Disabled Marblehead sailor Olympic-bound

MARBLEHEAD – Marblehead sailor Maureen McKinnon-Tucker is going to China to compete in the 2008 Olympics following her winning series of races over the weekend aboard a specially-equipped 18-foot skiff.McKinnon-Tucker, 41, who is paraplegic and responsible for handling the sails, and the boat skipper, Nick Scandone of Mountain Valley, Calif., a victim of Lou Gehrig’s Disease, or ALS, will be the only Americans in the SKUD-18 class competition.Over the past few months, the pair raced in what amounts to a series of elimination events in Rochester, N.Y. and Newport, R.I. They simply won the most races, opening the door to the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.”Sailing with Nick has been unlike any other skipper I’ve sailed with. He’s always calm and confident, slow and soft spoken,” an ebullient McKinnon-Tucker said Tuesday while driving home from Newport with her family. “Nick wants my concentration and yet he’s not demanding.”Come late August, the sailors will be in Beijing for about two weeks where they will attend the Olympic opening games. Once the festivities have ceased, the Olympic Committee will transport them to a secondary location outside Beijing for the sailing competition.”From what we’ve heard, the water is light and lumpy,” she said, noting that whatever the conditions, she and Scandone have faith in Paralympic sailing coach Betsy Alison.Dan Tucker, the team manager and McKinnon-Tucker’s husband, will be headed to China with the others and, if all goes as planned, be accompanied by their two children- daughter Dana and son Trent.”I think it’ll be a fantastic experience for them, especially being in Athletes’ Village, watching the opening games, and seeing the hundreds of people with physical disabilities who also just happen to be their country’s best athletes,” said McKinnon-Tucker, who at age 30 fell from a seawall while pushing her bicycle along the shore in Rockland, Maine. Her back was broken at the lumbar, leaving her paralyzed below the waist.The incident might have left some victims decimated, but McKinnon-Tucker isn’t the type to wallow in misery. She bounced back, rejected the idea of getting aboard a sailboat for handicapped passengers, and went straight to the docks demanding she be given the tiller.”I don’t want to go for a ride. I want to sail,” she said.Since the accident, she has given birth to two children, maintained a job, run a household, and somehow managed to sail competitively at the Olympic level.”It was a tough couple of months,” she said of the trials leading to the final races that secured her berth at the games in China. “Nick and I represent the sole United States SKUD-18 team. Before we were many, now we’re only one and I think people will get behind us,” she said. “Our campaign still needs funding.”Tax-deductible contributions can be made to Sailing Foundation of New York, and addressed to 25 Auburndale Road, Marblehead, MA 01945. The check memo should stipulate the funds are for the McKinnon-Tucker campaign.The SKUD-18 was created by Julian Bethwaite in Australia, the name an abbreviation for skiff of universal design. The sailors sit bobsled-style, front to back, and are strapped to the seats, which doesn’t allow them to transfer their weight as the boat shifts with the breeze.McKinnon-Tucker remains adamant that people not confuse the Paralympics with the Special Olympics. “I’m not able-bodied anymore, but there’s nothing wrong with my brain functions,” she said.Just in case the SKUD-18 races make it to international television, the boat is named A Love 4 Sailing, the acronym ALS symbolic of both Scandone’s medical problems and his undying spirit.