Disabled Sailors Association launches round the world voyage
The Disabled Sailors Association is looking for 1,000 wheelchair users to take part in its Trans-World Sailing Adventure.
To mark its 25th anniversary, the association has launched a £4.5 million project to build a wheelchair accessible superyacht to allow wheelchair users to sail around the world in safety and comfort.
The voyage, which will start in 2026, will be split into one- to six-week sections and heavily subsidised to make it affordable.
The association’s founder, Mike Wood MBE, has already designed and built two wheelchair accessible boats – the monohull Verity L, which is based in Spain, and the catamaran Spirit of Scott Bader which is in Portsmouth. Both are regularly used by the association.
“It all sounds a bit grand and ambitious but over the last 25 years we have designed and built some very good completely wheelchair accessible yachts and sailed them all over Europe from Sweden to Turkey,” explained Wood.
“The Trans-World Sailing Adventure is just an extension of things we have done on a fairly regular basis. It involves a lot more planning but so many able-bodied people have done it already and are assisting us we see no serious problems.”
Other projects to mark the anniversary include the launch of a new two-seat sailing dinghy which cannot capsize or sink, with a view to having disabled sailing re-introduced as a Paralympic sport, and a larger version of the Spirit of Scott Bader catamaran designed for coastal sailing. www.disabledsailing.org