RYA Dinghy Show 2015 - Inspirational disabled sailor presents cheque

by Emma Slater - RYA Press Office on 2 Mar 2015 At the RYA Suzuki Dinghy Show today (01 March), disabled teen sailor Natasha ‘Miss Isle’ Lambert presented a cheque for £5,469.20 to the RYA Foundation, following her epic ‘Sea and Summit Challenge’.

Natasha (17), who has quadriplegic athertoid cerebral palsy which affects her speech and control of her movements, sailed 440 miles around England’s South West coast to Wales before swapping her boat for her special Hart Walker walking aid to scale the 2,970ft of Pen Y Fan, the highest peak in Southern Britain.

During her month long challenge, Natasha single-handedly sailed her 21ft Mini Transat, ‘Miss Isle Too’ using a ‘sip and puff’ system operated by a straw inside of a mountain bike helmet, a mechanism developed by her dad, Gary.

'Natasha is incredible, words can’t express how to it feels for Natasha, and to us all, to raise such a great sum of money', commented Natasha’s mum Amanda.

'We hoped she would raise a lot of money and she worked really hard to raise the funds, but a massive thank you goes to everyone who so kindly donated and helped Natasha achieve what she set out to achieve and be able to help others. Natasha would like the funds to be used to help other with disabilities to get on the water. It would mean a lot to her to see others enjoying sailing thanks to this money.'
To date Natasha has raised over £38,000 for charity.

The money presented to the RYA Foundation will be used to help other people with a disability to get into sailing. Collecting the cheque on behalf of the RYA Foundation where, Peter Gray, Trustee of the RYA Foundation and RYA Sailability Manager Debbie Blachford. Debbie commented: 'Natasha is a real inspiration and what she has achieved is something that will inspire many other young people to get out on the water or even take on an epic challenge of their own as she did last year.'

Peter added: 'I’m staggered by the amount Natasha has raised for the Foundation; it’s a fantastic amount and fantastic achievement. Through the RYA Foundation many disabled people will benefit from this sum. I’ve been so inspired by Natasha that I intend to have my own personal challenge this year and complete the Round the Island race, Round the Island cycle race and compete at Cowes Week.

The money presented to the RYA Foundation represents a third of the total money raised by Natasha with the remaining two thirds going to the Ellen MacArthur Cancer Trust and the RNLI.

As for what’s next for Natasha, we will all have to wait and see!

Click HERE for more information about the RYA Foundation.

Click www.rya.org.uk/programmes/ryasailability/Pages/RYASailability.aspx!HERE!now to find out more about RYA Sailaiblity.

Click HERE for more information about Natasha Lambert