Quinte Sailability’s Blog

Mon, Sep 15, 2008

Yesterday, 6 racers all together. The bad weather that they were calling for, never came! It went north of us and we had a really nice day for sailing. Some good wind and water! My face is burnt as red as a lobster!(with the shape of sunglasses around my eyes!)

It was another really long day yesterday, but we had an interesting day… We had to race, this time, first thing in the am, 10am. When we first got out on the water, the waves were crazy! I was a little nervous(OK alot nervous! never really having sailed on choppy water before…) But by the time the race started the waves had died just enough so that I could get more control. The whole time Fletch and I were racing, there was this other boat we were neck and neck with. It was always one ahead of us. Fletch kept saying that the girl in the boat looked familiar. He noticed how fast her boat was but just couldn’t put two and two together. We did three races, first race I came 3rd, another 3rd second race and 4th the third race. After it was done, we had some lunch. I went over to talk to Fletch when he told me, the girl that he was suspicious of out on the water with us, was actually an instructor! and her race didn’t count! So that put Fletch and I, 2nd, 2nd and 3rd! Nice! At the awards, I received a really nice trophy for overall 2nd place! Bret came in 3rd and we had a gold trophy between Bret and I for best overall team effort! Yeah Quinte Sailability 2008! It was an awesome experience! Alex and Fletch were awesome to sail with and have for crew.

By Jennifer Smith

Sat, Sep 13, 2008

I am sooo tired! what a long day! We left here around 6am and met Fletch and Alex at the Wooler Rd./401 car park, then made our way to TO. Alex was my crew and we got on the water about 1:30p. Before that, we watched the Gold and Liberty fleet, they went out about 11am. We were able to get 3 races in, which was awesome! The people that were racing before us only got 2 races in due to little wind. But the wind picked up in the afternoon for us, about 10-15 knots. So, the good news… I came in 1st the first race, 2nd the second race and 4th the third race, not too bad for a first year eh! The funny thing, Alex and I found a really old tennis ball floating in the water, Alex reached over the boat and picked it up. Then we started playing catch(in between races) with another boat on the water, it was hilarious! At one point the crew on the other boat picked up their paddle and used it to hit the tennis ball when Alex threw it to them, now we had a game of baseball! It was crazy! We saved the tennis ball in the boat for memorabilia! The bad news, my third race, I was rounding the marker, port side to come down wind, at the same time another boat was rounding, but on my port side as well… she just wasn’t turning around the marker. I ended up turning and pretty much forced her to turn and then she cliped me near my backend of the boat. It was my fault(obviously) I had to do a 360! I had a really awesome first day, I will have Fletch as my crew tomorrow.

Goodnight!

By Jennifer Smith

At the end of my first year with Quinte Sailability, I finished the season at my first Regatta in Toronto, holding a trophy for second place. Before I started Quinte Sailability, I found, being a person in a wheelchair with progressive MS, I spent many summers inside. I told myself this year, I refuse to spend another summer inside. I was looking for a program that would get me outside, give me a chance to meet other people and something fun and active for the summer. There are few programs out there, especially in our local community that offer something for people with disabilities. I found out about Quinte Sailability through my recreational therapist. The first day I went there I remember my mom saying to me in the car that if I was sailing alone, she was not going to allow me to do this program. I didn’t tell her right away that I was sailing alone. When I got there I met Fletch and the others, got suited up with a life jacket and set out on my own in a dingy. I was nervous out on the water, in a boat, by myself, with no experience of how to sail. It wasn’t too long before I became comfortable with the boat and the water. Aimee and Alex our instructors were very knowledgeable and made me feel comfortable and safe. It was amazing that I could do this on my own. I was sailing. Sailability makes you feel that there isn’t anything (within reason) that you cannot do. A sense of freedom was really sinking in.

In the beginning, when I was first hit with MS, I was afraid to go out in public. Being hit with progressive MS and in a wheelchair, I had problems with confidence. I was used to having help with most things and this was one thing that I was able to learn and do on my own. The first time taking the accessible bus and doing the sailing on my own was like being on a roller coaster ride. That feeling of being scared but I like it at the same time! The sense of independence and confidence I developed from sailing, has carried over to the other areas of my life. I moved from Stirling to Belleville where I now live more independently awayfrom the close support of family. My life has become more indepently accessible.

I have met lots of new people with disabilities and don’t feel so alone with my disability. Here we are all the same. No one judges you or says you can’t do this. Quinte Sailability try’s to give you as much responsibility as they can to make you feel independent. I was talking with a boy, who is a quad and has a really hard time talking. But listening to him closely, I could hear the happiness in his voice. He is alive and is able to shine at something. He can do something and be apart of something big. He won a gold award at the regatta in Toronto. I know exactly how he was feeling.

Being apart of the Quinte Sailability team has made me a more confident person with a disability. Ever since Quinte Sailability I feel alive. I think it is important to keep Quinte Sailability going because of what it can do for children and adults. I myself have seen and been an example of that. I talk to people who first knew me before I started Quinte Sailability. I was as white as a ghost longing for some excitement in my life. I was afraid to leave my apartment with my disability and now I am a changed person. I have something to get up for and be a part of. It puts me back into the world and into the community. I am no longer hiding with my disability behind my apartment door. I am able to be apart of something bigger. It has given me a chance to give back to other people with disabilities and get them involved in this program that is a life changer. It doesn’t matter what disability you have there isn’t anything that Quinte Sailability won’t do to help a person with a disability have quality of life.

The trophy for second place does help the ego but it is more than that. I look in the mirror and I have a tan, I feel full of life and  I am more confident today because of Quinte Sailability.

By Jennifer Smith

Sandy learned to sail in 2002 on an Access Dinghy at Quinte SailAbility based at CFB Trenton Yacht Club in Eastern Ontario. However, her disability, the result of cerebral palsy, prevented her from single-handed sailing. “I had difficulty with my balance in the boat and my lack of upper body strength meant that I always had to have a partner with me in the Access Dinghy,” says Sandy.

Thanks to donations from Catch the Rainbow and the Rotary Club of Brighton, Sandy had a new boat to sail this summer. It’s a Liberty with servo assist system allowing her to single-handed sail right from her first time out. “When I heard about the Liberty and how it would be just as easy for me to sail as it is for me to operate my electric wheelchair, I was very excited,” she recalls. “That I could do all the sail work myself and be able to go out on the waters alone as fast and as far as I wanted-well, I claimed that Liberty as my boat before it even arrived!” And, indeed, Sandy was the first student to sail the boat and was out on the waters three times a week all through the summer.

Sandy’s sailing skills have increased exponentially since the arrival of the Liberty. She was able to qualify for her White Sail I certificate in her first two years of sailing the Access Dinghy. Since starting to sail the Liberty, she has quickly obtained both White Sail II and III. She also participated in her first sailing regatta, something she is interested in doing again.

“Sailing in the Liberty gives me a great sense of freedom,” claims Sandy. “I absolutely love it.” The combination of the Liberty and the servo assist make it the only such boat in Canada at this time. The sailing season is now drawing to a close in Canada and Sandy is sad to see the Liberty coming out of the water for the winter. “I’m already looking forward to next year,” she says.