Sailability NSW facilitating freedom on the water

by Graeme Adam on 31 Oct 2005 In December, Sailability NSW, the peak organization for sailors with disabilities, will mark its first ten years, a period of remarkable growth, focused on fostering and facilitating freedom on the water regardless of ability.

Sailability NSW had its beginnings at Gosford in March 1995, when Denis Critchley and other sailors with disabilities, envisaged how they could be integrated into the broader sailing community. The dream became a reality for the group when they started sailing yachts off Denis’ private pier. The Gosford sailors would later agree to relinquish the name ‘Sailability NSW’, so that a state-wide umbrella organisation could develop under that name.

In April 1995, Jackie Kay became involved with Sailability, following a presentation at a Technical Aids for the Disabled seminar. At that time, Jackie was a recreation officer at Royal Ryde Rehabilitation Centre. At the same seminar, Chris Mitchell, a Melbourne-based sail-boat designer and builder, and Sydney-based scientist, lecturer and paraplegic, Dr Phil Vardy, demonstrated the first servo-assisted Access Dinghy.

Like Jackie Kay, other participants at this seminar were captivated by the potential for Access dinghies to empower sailors with disabilities. These people and others would become key players in the development of Sailability NSW.

The first Sydney Come & Try Day was held on May13, 1995. Participants gathered at Dobroyd Aquatic Club to witness the freedom people with disabilities can enjoy when sailing. Landscaping business owner Neil Anderson organized the day after he contacted Phil Vardy to seek ‘an impossible project’ as part of a human development course that he was undertaking at that time.

On December 21, 1995, Sailability NSW was registered as an incorporated association. In 1996, Neil Anderson became President of Sailability NSW. Sailability Gosford and Sailability Dobroyd became its first branches. Ten years later, there are 23 branches of Sailability NSW with some 48 branches or groups around Australia - the world’s highest per capita participation in disabled sailing.

One of the major contributors to the development of Sailability in NSW was Allan Jones, founding Commodore of Sailability Pittwater and Registrar of Sailability NSW. Supported by John Gordon and Allan’s wife Jan, this fledgling branch took Sailability beyond its own base by providing sailing opportunities to members of the Spastic Centre as well as students from special schools. Jones was honoured in 2005 with an Order of Australia Medal for outstanding services to sailing for persons with a disability. Terry Peek, President of Sailability ACT, was also honoured this year with an OAM for his unstinting contribution in the same field.

While Sailability NSW began 10 years ago, its genesis dates back to late 1993, when Dr Phil Vardy started the Sydney-to-Hobart Challenge for the Disabled, a Sydney-based ocean racing organisation that later incorporated as Sailors with disabilities. With David Pescud, it made its name competing in blue water classics and providing keel-boat sailing opportunities for people with disabilities.

At the national level, Sailability was first established in 1991 by Victorian Yachting Council CEO Campbell Rose, whose father, Dr Alan Rose, became the first National Chairman. This was about a decade after Sailability (UK). In 1992, Sailability Victoria commenced, with a modest program operating at Albert Park Lake.

Following a 1994 conference of the Australian Yachting Federation (now Yachting Australia), it was decided that Sailability Australia should be established as a committee of the AYF, and that state Sailability programs should be set up as committees of the state yachting associations. Phil Vardy became Chairman and later National Coordinator of Sailability Australia, a program to facilitate sailing for people with disabilities. Apart from three months as a Churchill Fellow studying disabled sailing in North America, Europe and Australia, Vardy worked at AYF full-time from 1995 until 2000.

Under the patronage of around-the-world sailor Kay Cottee AO, Sailability grew strongly in Australia. By the end of 1995, Sailability boasted organisations in the ACT, NSW, Qld, SA, TAS, Vic and WA - all organisations were built on grass roots determination to bring the joy of sailing to Australians with disabilities. NT would follow in later years.

From Australia, Sailability has extended to 13 other countries to bring the total to 16 national Sailability organisations. Members of Sailability NSW were instrumental in setting up many of these organisations, based on the policy of building support via disability networks, thus making the Australian way a model for similar organisations around the world.

Sailability NSW, a member of D-Sport (formerly the NSW Sports Council for the Disabled), is affiliated with Yachting NSW and has a long-established relationship with NSW Maritime. Rotary International has been a major contributor to development in NSW, providing support at virtually every branch. In addition, the NSW Boating Industry Association has designated Sailability NSW as its official charity for the Sydney International Boat Show.

Sailability NSW is one of eight independent state or territory organisations under the umbrella of Sailability Australia, a committee of Yachting Australia. This in turn, is part of the world-wide Sailability organization, known as Sailability World.

The national organization, Sailability Australia, was re-formed in 2004, with former Yachting Australia President Bruce Dickson AM as Chairperson. A new committee of delegates was nominated by each state yachting association, with Yachting Victoria’s David Staley as national coordinator. Sailability member Maryanne Evans was recently appointed NSW delegate.