Blind sailors prep for international contest
It’s a picturesque evening at the Seabrook Marina: the sun nears the horizon, waves lap against the dock and on the water the wind pushes a 26-foot sailboat as it maneuvers between bobbing red buoys.
But the crew — Karen Penrose, David Atkinson, James O’Loughlin and Scott Tuma — isn’t your typical racing team. Both Penrose, 49, a Shoreacres massage therapist who steers the J/80 sportboat and O’Loughlin, 59, a Clear Lake retiree, are legally blind. The team, which has competed together for four years, is practicing for the 2015 Blind Sailing International World Championship, scheduled Sept. 10-13 in Chicago.
“Imagine if you go into a china shop and you close your eyes and have someone guide you through it. Then make it a race,” explained Tuma, 41, a project manager for the city of League City who lives in Shoreacres. He wears a neon yellow shirt and leans against the inside of the boat, working the sails with O’Loughlin as Atkinson, 54, also a Shoreacres resident, murmurs a steady stream of instructions to Penrose.
Atkinson’s only job in the crew is to tell Penrose where to go, and he is not allowed to touch the sails except in an emergency.
Penrose and Atkinson, who are engaged, haven’t limited their sailing involvement to competitions. The couple started the nonprofit Galveston Bay Blind Sailing Association a year ago to increase visually impaired people’s participation in sailing and bring the world championship to the Houston Yacht Club in 2017. A worldwide program The Chicago event will include about a dozen races over three days on Lake Michigan. This year’s will include teams from five United States, and Canada, Great Britain and New Zealand.
Three levels of blindness exist for racers: B1 is for those who are completely blind, B2 for those who can see some light and shadows, and B3 is for those with some vision but who are legally blind. Penrose and O’Loughlin are B3. At the world championship, teams race against other teams in their level.
All teams are composed of two sailors who are visually impaired and two who are not. One of the visually impaired sailors steers.
The main difference sailing with people who is visually impaired is the need for increased communication, Atkinson said.
“I’ve got to give her feedback even if she doesn’t need it so that she knows I’m still paying attention,” Atkinson said of guiding Penrose.
Atkinson, once was a Navy diver but now an account manager for a commercial diving service, at one point lost his focus causing Penrose to steer the sailboat slightly off course. Penrose was surprisingly serene as she repositioned the boat.
“I just love being out on the water,” said Penrose, who also kayaks and enjoys scuba diving.
“You have to have complete trust in your talker,” O’Loughlin said, who also has steered the sail boat before. “Of course if something happens, it’s not your fault. You’re blind,” he added with a grin.
O’Loughlin lost his vision in 1998 to a genetic disease. After what he calls “the usual pity party,” he got back to sailing, a hobby he grew up doing on the Long Island Sound.
A program called SailBlind, started by The Carroll Center for the Blind in Newton, Massachusetts, institutionalized blind sailing in the United States in the mid-1980s. The program continues and hosts the annual national championship competition.
With Penrose at the helm, the local team won the Blind Sailing National Championship in 2011 and 2012. All levels of blindness compete against each other for the national championship, which is not a prerequisite to attending the world competition. In addition to the local program, sailing groups for the visually impaired have been established in Florida, Illinois and California.
An international program for visually impaired sailors named Blind Sailing International puts on the world championship and was founded in 1994.
“You lose your vision and your world could become very small,” said Danette Davis, executive director for the Program for the Blind at the Marin Sailing School in Sausalito, California, who has met Penrose. “I really could see the benefit of getting these folks out and doing something physical and new and active on the weekends. I could see the confidence and the self-esteem boost.”
There is a financial burden to taking up sailing as a hobby, which can be an additional problem for those who are visually impaired, since more than 60 percent of adult Americans with significant vision loss were unemployed in 2012, according to the National Federation of the Blind.
Atkinson, Penrose, O’Loughlin and Tuma individually fund their practice costs, and raise funds and accept donations to pay for flights and hotel rooms at races. More established organizations such as the Program for the Blind at the Marin Sailing School have a fleet of sailboats available for a nominal fee and help cover the costs of travel for races.
Sailing in particular engages the senses of visually impaired people to an extent that other sports do not, Davis said.
As he helped bring the sailboat back towards the dock after an hour and a half practicing on the water, O’Loughlin said that since he can’t drive, he finds it a fun and safe way to operate a rapidly moving vehicle.
The Houston Yacht Club will host the World Championship in 2017, and Atkinson, Penrose, O’Loughlin and Tuma plan to participate on behalf of the Galveston Bay Blind Sailing Association. Atkinson said he hopes that the Galveston Bay Blind Sailing Association will eventually have a fleet of donated sailboats available for free use by local visually impaired residents who want to try sailing.