Trinidad and Tobago’s Shannon Madar and Jaidon Vincent are among the new faces at the World Sailing Inclusion Championships, making their debuts in the Vision Impairment fleet as racing reaches day four in Portimão.
Having discovered sailing through an introduction to para sports back home, the pair are now testing themselves at the championships for the first time, aboard RS21s.
For Madar, who has always had a taste for adventure, sailing provides an outlet for her thrill-seeking spirit.
“I have been blind from birth, but I often like to joke and say that if I was not blind, I would be the child my parents would worry about, because I like fast cars and I like motorcycles and stuff,” she said.
“Being able to sail kind of gives me that opportunity that I wouldn’t usually have, because I can’t go drive a car and I can’t go ride a bike. But sailing gives me that kind of freedom.”
Madar and Vincent have quickly developed a passion for the water and the unique sensory experience of the sport.
“I love feeling the waves. I love feeling the movement of the boat. I love the sounds of the water,” said Vincent.
Their arrival on the international stage is exactly the kind of progress that experienced British sailor Lucy Hodges, currently leading the World Championship standings, is helping to encourage. Hodges, Commodore of GBR Blind Sailing and a supporter of Blind Sailing International, has been helping emerging nations develop their skills and confidence at the championship.
“I’ve loved the fact that my team have come out here, and we dedicated our first three days to helping bring all the emerging nations on – Hong Kong, China and Trinidad and Tobago – but also all the other nations that were coming back for the first time since before COVID,” she said.
“We’ve now seen Japan back, USA were back. So to me, that’s what it’s all about, and supporting each other.”
The sailors have faced a wide range of conditions during the championship, from light winds to challenging swells, with communication, teamwork and trust central to success on the water. For Hodges, whose experience has taught her to feel the movement and speed of the boat without sight, sailing is about far more than competition. With day four of the event also coinciding with World Sight Day, the sailors’ experiences highlight the role sport can play in the lives of people with visual impairments.
For Hodges, sailing has become an essential part of her life.
“It’s my main thing. It’s the only thing that keeps me going,” she said.
“I think if I didn’t have sport, I’d shut the door and I think my visual impairment would overcome me. But sport and being out on the water and being with friends just keeps me going in life.”
With efforts continuing to secure sailing’s return to the Paralympic Games, Hodges believes growing participation and supporting emerging nations must remain central to the sport’s development.
For Vincent, representing Trinidad and Tobago is already about more than results.
“Generally back in places like Trinidad and so on, there is a perception that disabled people should be coddled and not really be involved in physical activity. And that isn’t true,” he said.
“To be here in sailing, which is something that even able-bodied people are afraid of doing, it feels empowering to be able to – as we would say at home – mash up the glass ceiling!”
Hodges and her team of Jamie Tylecote, Liam Cattermole and Steve Tylecote (GBR 2) continue to lead the overall Vision Impairment standings on day four of competition, while a long day of racing saw competitors across the courses battling it out for crucial points as the event moves towards its conclusion.
Overnight leaders in the Para Intellectual Impairment and Inclusive Cognitive Impairment events, sailed in the ILCA 6, have held firm with Tsz Hin Cheung from Hong Kong, China, and Portugal’s José Campos still in control in their respective categories.
Marko Dahlberg also remains in pole position in the Para Inclusive One Person Technical Keelboat (2.4mR), leading an all-Finnish assault on the podium spots ahead of Rikard Bjurström and Niko Salomaa.
Sweden’s Fia Fjelddahl-Patric Rosenberg maintain the narrowest of leads in the Para Inclusive Two Person Keelboat (RS Venture Connect), ending the day level on points with Spanish duo Pau Toni Homar and Ramón Gutiérrez. There’s also three-way points tie for third, between Portugal’s Pedro Cånco Reis-Teodoro Cândido and the Norwegian teams of Solfrid Lindhjem Kvinnesland-Sam Erik Leikvang and Stian Kristiansen-Elliot Finnestrand.
Piotr Cichocki secured the perfect scoreline on Thursday, picking up two race wins in the Para Inclusive One Person Keelboat (Hansa 303) to leapfrog France’s Gauthier Bril into second place. But German Jens Kroker remains out in front with the a three point lead over his Polish rival.
In the Para Inclusive One Person Multihull (Challenger) event, India’s Deepak Dikhit and Briton James Coxon shared one race win apiece, with Coxon still the lead boat after ten races.
The Inclusive Two Person Keelboat (Hansa 303) and Inclusive Wingfoilevents were forced to sit out on Thursday as racing conditions proved unsuitable.
The 2026 World Sailing Inclusion Championships in Portimão, Portugal, continue until Saturday 10 October, and is delivered in partnership with Vela Solidária, the Municipality of Portimão, and the Portuguese Sailing Federation with backing from The America’s Cup.
