Gene Hinkel has been involved with disabled sailing since 1994 when he became chairman of the committee that oversees the sailing center at the St. Petersburg Yacht Club in Florida.

 

St. Petersburg Yacht Club purchased 10 Sonars and has hosted many disabled sailing events using the fleet.

 

For the first two years of his involvement in disabled sailing, Hinkel spent 35 weekends a year working with different disabled sailing teams and developing benches and seats for them to use in their Sonars. Hinkel coached John Ross-Duggan for a while before introducing Serge Jorgensen to Ross-Duggan. Ross-Duggan went on to win the Bronze in Atlanta and Jorgensen is now the President of IFDS (International Association for Disabled Sailing.)

 

All of the international teams are grateful for the help and support that Hinkel has given them over the years.

 

To show their thanks to Hinkel after they won the Gold Medal in Athens, Dror Cohen, Arnon Efrati and Benny Vexler, presented a very special award to Hinkel.

 

The heavy bronze medal bears the inscription, “Until we meet in Jerusalem.” Says a proud and dedicated Hinkel, “apparently it is the only one that has been awarded to someone outside of Israel.”

 

Another award that is near and dear to Hinkel’s heart is the Gay S. Lynn Trophy for outstanding contribution to disabled sailing. Hinkel was awarded the trophy in 2005.

Hinkel’s heavy lifting as Chief Measurer at the 2008 Paralympic Sailing Competition is over and he is out on the water watching the racing. If anyone breaks down and needs to replace equipment, it will need to be inspected by the devoted Hinkel.

 

 

Gene Hinkel worked like a dog in heading up the measurement team.  So hard, in fact, that he never received the word that he could do the one thing that he really wanted to do during this Paralympics – go to the Opening Ceremony.  Instead, Hinkel spent a quiet day in the boat park with the sailors who remained behind.