SUN FILE PHOTO BY TOM O'NEILL

Tom Gilchrist and Jenny Davie rig Jody Hill's boat while Jody's dog, Rocky, waits on the dock. Hill raced the 2.4mR classification in the 2012 International Association for Disabled Sailing World Championships in January on Charlotte Harbor.

SUN FILE PHOTO BY TOM O'NEILL

The Canadian Sonar class team, manned by Bruce Miller, Logan Campbell and Scott Lutes, heads out to Charlotte Harbor to participate in the IFDS sailing races.

SUN FILE PHOTO BY GREG MARTIN

Christine Lavallee of Canada smiles after a day of racing on Charlotte Harbor. "Nice wind, warm and sunny; it was great!" she said of the conditions.

SUN FILE PHOTO BY JEN WULF, jwulf@sun-herald.com
Eight-year-old Justin Callahan hugs his dad goodbye before his sailboat race. Paul Callahan is wheelchair-bound and does not have use of his fingers after a fall he took in college. He helps manuever the boat with a device rigged with a pair of bike pedals that he pushes with his hands.

SUN FILE PHOTO BY GREG MARTIN, gmartin@sun-herald.com

Niko Salomaa, the lone racer from Finland set to compete in the 2012 International Disabled Sailing Association's world championship, marches up Nesbit Street ahead of a dozen other international teams during a kickoff parade Jan. 7 in Punta Gorda.

SUN FILE PHOTO BY GREG MARTIN

Jackie McRoberts of Canada, left, signals to a crane operator while hosing off her 2.4mR race boat, as Niko Salomaa of Finland steadies the craft at Laishley Park Municipal Marina in January.

SUN FILE PHOTO BY GREG MARTIN

A passerby takes in the view of the marina at Laishley Park, which was decorated with the flags of the international teams set to compete in a world championship for disabled sailors earlier this year.

SUN FILE PHOTO BY GREG MARTIN, gmartin@sun-herald.com

Charles Rosenfield, a member of the U.S. 2.4mR racing team, sails toward port after a day of racing on shimmering Charlotte Harbor in the IFDS Worlds Jan. 12.

SUN FILE PHOTO BY GREG MARTIN, gmartin@sun-herald.com

Niko Salomaa of Finland, lower right, races on a port tack in a duel with Mark LeBlanc of the U.S., who is on a starboard tack in the final 2.4mR race of the 2012 Worlds championship on Charlotte Harbor Jan. 15.