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News Release 05-127

Overcoming Adversity, "Challenged America" Team Finishes Strong

The crew of the B'Quest before their departure

The crew members of the B'Quest before their departure.


July 26, 2005

This material is available primarily for archival purposes. Telephone numbers or other contact information may be out of date; please see current contact information at media contacts.

Overcoming their individual disabilities to complete the 2005 Transpac, a grueling, 2,225-mile yacht race from California to Hawaii, the six members of the Challenged America team arrived in Honolulu Sunday evening at 23:31:50 local time. They had raced their yacht, the B'Quest, to a ranking of fourth in its class.

B'Quest is the flagship of San Diego-based Challenged America, an organization founded by disabled Vietnam veterans to provide free sailing education and recreation rehabilitation programs to people with and without disabilities from around the world. A gift from a donor who wanted the vessel to be a part of this effort, the B'Quest has competed in many races, crewed by experienced sailors overcoming such obstacles as quadriplegia, paraplegia, neuromuscular disease, blindness and cancer.

For the 2005 Transpac, the crew worked directly with mechanical engineering students at San Diego State University (SDSU), who provided the sailors special seats and fittings for the race.

Sam Gloor, sailing coordinator for this year's Challenged America crew, praised both the students and the National Science Foundation, which supported their efforts through the Engineering Senior Design Projects to Aid Persons with Disabilities program.

"The seats developed by the students at San Diego State performed flawlessly. Some of the crew simply could not have been effective without them," said Gloor, who was a member of the Challenged America crew in an earlier Transpac.

For more information, see the NSF news release about the start of the Transpac race on July 11, 2005.

B-roll of the crew, the race, and the SDSU engineering students who helped make this possible is available.

-NSF-

Media Contacts
 Joshua A. Chamot, NSF, (703) 292-7730, email: jchamot@nsf.gov
Renee Haines, San Diego State University, (619) 594-4298, email: rhaines@mail.sdsu.edu
Gail Strickland, Making Waves Studios/Challenged America, (619) 218-5843, email: gailmakingwaves@yahoo.com

Program Contacts
 Gilbert Devey, NSF, (703) 292-7943, email: gdevey@nsf.gov

Related Websites
NSF news release for race start, July 11, 2005: http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=104291&org=NSF&from=news
Reports that came in from the B'Quest as they sailed: http://www.sail-world.com/challengedamerica/
General Transpac race information: http://www.transpacificyc.org/

The U.S. National Science Foundation propels the nation forward by advancing fundamental research in all fields of science and engineering. NSF supports research and people by providing facilities, instruments and funding to support their ingenuity and sustain the U.S. as a global leader in research and innovation. With a fiscal year 2023 budget of $9.5 billion, NSF funds reach all 50 states through grants to nearly 2,000 colleges, universities and institutions. Each year, NSF receives more than 40,000 competitive proposals and makes about 11,000 new awards. Those awards include support for cooperative research with industry, Arctic and Antarctic research and operations, and U.S. participation in international scientific efforts.

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