Inner city sailing
For an inner city school, sailing might seem an unlikely sport. But Brent Knoll School in Lewisham, which has 134 children aged 4 to 16 with a range of physical and speech and language difficulties, has linked up with the Ahoy Sailing Centre in Deptford, a charity operating regular Sailability sessions on the tidal Thames throughout the year. You may have seen some of the schoolchildren on TV when Ahoy won 51,226 through the People s Millions programme in 2005, which paid for a Landrover with winch, an all terrain wheel chair, security lighting, a mural designed by local school children that runs along the slipway and an electronic winch to help people with disabilities get in and out of sailing boats independently and safely.
You cannot put a price on the kind of achievement our children feel when they sail, said Brent Knoll headteacher, Jon Sharpe. We received a grant from RYA Sailability to take children on an extended sailing course and the self-esteem and confidence they gained from tackling the unknown and succeeding was wonderful.
As well as the physical aspect, they had to focus on learning a technically demanding sport and understand instructions. This helped them develop skills that could be transferred to other areas of learning.
Some of our pupils have even joined the centre as junior volunteers.
Ahoy is now creating what is probably the first boat of its kind for use by sailors with and without disabilities. Planned to be introduced in 2008, this 10 metre catamaran, built by Cheetah Marine, is currently run by The Dolphin Trust at Poole Harbour as a service for taking people with disabilities around the Poole area. Ahoy received 95,000 from the City Bridge Trust in London to buy the boat and is now looking to raise the 43,000 needed to carry out the additional works.
The boat already incorporates some adaptions for use by people with disabilities,
which has lessened the costs involved for further development. Features now
being specially constructed for the boat include a hydraulic ramp so that it can come in at different heights alongside; new driving position, with a lifting platform; new steering and control mechanisms for laptop use by people in wheelchairs; and other innovations such as new mooring systems.
Our aim is to create a craft that puts wheelchair users in control with little or no assistance from able-bodied people. says AHOY Trustee, Clive Ongleby.
The boat is being adapted and modified so that it can be operated by sailors with disabilities to help both disabled and able-bodied people.