| LSU Grad and Paralympian sails to success |
Age: 27
Occupation: Paralympian
Hometown: New Orleans
Sailor Mark LeBlanc excels in wind.
Snapping, rabid gales propel him. Gentle breezes prove a tougher read.
At birth, he emerged without a forearm.
A different life—some would say a more difficult one—unfurled before him, by design.
Now, LeBlanc doesn't look for easy. He's a member of the U.S. Disabled Sailing Team and competing at the London 2012 Paralympics. Beginning Aug. 29, he'll be hoping the waves of Weymouth—a few hours from London—will have real teeth.
Leblanc races in a one-person keelboat. and honed his skills as a boy racing the Optimist Fleet at Southern Yacht Club in New Orleans. To win, he says, you have to keep your eye on the competition. One glance at your feet, and your dreams hit the doldrums.
“Some older sailors say half the race is the start,” he says. “Once you're in front it's simpler.”
LeBlanc graduated from LSU with a degree in civil engineering. There, he picked up skills that help him to read water and wind conditions.
His proving grounds at this year's Paralympics: a wreck-strewn sea that will test his years of sailing from False River, where the LSU sailing club he founded got its legs, to ferocious, choppy waters around the globe.
From the rocks of Dorset, shivering soldiers embarked after the impossible, launching their sterns toward the beaches of Normandy on D-Day.
“It's going to be cold, it's going to be rainy, and it's probably going to be very windy,” LeBlanc says.
And yet, what could be better than hauling a boat at the knife's edge of a whipped and windy surf?
What could be better than pushing to be the best, being fearfully and wonderfully made to stand atop a podium wreathed in precious metal?
Better than most, LeBlanc knows nothing that matters is easy.
comments powered by Disqus
Multimedia
Bad Guys, Good Eats! Pop-Up Dinner at Restaurant IPO
Chef and 225 contributor Jay D. Ducote and Chef Chris Wadsworth hosted the Bad Guys, Good Eats! dinner at Restaurant IPO Wednesday night. The dinner was themed around famous movie villains, pairing cocktails and ales with plates of food resembling famous baddies like The Joker, Lord Voldemort, Hannibal Lector, and many others. The highlights of the night were the three middle courses—a black bean soup laced with blood sausage to signify Lord Voldemort, a brace of coneys on black eyed peas resembling Sauron, and lamb medallions atop a fava bean puree to pay homage to the famous favorite of Hannibal Lector.
Summer Crush
Elizabeth Arkley Hammett, a local nursing student and Fur Ball co-coordinator, and her husband Grey Hammett III, who works in commercial real estate, will take you through our summer guide. And they'll look good while doing it, too. Where noted, their clothes and accessories are available from local retailers.
Better Block BR
On Saturday the two blocks between Bedford and Beverly drives on April 13, 2013, residents will get to see a model of what Government Street could look like if we push local and state officials to update the roadway to a safer, more "complete street" model.
225 Summer Crush Swimwear Shoot
Go behind the scenes of 225's swimwear style shoot with...
