCS 2005). To take part in Paralympic sailing, an athlete must have a score of 7 or less. Functional Classification System full details:
| Event | Boat | Classifications |
|---|---|---|
| Single-Person Keelboat | 2.4mR | All sailors are required to have a minimal disability or a higher level of disability as defined in the FCS 2005. |
| Two-Person Keelboat | SKUD 18 | Crew shall include a female and one severely disabled sailor with a 1 point classification. |
| Three-Person Keelboat | Sonar | The total Sonar crew points shall not exceed 14 points. |
The 2-person keelboat (SKUD18) made its official début in the Paralympics. The only Paralympic class keelboat with a spinnaker, emblazoned with the national flag of each country. Of the 11 countries competing in the SKUD event, 7 had female crew.
Read more about this topic: Sailing At The 2008 Summer Paralympics
Famous quotes containing the word events:
“One of the extraordinary things about human events is that the unthinkable becomes thinkable.”
—Salman Rushdie (b. 1948)
“That’s the great danger of sectarian opinions, they always accept the formulas of past events as useful for the measurement of future events and they never are, if you have high standards of accuracy.”
—John Dos Passos (1896–1970)
“I have no time to read newspapers. If you chance to live and move and have your being in that thin stratum in which the events which make the news transpire—thinner than the paper on which it is printed—then these things will fill the world for you; but if you soar above or dive below that plane, you cannot remember nor be reminded of them.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)