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Wednesday, 07 March 2012 00:00 |
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 When an angler had an accident and became a wheelchair user, he and his friend were determined to find a solution to get back him on the water. That was in 1984 - they had no idea how their solution would change boating for wheelchair users in the UK.
28 years later, the Wheelyboat Trust they formed, now boasts 150 wheelchair accessible boats throughout the UK and is keen to expand still further. They have simple and clear charitable objectives, which is key to their success.
Innovative concept
I spoke to their Director, Andy Beadsley, who explained: “The design criteria for the first Wheelyboat was quite straightforward really; a flat bottom boat with wheelchair access in the form of a drop-down, landing craft style bow. And the boats have remained pretty much the same ever since. The construction material of choice was then, and continues today, to be marine grade aluminium and, although there have been four modifications of the design since the original, they are all variations on the original theme. The boats have proved themselves safe and reliable workhorses, providing opportunities for thousands of disabled people to access the water.”
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Monday, 16 January 2012 00:00 |
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 I WONDER if you can name the only UK based manufacturer of lifejackets? Bonus points for naming the brand.
I never thought a new sponsorship relationship with Ocean Safety who have generously supplied all of the MCA coded safety equipment for my new wheelchair accessible powerboat would lead to me wheeling around a factory floor in Leven, Scotland, on a bitterly cold winter’s day.
REMPLOY, manufacturers of the KRU brand of lifejacket exclusively for Ocean Safety, are no ordinary business, they employ only disabled people. In fact they employ nearly 3,000 disabled people across their 54 factories in the UK.
But it is their two factories in Fyfe, who make the KRU jackets, in particular, the Leven site which makes more than 100,000 lifejackets a year and has nearly 30 employees, some of whom have worked there for up to forty years.
Reasons for my visit were threefold: to have an opportunity as a disabled yachtsman who actually wears and depends upon their product to see the jackets being made from scratch; to talk through some practical issues which could enhance their existing range for disabled life-jacket wearers and wheelchair users; and to coincide and celebrate the UN backed annual International Day of the Disabled last month.
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757
(2 votes, average 5.00 out of 5)
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Monday, 11 July 2011 14:24 |
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I KNOW the new sailing season has started when I struggle to find a slot in my diary to get on the water myself.
The past month has been the busiest of the year travelling the country to attend conferences, deliver inspirational talks and work with a variety of charities. It’s exhausting but I wouldn’t have it any other way, I love talking to people and preaching the gospel of getting afloat.
A month ago I was delivering a keynote address to the Scottish Sport Development conference in Aviemore. Three hundred delegates but sadly not one representing sailing or any watersports. It was tough, but I think I converted a few of our Celtic cousins from caber tossing to the delights of sailing.
Aviemore was beautiful but next time I’ll think twice about getting the overnight sleeper from Euston. On paper a 36-hour round trip to the Highlands was the perfect plan but in practice, trying to sleep in a wheelchair cabin the size of a (2nd class) postage stamp on a train is bordering on comical; it’s certainly not the Orient Express.
We arrived back in London at 0630 the following morning looking enviously at the rough sleepers with their cardboard beds and fighting back our indignation at commuters offering us their small change.
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735
(3 votes, average 5.00 out of 5)
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Monday, 13 June 2011 14:35 |
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 To think we have been watching the magnificent Lord Nelson come and go from her home in Southampton for a quarter of a century, and her younger sister, the equally imposing Tenacious, is now celebrating her tenth year in service.
I recall being present at her keel-laying ceremony in 1996 in a vast warehouse in Woolston, the same warehouse where Merlin engines had been built for Spitfire’s during the war. Four years later she was launched and joined the Lord Nelson in active service and, such is the demand for their services, the pair have rarely paused to draw breath.
Between them, they have taken more than 36,000 people to sea. And of that number, 13,000 have been people with physical disabilities, giving them a genuinely unique opportunity to sail a tall ship alongside non-disabled crew and to participate in just about every activity on board, including being hoisted aloft in wheelchairs.
You need only to read the glowing testimonials from any of their participants on their website to understand the sense of esteem they are held in by their fans. And that loyalty and love of the JST is evident as groups around the country raise much needed money to keep the two sisters afloat.
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701
(2 votes, average 5.00 out of 5)
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Monday, 09 May 2011 14:14 |
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 Dame Ellen MacArthur founded the Ellen MacArthur Cancer Trust in 2003. It is a charity which provides sailing opportunities for children recovering from cancer so they can experience the same life-changing thrill of being at sea that she herself found through sailing.
It is not only a commendable legacy, its genius lies in its built-in volunteer sustainability.
For the second year running, 15 young adults are currently taking part in the trust's Volunteer Training Week. Their objective is to attain their RYA Competent Crew certify cate and some will also achieve their RYA Day Skipper ticket.
But these are no ordinary young adults. They all have their own stories of childhood cancer, each has undergone years of treatments, and each has, at some stage, sailed as a child recovering from cancer with the trust.
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