Pinckney honored by club
SAILING: UCI coach, who makes boat adjustments, honored for his contributions to Paralympic hopeful.



By Soraya Nadia McDonald
Updated: Sunday, May 11, 2008 10:45 PM PDT

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UC Irvine sailing coach Mike Pinckney never fancied himself as much of an engineer, but when his friend needed him to turn into one, he found his way.

Balboa Yacht Club member Nick Scandone, a Fountain Valley resident, is headed to Beijing in September to compete in the 2008 Paralympics in sailing. And he’s doing it with Pinckney’s help.

Scandone, who started racing as a disabled sailor after he was diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis or Lou Gehrig’s disease in 2002, has been able to continue racing not only because of his partner, Maureen McKinnon-Tucker, but Pinckney, 44, who started customizing Scandone’s Skud-18 for him to make it easier for him to control. Because of the nature of ALS, which causes muscles to weaken and atrophy, Scandone needed adjustments to control the steering of the boat, and Pinckney was able to offer that.

"One thing about disabled sailing is, with the technology we have today, you can adjust and make anything work for the disability," Pinckney said. "With all the disabled sailing going on in the world, we do a lot of looking and researching of other people and their designs to make that into something that will benefit us."

For Scandone and Pinckney, that meant finding a way for Scandone to control the boat’s direction using the controls already present on his motorized wheelchair.

"As the chair tilts," Pinckney said, "The steering stays with him so he doesn’t have to reach as far."

It may only cut down a few inches, but it’s a significant improvement because ALS can turn simple, everyday tasks into strength-draining chores.

Scandone used to compete individually in a 2.4-meter boat. But in order to continue competing as his ALS worsened, Scandone and McKinnon-Tucker are competing in the doublehanded class which is making its Paralympic debut in September.

Pinckney was honored Saturday at Bahia Corinthian Yacht Club’s 50th annual opening day ceremonies.

"He’s a good guy," said Bahia Corinthian junior staff commodore Gary Tolar. "He loves teaching. He helps out with the juniors, and the other yacht clubs, and at UCI. He’s just a good guy."

Newport Beach area yacht clubs unanimously voted to honor Pinckney with the Edward F. Kennedy trophy, awarded each year to a man or woman who has made considerable contributions to yachting.

Voters honored Scandone in 2006.

The decision to help Scandone, a fellow Anteater, was an easy one, said Pinckney, who led the Anteaters to a sloop national championship in 2005. His younger brother Jon, attended Irvine with Scandone, and they had grown up together in the sailing community, Jon and Mike in the summer program at Bahia Corinthian, and Scandone at Balboa.

The university’s sailing season starts in late September and runs through the end of May. Scandone does most of his training here during the summer.

Pinckney will help Scandone train in Newport Harbor later this month, during Memorial Day, and at the beginning of June, and then the competition boat is packed up July 10 to be shipped to Beijing.

"It was an honor for him to ask me [to help]," Pinckney said. "He’s very flexible and we mesh together, so I’m very fortunate for that."

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