Jen French and JP Creignou, Mark LeBlanc, and Paul Callahan, Tom Brown and Bradley Johnson are the new members of US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics and will be heading to Weymouth, England, this summer for the 2012 Paralympic Sailing Regatta.
Members qualified based on their performances at US Sailing’s IFDS Worlds in Port Charlotte, Florida, and the 2012 Rolex Miami OCR in January. The three Paralympic sailing events consist of: the 2.4mR, a singlehanded keelboat; the SKUD-18, a two-person keelboat; and the Sonar, a three-person keelboat.
Three of this year’s team members are Paralympic veterans and will bring some “experience and wisdom to the overall team,” says Olympic Sailing Committee chairman, Dean Brenner. Callahan was a 2000 Paralympian, Brown was the 2000 bronze medalist and 2004 silver medalist in the 2.4mR class, and Johnson was a 2004 bronze medalist in the Sonar as well as a Paralympian in volleyball.
Newcomers French and Creignou, both from St. Petersburg, Florida, qualified for the games with a bronze in the SKUD-18 at the Rolex Miami OCR. Meanwhile, LeBlanc, who is from New Orleans and came in second in the 2008 Paralympic Trials in the 2.4mR, secured his spot this year with an 8th-place finish in Miami.
