Equipment
Provide me with equipment to enable me to prepare myself and my boat for the challenge
Financial
Donate to my crowdfunding campaign to help provide equipment to get other people with disabilities sailing
Promotion
Share my challenge to help raise awareness of what I am attempting and enable me to reach my fundraising goal
Crowdfunder
I am trying to raise £30,000 for Newhaven and Seaford Sailability (NSS). The money raised will go towards buying equipment to increase the number of participants we can get sailing and increase their independence on the water.
NSS was founded in 2019. It was started because my health reached a point were i was no longer able to sail standard dinghies. Determined not to loose my ability to sail we decided to find a way to keep me on the water. The way to do that was through adaptive equipment that allowed the boat to work with my disability rather than agaisnt it. Through chance or fate this introduced us to the world of RYA Sailability.
RYA Sailability is the organization within the UK that enables people with disabilities to access sailing. This is done through lots of small clubs spread throughout the country who use specially adapted boats and equipment to give people independence in a way they often don’t get anywhere else.
We decided to found our own group within Newhaven and Seaford Sailing club. We realized we were in a unique position being passionate sailors who had dealt with disability daily meant we weren't scared of taking this own. We realized if we could find a way to keep me sailing, we could probably find a way to keep almost anyone sailing.
We started with two donated boats and one participant, me. 4 years on we now have 9 boats and support over 50 participants to get on the water every year. We have grown so much from that first day, and are now oversubscribed having to turn people away due to lack of and condition of equipment.
The money raised will go towards replacing our older boats that are nearly unusable as well as expanding our fleet to get more people on the water. We also want to get equipment that would allow our participants with more severe disabilities to get a greater independence allowing them control of the boat rather than simply being passengers.
Project Fear is about not only me proving to myself and the world that anything is possible. But it’s about supporting other people to experience even a tiny taste of the freedom I get every day on the water.