RORY MCKINNA
Ayrshire’s Sailing World Champion
Gill Sherry
Decked out in a bright red GBR fleece, Rory McKinna looks every inch the world-class athlete that he is. And although I’m keen to hear all about his recent sailing successes, I start by asking what attracted him to the sport in the first place.
“I’d always been a swimmer,” he tells me, thinking back to his 12-year-old self, “but I was trying rowing on Lochwinnoch and I saw these boats out on the water, which turned out to be the Hansa 303.”
Keen to give sailing a try, he worked his way through the first of four levels at Castle Semple, then joined Clyde Cruising Club to complete the remaining two levels. It was here that he first encountered his now synonymous craft, The Glasgow Bonnet.
Rory, from Stewarton, suffers from severe arthritis and the Hansa 303 was perfect for his sailing ambitions.
“It’s three meters long but unlike most dinghies, it has a weighted keel, which counters the pressure on the sail and keeps the boat upright. It’s very stable, and it can’t physically capsize. We sit in roughly the same position, no matter which way the boat’s going. If you’ve just got out of a wheelchair or you’re missing legs, it doesn’t matter, you stay seated all the time.”
He goes on to explain that the Hansa 303 was originally designed to be accessible by anybody regardless of physical capability or financial position.
“You could say they are the sailing version of the pedalo,” he says. “They’re super-simple and because you’re seated all the time, they’re relatively easy to sail.”
What started as something different for Rory to do back in the summer of 2014, soon resulted in his first sailing competition. In fact, he’d only just finished his second year of sailing when he won his first competitive event.
“That was the Scottish Club Championship on Loch Lomond and since there was little wind and I was the youngest (and therefore the lightest) I bobbed my way to the front! Still, that probably gave me the bug. I was 13 and had only won a couple of swimming races up to that point, so to win my first regatta was a big deal.
“And then if we skip to last year, my biggest year… it was 11 major events across nine different countries, in four different classes of boat. I won three world titles, four national titles, and was on the podium in every other event.”
He apologises for blowing his own trumpet, but all I can say is “Wow!”
The Hansa 303 is apparently a one or a two-person class, and I ask which he prefers.
“I was always a solo sailor, but then I started hitting the continent. They run a slightly different system from us here in the UK in that their solos and doubles race at separate times so you can do both. In the UK you have to choose. I realised after I started going to Europe that if I don’t sail double, I’m getting half as much time on the water as most of the others. From a competitive standpoint, if my competitors in the singles class are also sailing in the doubles… they’re getting twice the time on the water and twice the experience. You get more aware of how the local weather systems work, the currents, and where to go and not to go on the racecourse. I always felt that started to show through by the end of the week so now I do both classes.”
That said, his preference is solo racing.
“I’d always say singles. It’s the ultimate independence.”
What about career highlights? Or is that impossible to answer?
“The best events are ones where we (the sailors) feel like we’ve been pushing each other’s limits. At some of my favourite events, I wasn’t even on the podium, but the quality of the conditions or the back and forth between racers was excellent.”
There is one win that sticks out in his memory, though.
“Last year, I came first in the Hansa 303 doubles class at the World Championships in Australia with an Aussie crewmate, Jess Wong. My decision to sail in the double class was a bit last minute and all the British sailors were already paired up, so I sent word to the Australians asking if they had anybody available. Jess volunteers at one of the sailability groups in Sydney and was up for giving it a bash. We only got in a boat together a couple days before the event, but I knew quite quickly we’d get along fine and, admittedly to our great surprise, we won.”
Although the competitive aspect of the sport is now Rory’s main focus, I ask what else he enjoys about sailing.
“I’ve always liked vehicles and machines and in later years I realised I particularly liked anything that feels like an extension of the body. Since the boat is powered by natural forces and any change in its behaviour requires a degree of empathy, sailing is possibly the purest form of that experience.”
It’s also a very sociable sport.
“Half the people at clubs are there to chat and catch up,” he confirms. “It’s a community that you feel a part of and you’re surrounded by people that like the same thing that you do. Sailing is a relatively small sport and sailability is even smaller. There’s a great sense of comradery that stretches between clubs and even across borders. To name a few, the Italians always put on good food and drink, the Dutch are well organised and friendly, the Aussies are tough characters but are good craic, Hong Kong are perpetually inviting everyone to come and sail with them, and the French would do anything to help you get on the water, and inevitably start a conga line at every event!”
Presumably, he gets to travel a great deal.
“I enjoy travelling. I make a trip out of everywhere that I go. You’ve got to make the time. I was warned by one of my first coaches that he only ever saw airports, hotels and sailing clubs. So I take time to go and see things and get to know the places.”
And what does the future hold for Rory?
“I’ve just finished studying Urban Planning at the University of Dundee. My aim is to go and work for a local planning department. The real world is calling!
He still has plenty of sailing ambitions in his sights, though. Not least the prospect of the Paralymics.
“Sailing isn’t in the Paralympics anymore,” he tells me. “It hasn’t been since Rio 2016. Ever since, the Governing Body, World Sailing, has been pushing to get sailing reinstated. We’re now aiming for 2032 and we’ll find out by the start of next year whether we’ll be back for the Brisbane games. Fingers crossed! If we get in the Paralympics, you can sign me up! There’s no age limit to sailing, so that’s definitely in my sights if we ever do get back in.”
In the meantime, there’s plenty more sailing for Rory to look forward to.
“On the racing front, I’ll keep competing. I still haven’t won the World Championships in the singles, so I’m aiming for that.”
He goes on to tell me of various other events he’s hoping to compete in, including the Dutch Hansa National Championship, The European Sailing Federation (EUROSAF) Inclusive European Championship in Poland, The Hansa European Championship in Barcelona, and a new event called The World Sailing Inclusion Championship in Portugal. Not forgetting Cowes Week in the Isle of Wight for the event’s 200th anniversary.
“There’s a charity down there called the Andrew Cassell Foundation who do disabled sailing in four-person keelboats. I’ve been training with them on The Clyde because they’ve started up a branch in Helensburgh. They want to send a Scottish team down to Cowes to race, so I’ll be down there for that.”
In addition to the Hansa and keelboat, Rory has sailed other classes of boat including the Hansa Liberty (a larger version of the 303), a Challenger trimaran, a SKUD 18 (an ex-Paralympic boat), and an RS Venture Connect.
“These are all fully accessible classes designed for disabled people, and they all fill different niches. Whatever your physical limitations are, there is a boat out there for you.”
That’s good to know. And whilst he encourages anyone to give sailing a try from a leisure point of view, for Rory, it’s all about the competitions.
“It’s all about self-improvement and learning little things here and there. I still get little nuggets of information and tips and tricks from different people that are completely performance changing. It’s that extremely satisfying feeling of knowing that year on year you’re getting better at what you do.”
He’s come a long way since his first race on Loch Lomond in The Glasgow Bonnet, but he still uses that very same boat for competitions today.
“It’s one of the oldest boats on the circuit but for me, there is no substitute!”
It’s been an absolute pleasure chatting to Rory, and I join the rest of the AM team in wishing him the very best of luck in his future sailing and career endeavours.
