Charity is hoping to raise £1.2m to make dreams come true for disabled sailors

A charity is hoping to raise £1.2m to make dreams come true for disabled sailors.

The Disabled Sailors Association, a sailing charity based out of Port Solent, has supplied more than 50,000 sailing opportunities to those with complex disabilities, mobility impairments, amputees, injured veterans and their families and carers over the last 30 years.

Since the closure of the Jubilee Sailing Trust, demand for accessible places continues to outstrip supply, resulting in the DSA building a new Dazcat 1500 at the Multihull Centre in Cornwall, that will double their capacity. Stage one is almost complete, with a proposed launch date of Spring 2027.

So far the incredible fundraising effort has seen them raise £1.3m of a £2.5m target to cover build, fit out and first year costs.

Founder and chairman, Mike Wood, 80, and is looking to build his legacy for the charity to continue for the next 30 years. They urgently need £250k to keep the build schedule on track and not miss the 2027 sailing season.

Mike speaking on board DSA's current catamaran, The Spirit of Scott Bader in Port Solent, said: “What I like to do is get a youngster in a wheelchair that’s had a protective family and get them on the front of the boat and put them on the wheel.

“The boat costs the same as two or three Ferrari's, is the fastest boat in the harbour, weighs five tonnes and I say ‘you’re in charge I'm going to make a cup of tea’. And you can see their fingers literally begin to tighten on the wheel as they realise the situation they are in. Seeing a youngster develop in front of your eyes…you can’t get that feeling anywhere else. That’s what’s kept me going for 30 years.”

Mike said disabled people struggle to sail due to the lack of accessible boats, with him doing all he can to change that. “The problem with sailing with disabled people is there are only one or two accessible boats in the world,” he said.

“Our one is probably the most accessible one. You can live on it, control it by yourself. A person in a wheelchair can sail this independently. I don’t need any help, all the controls are accessible.

“This boat is now 25 years old and we've learned a lot from it so the demand has increased over the last few years. We are running at full capacity and we need either a bigger boat or more boats.

“So with one of the best catamaran builders in the world we’ve designed a catamaran that a person in a wheelchair can control by themselves. If it’s easy for a person in a wheelchair it’s easy for anyone.

“That boat is likely to cost us £2.5m. We finalised the design of the boat and started building it a year ago. The hull and substructure is now complete. We’ve raised £1.3m to build the boat so far and my dream is to get it built in time for my 80th birthday at the end of this year.

“To make sure we cover costs we need to raise another £1.2m. That will also cover setting it up and the first year’s running costs.”

Contact the Disabled Sailors Association to donate.