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Sailability Gippsland Lakes
Sailability is a world wide, not-for profit, volunteer based movement facilitating sailing for everyone regardless of ability. Sailability originated in Great Britain in the 1980's to make sailing accessible to people with disabilities. The Sailability program offered by Sailability Gippsland Lakes, a branch member of Sailing Victoria, is a fully integrated program of GLYC. The Sailability Officer, a member of GLYC Committee, is appointed annually to manage the program.
The sailability activities are designed to introduce and encourage people to participate in sailing activities in a safe, supportive environment. Sailability Gippsland Lakes is situated at Paynesville, Victoria and currently provides weekly programs for a small fee to local primary and special schools, centres for people with disabilities and community support programs with occasional public sailing days.
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Access Dinghies
Sailability Gippsland Lakes maintains a fleet of four Access 2.3 dinghies and an Access 303 dinghy. The Access 2.3 with its comfortable seat, joystick steering, single rope control and amazing manoeuvrability has to be the easiest boat in the world to sail. Add to that the wide side decks, ballasted centreboard and reefable mainsail and it also has to be one of the safest. What makes this little boat so unique is the confidence and sense of security it gives even the new sailor.
The Access 303 is slightly larger and has a fully roller reefable jib as well as a mainsail. The 303 is fast, and exciting, but is also a relaxing and comfortable boat to sail. Both boats are able to be sailed by two people thus making them ideal for volunteers to co-sail with sailors requiring support. We also have equipment for transferring people with limited mobility into the boats.
Chris Mitchell is the designer of the Access dinghies. Click here to read his story.
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Volunteers
The program is run by a dedicated team of volunteers who undertake a range of jobs to assist sailors. A roster system ensures that we don't overdo things but many of our volunteers nevertheless are there even when they're not on the roster. On sailing days volunteers bring boats out from the GLYC boat shed, set them up near the main car park launching ramp, rig the boats and put them in the water. They then crew the safety boat, assist people into life jackets and then into the boats from the jetty, co-sail if required, and man the registration desk. At the end of the day's sailing we do all this in reverse.
You don't have to be a sailor to be a volunteer or a member of GLYC. Landlubbers are most welcome too and some of our volunteers are themselves disabled. If you are interested in finding out more about the program or becoming a volunteer call the Sailability Officer, Lyn Thistlethwaite, on 5156 0141.
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2007 Access Worlds
The Inaugural Combined Access Class World Championships will be hosted by the Whitby Yacht Club of Ontario, Canada, from August 30 to September 5, 2007.The Whitby Yacht Club has a 300 boat marina in a protected harbour located 48km east of Toronto on Lake Ontario. The town of Whitby has a population of 115,000 and a full range of visitor facilities with a range of accessible accommodation.
This is the first combined World Championships for the popular Access classes and there will be both single and two-person divisions for the Access 2.3 and 303, along with the single person Liberty and two-person SKUD18.
SKUD 18 sailors will have a condensed racing program to help them prepare for the IFDS Combined World Sailing Championships being held from September 7 in Rochester, New York. Rochester is within four hours traveling from Whitby. The SKUD 18 has been selected as the two-person equipment for the 2008 Paralympic Sailing Competition in Qingdao, China, and the new boat is actively sailed in Canada and the USA.
More information about the event is available at the IACA website, and for to find out more about the amazing SCUD18 check out their web-site www.scud.org.
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SKUD18 Regatta
Local Blind Sailing Champ Paul Borg Wins Again and Sees the Funny Side of Racing
Gippsland Lakes Yacht Club Paul Borg, a blind sailor, sailing with 15 year old sighted Morgan Staley, won on Saturday Sail Melbourne’s International Regatta SKUD18 week long series by a single point from Ame Barnbrook and Leigh Dunstan. Sail Melbourne was the southern hemisphere racing debut for the SKUD18 (SKiff Universal Design) which has been selected as the two-person equipment for the 2008 Paralympic Sailing Competition. Each of the teams combined sailors with a disability on the helm and able-bodied crews.
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Apart from the exciting hull shape, innovative technology is being developed so that all actions of the boat can be controlled with servo assist winches, enabling the SKUD18 to be sailed by sailors regardless of age or ability. The seats support disabled sailors so that they can maintain stability as the boat heels. Controllers enable sailors to utilize their best moving body part to sail the boat. They include breath-operated micro-switches and joysticks that can be operated by shin, foot, elbow, etc. The SKUD is like the racing skiffs in Sydney Harbour though the deep retractable keel with a 140 kilo torpedo shaped bulb prevents the skiff from capsizing and the flaired topsides give exceptional stability.
Paul was pumped by the exhilarating speed and quick action of the boat. He said about the race, "Though we sailed to the wrong mark, we made up time and took the last mark a little wide then tore toward the finish line with the spinnaker going like the clappers and the bow sprit bending. I was laughing like a maniac as we slid in ahead of the next boat to win by just a foot". He marveled, "It was so fast that I felt sixteen again on a 145 hanging out on a trapeze! What a fantastic boat!"
Paul hopes this win on the SKUD may help him get a little closer to his life’s dream: that of sailing in the Paralympics.
Later in the day the 2.3 Access Dinghies lined up for a $500 Dash for Cash fun race. Paul, more mature and heavier than the other competitors, realized he’d go nowhere in the light wind, so he jokingly asked the start boat to guide him and push him along. "Wind’s got me", he said to the onlookers on the piers. He was nudged along hamming it up as he tapped the bow of the boat with his cane. Not wanting to actually finish before the other legitimately sailing dinghies he turned the boat around near the finish line still tapping his cane. "Which way? Right or left?" he asked the crowd. The crowd started to engage. Then Paul said to them, "Sing to me, I’ll follow." And he sailed over the finish line to resounding cheers and much mirth and laughter.
More recently Paul also won Division 6 of the 2007 Victorian Access Class Championships held at Royal Geelong Yacht Club on February 3rd. Sailing an Access 303 dinghy he made a clean sweep of the series, winning all four races.
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Links
For more information on Access Dinghies click here.
For more information on Sailability click here.
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