Tom Brown is one of the top disabled sailors in the world. In fact, he sailed his way onto the U.S. Disabled Sailing Team in the 2.4 Metre class in 2000 and has been there ever since.

But Brown’s biggest battles don’t necessarily come on the sea. They come in finding the funding to keep his sailing career on a steady course.

“It’s not going all that well right now. I have $9.50 in the [sailing] account. I’m kinda stalled out. It’s frustrating because you want to get out training,” Brown said.

The 42-year-old Northeast Harbor native, who lost his lower right leg to cancer when he was 10, said he spent the bulk of his sailing money earlier this year on a trip to Miami for the Rolex Olympic Classes Regatta, the Mid-Winter Championships, and the Open World Championships. The three events took place between Jan. 7 and Feb. 14.

“I had to spend a month [in Miami]. It was hell,” Brown joked.

It turned out to be a successful trip for Brown. He won the 2.4 Metre class championship at the Rolex Regatta, a series of races involving more than 20 boats.

He decided not to compete in the Mid-Winters, opting instead to train with a coach. He hired Jeff Madrigali, a bronze medalist in Soling at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. It was not a cheap proposition. He paid Madrigali roughly $500 per day to work with him.

“He and I sailed two of my boats. We were speed testing and using different mast setups. It was a big help,” Brown said.

The work paid off at the Open World Championships when he finished third overall out of 55 boats and was the top disabled sailor. For that he received the Queen Sylvia Cup. Named for the queen of Sweden, the cup is awarded to the top disabled helmsman at the world championships.

But more importantly Brown defeated Heiko Kroeger, the gold medalist at the Sydney Paralympics in 2000.

“It was nice to finally beat him. He beat me at the Disabled Mid- Winters and at the Disabled Worlds,” Brown said.

But Brown is concerned that the success and gains made in training at the beginning of the year may be lost. The Disabled World Championships are coming up in The Netherlands in September and Brown hasn’t trained since returning from Miami in February.

His parents are retiring from the family business, a hardware and marine hardware store in Northeast Harbor, and Brown is running the store. Additionally he is fighting a daily battle of attempting to line up sailing sponsors.

His wife, Kelly, had been in charge of fund raising. Two years ago she gave birth to the couple’s daughter Molly.

“Molly takes up a lot of time, so I’m fund raising on my own. I’m not complaining. Fund raising is inherent with an Olympic or Paralympic campaign,” Brown said.

He said the U.S. Sailing Committee provides a small amount of funding and will likely ship his boat to The Netherlands for the Disabled World Championships, but that he will have to come up with the money to cover his expenses.

Sponsors of U.S. sailing supply the team members with some equipment, but the high-cost items such as sails are left to the competitors.

Still, Brown plugs away at it. He spends his days letter writing and sending out photos of his boat to potential sponsors to show where their logos could appear.

“You can pretty much NASCAR the boat out now,” Brown said, referring to auto racing’s 200 mph billboards.

But Brown says the end result is well worth the hard work that goes into the fund-raising end of sailing.

“Just to go to an Olympic or Paralympic games and compete for a medal is what drives you to put up with all of the madness and fund raising,” he said.

Don Perryman can be reached at 990-8045, 1-800-310-8600 or dperryman@bangordailynews.net