This blog is dedicated to Ricardo Jensen. He is a good friend who I met in rehabilitation in Shenton Park in Perth just after my accident. He is a level C1 quadriplegic and has a ventilator to help him breathe. Ever since I met him I have always been amazed with his positive outlook on life and the way he sets himself goals and goes out and achieves them. Even when he was in rehabilitation he said to me that he wants to travel around the world and do all of these amazing adventures. Well over the years he has achieved everything he has set out to do, and one of these feats was to sail by himself. A couple of years ago Riccardo showed me a specially modified sailboat that he could pilot by himself using just a mouth control. I saw footage of him on a 45° angle tacking his sailboat in every direction around the Swan River in Perth. It was incredible to watch and very inspiring.
Like so many other things he has been able to achieve, I said to myself "Right, if he can do it so can I".
Kevin, my Swiss Army knife resource man at the Canadian Paraplegic Association, gave me the contact details of a disabled sailing program down on the waterfront here on Lake Ontario. So I put my sea legs (wheels) into gear and headed down to give it a go.
Like so many of these programs they are all organised by volunteers who provide their time and expertise to help people with special needs experience whatever adventure they wish.With a couple of modifications and adaptations to the equipment anyone can be out sailing along with the other maritime obsessives.
Don Cooper was my guide for the day and he was a lovely gentleman also interested in music, especially the Beatles, so there was a little bit of ' yellow submarine' singing going on.
We spent about two hours out on the water of Lake Ontario between the Toronto downtown and Toronto Island. It was absolutely beautiful tracking backwards and forwards from one side of the harbour to the other. We were constantly dodging paddle steamers, private yachts and even aircraft that would fly over and land on the island.
I learnt a lot about how to pilot this tiny Martin 16. Tacking, jibbing, running with the wind, All of the basics to be able to navigate my way on the water. Once again, I can't wait for the next opportunity to do this again. I was told that this is a Paralympic sport and the Australians are very good at it. So that's curling, skiing and now sailing I have to train hard for to get that gold. Unfortunately I couldn't get any footage of me out on the lake as I didn't want to get the camera wet, but below are some photos of the experience.
Being hoisted out of the chair and into the Martin.
Last-minute checks and safety brief.
Taking the ropes and ready to launch.
Wide shot of the pontoon and boat all set up ready for me to go.
Believe it or not that is me just left of centre in the middle of the shipping lane.
