Surprise gift for disabled sailors and Sailability
Mayor cutting ribbon – Left to right: Dieter Voss, Mayor Mick Curran, Roma Ravn, Cr Mark McDonald, Paul Oliver, Raewyn Oliver, Arthur Hammond
Sailability TCB Inc started 11 years ago, and offers Sailing for the disabled. We operate every Friday from 8.30am until we run out of people!
Our group has an average of 30 sailors each week and we have about 30 members who volunteer their time most weeks as skippers or assistants.
Some of our sailors are very seriously disabled – non mobile and non verbal. This is no barrier to them taking part, as they can be lifted into the yacht using our electric hoist.
Last year our local physiotherapist, Sue Bennett recommended we acquire an electric hoist to save our shoulders! Financing such an expense, about $12,000, would be difficult but solicitors informed us that a local lady and a supporter of Sailability from its inception, had left us some money in her estate.
We utilised a part of it to purchase the Paramobility hoist which is totally mobile and will allow us to keep our older members without straining their shoulders.
The hoist was launched with the help of our patron Mayor Mick Curran, local councillor Mark McDonald and our volunteers.
