Sailability NSW celebrates 30 years of Freedom on the Water and a pathway to competitive sailing

20 year-plus veteran Sailability sailor Wendy Evans, a “wheelie” with cerebral palsy, was one of a coterie of special guests at 30th Anniversary. This photo of Wendy in a Hansa Liberty at 2004 IFDS Worlds captures the spirit of Sailability over 30 years © Vanessa Dudley, NSW Maritime

During June, Australia's largest state-based inclusive sailing network, Sailability NSW Inc (SNSW), celebrated the 30th Anniversary of giving everyone the opportunity to participate in the sailing community, regardless of ability.

Like almost all 60+ Sailability branches across Australia, Sailability NSW is entirely volunteer run.

At a 30th Anniversary dinner at Newcastle Cruising Yacht Club, some 120 guests from 25 branches across NSW celebrated the milestone. The following day, a conference was held with 70 branch representatives participating. Branch members from across the state who had completed 10, 20 or 30 years were presented with commemorative recognition-of-service pins.

More than a dozen Sailability alumnae were invited to participate, in recognition of their years of dedicated service. These included Denis Critchley, president of the first Sailability branch, in Gosford, Chris Mitchell of Hansa Systems, which supplies all the universal-design sailboats, and outstanding competition sailors Wendy Evans, Lindsay and Maria Dalmon and Maryanne Ireland.

A more recent sailor, Ame Barnbrook, member of the Paralympian sailing team, was a guest, as well as NSW MP Liesel Tesch AM, Paralympic medallist. Liesel Tesch is a shining example how "mucking around in boats" can be the pathway to local, national or even international competition. For Sailability sailors, this is usually in the form of competing in Hansa Class regattas, a class recognised by Australian Sailing in 2005.

Also present were Peter Wrigley, who opened up the possibilities for disabled sailors at Dobroyd Aquatic Club and Neil Anderson (SNSW director and former SNSW president) and Paul Tayler (treasurer). Neil and Paul, from 1996, worked tirelessly to establish and grow Sailability NSW. The pair were two of only a handful of recipients of the 30-year pin. Neil, for a time, was also Chair of the committee of Sailability Australia, facilitated by Australian Sailing, along with member Graeme Adam, Sailability Australia's publicity officer from 2004 to 2018.

The agenda and speaker line- up was of a high standard. Specialist speakers included Michael Arico on boat insurance, Tim Micninson from Sailability Victoria on sailing simulators, Niall Powers with news from Australian Sailing, and Dr Steven Wilson on parasailing.

Sailability NSW speakers included Chair and MC, Clare Archer who spoke on the new vision and values statement, Neil Anderson on 30 years of fund-raising, Jason Elwes (Training Coordinator) and John Sanderson (Assistant Training Officer) on developments in training, and SNSW president John Price on Learning to sail though headset visual effects.

Some of the top performing branches shared new ways of doing things that have improved the sailing experience for participants, many with no prior skills. Before the close, the conference broke into groups to brainstorm the best ways ahead.

According to President John Price, the association is stronger than ever and ready to face new challenges. "We have a new vision statement: 'Remove all barriers and provide opportunities for everybody to sail, regardless of ability, to participate in the NSW sailing community'. Inclusion remains a challenge, and we want to work with all sailing bodies to remove the last vestiges of exclusion."

Sailability is affiliated with Australian Sailing Homepage - Sailability NSW

Hansa Class is recognised by Australian Sailing Home - Australian Hansa Class Association