Mobility Cup - flagship adaptive sailing event

by Matthew Wild on 20 Sep 2006 Sailors from around the globe will be putting into practice what they learned at a Canadian regatta for people with significant disabilities.

Mobility Cup 2006 saw 42 sailors with disabilities enjoying five days of racing on English Bay, at Vancouver, B.C. The event is North America’s flagship event for adaptive sailing, and this year took on international significance with six countries represented: Canada, USA, Australia, New Zealand, Hungary and England.

Organizers the Disabled Sailing Association of BC (DSA BC) arranged the regatta to give adaptive sailors a chance for serious competition, and so raise the level of the sport as a whole. This aim is furthered by the determination to inspire competitors to go home and introduce best practices in their local clubs and bring newcomers into adaptive sailing.

People remain unaware that sailing – let alone solo – is an option for individuals with all levels of disability. Furthermore, sailing is a truly inclusive accessible sport: participants are not segregated by the nature of their disability. It is also unusual in that participants are out of their wheelchairs.

The Mobility Cup utilized the Canadian-designed Martin 16 sloop, which allows joystick control. High-level quadriplegics used Sip ‘n’ Puff interfaces connected to power assisted steering. People with varying levels of disability raced each other.

Competitors were divided into two fleets, Gold and Silver, based purely on racing experience. This enables newer sailors to learn the ropes, heading out with a sailing companion to give advice on racing rules, before one day lining up with the top names.

Vancouver mayor Sam Sullivan – a quadriplegic as a result of a 1979 skiing accident – officially opened events on Monday, Sept. 11. Sullivan, who formed DSA BC in 1989 and organized the first Mobility Cup in 1991, told the competitors: 'Everything I needed to know about politics I learned in the Disabled Sailing Association. I would not be mayor if it wasn’t for the DSA.'

Chris Everson, of Orangeville, Sacramento, CA, said that he was particularly drawn to sailing because it allowed him to compete out of his wheelchair.

'I’ve been sailing on and off since I was five years old,' he related. 'I never thought I’d be doing things like this, when I got hurt, 30 years ago.'

He suffered a spinal cord injury in a car accident, driving to a high school football practice – after three months’ rehabilitation he returned to school in a wheelchair and graduated in 1977.

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'Being out on the water is an equalizer,' continued Chris, 47. 'When you are out there racing your boat, you forget you are disabled for a couple of hours. It’s the only real escape I have.

'It order to be successful you need to have experience on the water. There’s a real science in reading the water – it’s taken me 42 years – and racing takes total focus. It’s start to finish concentration, then you get to drink your water and eat your energy bar.'

Chris finished 12th in the Gold Fleet after experiencing indifferent form that included some of the finest sailing of his life.

Competitor Rod Mack, from Victoria, B.C., said that he thought everyone present was confounding stereotypes.

'We all have a fire to excel,' said Mack, 45. 'If I believed the doctors I’d still be in hospital.'

Rod was seriously injured in a 2003 skydiving accident – which left him in a coma for six weeks – and, as he recovered, started to feel his 'life had come to a stop.' He took up adaptive sailing with DSA Victoria last July and found racing an ideal outlet for his competitive nature. He finished sixth in the Silver Fleet.

Zoltan Pegan, 48, of Budapest, has been sailing adaptive boats since 1997, and believes that anyone with a disability should give the sport a go because of the sense of freedom it offers.

'Sailing is a way of getting out an enjoying the sunshine and water, which is not readily available to someone in a wheelchair,' he explained. 'It’s an alternative way to get an adrenalin rush.

'There was a pack coming in to the finish line. It’s more exciting to come in a very close second rather than to win by a lot. It’s good to win, but it’s exciting to have a close finish.

'There are no disabled sailing competitions in Budapest. Coming here I’ve learned a lot. It’s very important to talk to people from other clubs and find out what’s the best way to help ours grow.'

He finished fifth in the Gold Fleet.

New Zealander Tim Dempsey, 35, competed in the Gold Fleet in the hope that the experience will help achieve his dream of entering the Paralympics and help him improve what’s on offer back home at Sailability Auckland.

'In New Zealand I don’t have the opportunity to sail in a fleet of more than five boats,' he said. 'I’m competitive, but my main reason for coming here was the experience.

'I did not want to enter the Silver Fleet because I thought that would not be as beneficial to me. I would have won more races, but I would not have learned as much.'

Tim finished 11th in the Gold Fleet.

More information: www.mobilitycup.org.

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