Sailability

Today I went down to the Cairns Yacht Club to see if anything was happening. In the dinghy store I found a young aboriginal girl on crutches and a man in a wheelchair. They told me that Tuesdays and Thursdays were Sailability days and that 4 boats were out in the outer harbour - which looked quite choppy with a strong breeze.

The program was designed for people of all abilities to come and learn how to sail and enjoy social time. I wondered how the man in the wheelchair managed to get in and out and what would happen if the boat capsized but when the boats sailed in they showed me how brilliantly designed they were. The centre board was extremely long and heavy so that it would be very difficult to capsize. Both jib and main sail were attached to masts that swivelled around at the pull of a rope and furled up the sails as small as you wanted. The helmsman and helper lay lengthways on a hammock either side of the centreboard, so even a paraplegic person could have a go. A joystick connected to the rudder and  there was some system of ropes to the traveller so the sails could flip from side to side. – not sure quite how that worked. They were really easy to put to dismantle too – everybody helped and finished off with a convivial coke. It was a great afternoon!