Adapted Sailing

Sailing has always been a sport that requires adapting by almost anyone who heads out on a boat.  If you think about it, we are all adaptive sailors. If you change out the 2:1 purchase on your traveller for a 4:1 or 6:1 so that you can pull up the car when the wind is up, then you are an adaptive sailor.  If you put a 2:1 halyard on your main to make it easier to hoist, then you are an adaptive sailor.  Did you buy a tiller extension so that you can reach the tiller while hiking out?  Yep, you became an adaptive sailor.  With those things in mind, it doesn't require much more stretching of the brain to find ways for others with more challenging physical needs to be able to sail themselves.  There have been great strides made in the last 8 years to provide boats for those who have very specialized needs.  Sailors without leg and arm function can use Sip and Puff controls, swinging seat/tiller combinations have been constructed and approved by several class associations, and even lift mechanisms for the companionway to enable sailors to retire below.  For all the work to make highly customized boats, which have high price tags, not many efforts have been made to open the world of sailing to those who have mild and moderate physical challenges.  

We believe that sailing should not be exclusive to those who can buy the fanciest or custom made boats, many boats can be adapted to a sailors needs economically and practically.  As such we have begun to build a fleet of slightly modified boats to meet the needs for mild to moderate challenges.  Over the fall we will be testing and evaluating a number of boats to further finalize our fleet.  Currently the Optimist class association and the Flying Scot Association are working closely to help us design and finalize plans for an adaptive fleet.

Adaptive sailors can compete at the highest levels of "able-bodied" fleets as well as within the adaptive sailing organizations.  Whether you want to learn to sail, improve your skills, or race competitively there is nothing to stop you from going sailing.

Our volunteers are realistic and open regarding physical challenges.  Disabilities are not a big deal in our mind, and if you are determined to sail we won't rest until we find a way to get you on the water.  

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