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Lanier sailor makes international
splash in support of competitors with disabilities
Linda Merkle travels to China for Paralympics
By Pamela A. Keene
 Linda
Merkle had no idea when she and then-husband Joe Merkle started
competing in dinghies in the 1970s that she would one day be
actively involved with sailing for people with disabilities. “Back
in those early days, we were just learning the sport and there are
plenty of stories to tell,” said Merkle – among them, competing
against Ted Turner. Through her affiliation with the International
Association for Disabled Sailing (IFDS) and US SAILING, she has
spent the past 13 years traveling around the world in support of the
sport.
After learning to sail on a Flying Dutchman, a
two-person dinghy, Merkle helmed a Morgan 27 for several years
before campaigning her own boat, a 28-foot Lindenberg – Boogeyman –
often with a mostly female crew on Lake Lanier. Along the way, she
championed women’s sailing on the lake as an instructor and broke
ground as the first female commodore of the Atlanta Auxiliary
Association in the 1980s and of Lake Lanier Sailing Club in 1993.
Having spent her career as an English teacher at
Lakeside High School and finally as assistant principal at McNair
Senior in DeKalb County, she put her love of teaching and working
with people to good use. Throughout her sailing career and even
after she retired in 1997 from academics, she continued to be
involved with youngsters and sailing, becoming a driving force for
the Lake Lanier Sailing Club’s Juniors Program.
“Sailing is more than about learning to drive a
boat,” she said. “Being a good sailor teaches teamwork, patience,
sportsmanship and connection to the elements. There’s really nothing
like it, and it’s such a joy to see people of all ages and abilities
become immersed in the sport.”
When Atlanta was awarded the 1996 Summer Games,
Merkle worked with Bolling Douglas to support the Olympic regatta
being held in Savannah. But as the time drew near, her services were
needed elsewhere.
“In 1995, we realized that the Paralympics would
follow the Olympic competition and Lake Lanier Sailing Club was
approached about staging the sailing event, which at that time was a
demonstration sport, not officially a medal sport,” she said. “One
of the earliest competitions was in Barcelona in 1992 as a separate
but parallel regatta, so having it in Atlanta became pivotal to the
future of sailing for disabled sailors.”
Merkle signed on as competition manager for the
event, which was staged at Aqualand Marina and supported by many of
the members of Lake Lanier Sailing Club as well as other lake-wide
clubs and organizations. Bruce Barton, who had crewed with Merkle
through the 1990s on the Lindenberg, managed the venue. LLSC
provided race committee, support staff and equipment. The event,
featuring 15 brand new Sonars and sets of North sails, was a
success, ensuring that sailing would become a full medal sport for
the Paralympics in Australia.
“It happened at a good time all around,” she said.
“Being around those sailors who won’t let their disabilities hold
them back and seeing how inspiring they were fired me up to continue
my involvement with the sport and disabled athletes.”
Merkle was hooked. She started traveling to other
events for sailors with disabilities and developed huge amounts of
respect for them.
“Imagine an amputee, a paraplegic or quadriplegic
person, sailing on a level playing field against other disabled
athletes,” she said. “But don’t have pity for them. They’ll say
things like, ‘I’m not disabled; I’m other abled,’ or ‘Don’t tell me
I’m disabled; I’m over it.’ They’re fierce competitors and excellent
athletes.”
Paralympic sailors come from all walks of life and
all ages, from those with cerebral palsy to others who are missing
limbs as a result of accidents and birth defects. Some are stroke
victims, double amputees or brain damaged. Others have returned from
war with what seemed like little hope and then became involved in
sailing. In addition, there will be an IFDS Blind Sailing World
Championship in New Zealand in 2009.
As with all paralympic sports, sailing is dependent
on a system to determine eligibility to compete. In sailing the
system is based on four areas – hand function, stability, mobility
and vision. There are currently three competition events; male and
female sailors compete in all three. “Without getting too
complicated, we’ve developed a point system to assure that each team
of competitors is comparable in its abilities,” she said.
Because of her sailing and education background,
Merkle was tapped to help develop competition guidelines for
paralympic sailors. She has attended Paralympics sailing
competitions since 1996 and has served as chairman of the technical
committee; since 2006, she has been a vice president of the
International Association of Disabled Sailors (IFDS) as well as
serving for the past three years as chair of the Council for Sailors
with Disabilities (USSAILING).
Recently returned from the IFDS Multihull World
Disabled Sailing Championships in Cascais, Portugal, Merkle is
readying for a trip to Beijing’s Summer Games. The Paralympic
sailing events take place in Qing Dao, China, from September 5-13.
Today, more than 70 countries have active sailing programs for
people with disabilities – programs that range from community-based
learn-to-sail activities through high level elite World
Championships and the Paralympics.
“I can’t even begin to tell you what this sport means
to the competitors and to those of us who actively support it,” she
said. “In a way, it started like an underground movement, and the
work we’ve done has made the cauldron bubble up. It’s given people
with disabilities a goal to compete at the Paralympics as well as
against their able-bodied counterparts. These athletes should be an
inspiration to us all.”
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