Freedom on water

The Balboa Yacht Club flag, or burgee, has been flying at half-mast since earlier this month when the club got word that longtime member and Paralympic gold medalist Nick Scandone had died.

Scandone was only 7 or 8 when he learned to sail in an 8-foot Sabot dinghy at Balboa Yacht Club.

A maritime memorial service for Scandone will be at 2 p.m. today at the club, 1801 Bayside Drive.

Scandone died Jan. 2 at his home in Fountain Valley after a six-year battle with Lou Gehrig’s disease. He was 42.

Scandone’s last time on the water was in Qingdao, China, during his victory lap at the 2008 Paralympics Regatta in September, said his wife, Mary Kate Scandone.

He and his sailing partner, Maureen Mckinnon-Tucker, earned perfect scores during the early races of the event, securing a gold medal in the SKUD-18 class. The pair’s scores were so high they didn’t have to sail in the final races at Qingdao, but Scandone still wanted to be a part of the regatta.

Scandone sailed that day, displaying the American flag from the stern of the boat.

“If you’ve got to have last sail, this was a good way to do it — flying your country’s flag,” Mary Kate Scandone said.

Mary Kate Scandone believes her husband knew this was to be his final day on the water.

“It was bittersweet. This is what he had to live for,” she said. “It took every ounce of him to do this. I don’t thing people really realized how hard it was for him to do this. He had the courage and got up as much strength as he could and made it happen.”

Scandone had lost the use of his legs by the time of the regatta and his arms were getting weaker, but he had already managed to outlive his life expectancy by more than two years.

In 2002, Scandone was diagnosed with Lou Gehrig’s disease, also known as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, a debilitating, neurodegenerative disease. The disorder causes muscles to weaken and atrophy. Most patients die within three to five years from the onset of the disease.

“Instead of feeling sorry for himself, he said ‘I’m going to get busy living instead of get busy dying,’” Mary Kate Scandone said. “When you get out on the water, you don’t need your legs. It was where he felt the most free — he didn’t feel disabled.”

A group of sailors from Balboa Yacht Club took Scandone’s one-man sabot and filled it with flowers at the yacht club after he died.

A note attached to the display reads “Fair Winds!”

“He grew up sailing here with many longtime friends who grew up sailing with him,” said Balboa Yacht Club General Manager David Robinson. “He was very well loved and respected by the club and all of the members were with him at least spiritually in China. Everyone was very proud of his achievements.”

The club rallied around Scandone as he trained for the 2008 Paralympics in Qingdao, China, raising money for new sails and underwriting some of his costs for training.

“The club really supported him in his ventures,” Robinson said. “It’s a lot of work to do and what he did would be almost impossible to do on your own. The club kind of took it on as a special project to help him.”

Scandone grew up around the water at Balboa Yacht Club, where his parents were members. He joined the UCI sailing team after high school and helped the team win a national championship in 1988.

Scandone later won the 470 class National American title and kept sailing on the weekends after a disappointing miss at a spot on the 1992 United States Olympic sailing team.

Scandone began training for the Paralympics after he was diagnosed with Lou Gehrig’s disease. He won the Open World Championships in 2005 and was named the United States Yachtsman of the Year.

He switched to a two-man boat with hand controls as his disease progressed.

Being faced with mortality gave Scandone an unprecedented level of focus, said William Seals, past commodore of the club.

“When Nick got diagnosed, he decided he was going to do everything he could to try to succeed at getting [to the Paralympics],” he said. “He obviously succeeded. I think his time on this earth was extended by him trying to reach that goal. He just couldn’t go without making that thing happen. He was a pretty amazing individual — so full of charisma.”

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the ALS Assn., www.alsa.org or the Balboa Yacht Club Maritime Sciences and Seamanship Foundation, 1901 Newport Blvd., Suite 350, Costa Mesa, CA 9262.

— Michael Alexander contributed to this article.