[Yknot-list] Accessible Sailing: VIP program celebration
Keith Hobbs
keith.c.hobbs at sympatico.ca
Fri Jul 21 11:35:17 PDT 2006
La voile accessible sailing
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Update / Le point
2006 ~ Vol. 3, No. 3
======> 2006 is a year of notable nautical milestones, including the 75th anniversary of the CYA.
Latest staff newsletter here et voici.. And it's the 30th year since Bronte Harbour YC in Oakville began its annual sailing week for VIPs -- visually impaired participants, for which there is a brief photo story below. Sailing for persons with special needs has a long history in Canada, as evidenced also by the Independence Afloat Sailing School begun in 1980 in Toronto. Lots of program development later, there are new opportunities, in which to be engaged. Read on for ways to network and contribute at the national and provincial levels.
---Keith
CYA Accessible Sailing Committee
This could be your opportunity to see that Canada gets real accessible affordable active sailing programs that recruit / engage new sailors and build their skills and sailing interests.
The growth of sailing for persons with a disability suggests the possible need to expand the membership of the Canadian Yachting Association's (CYA) Accessible Sailing Committee.
In forming this committee the goal has been to represent the full spectrum of sailing interests across the country. The current committee offers a great range of skills / interests. Your involvement could enhance this capability and enable us to tackle more aspects of sailing in Canada.
The committee has opportunities to put forth policy proposals in consultation with CYA staff that the board of directors can approve, to improve the quality and quantity of domestic programs.
The Accessible Sailing Committee is administratively tucked under the wing of the Racing Division. Yet it is involved in identifying coaching opportunities, coordinating training / racing clinics and regional / national CYA regattas. And there are aspects of the Training Division where it also addresses Learn-to-Sail, Learn-to-Race, and Learn-to-Cruise. Communications and promotion opportunities via the Internet and other media are available.
What the committee does nationally in terms of policies, standards and communications facilitates the Provincial Sailing Association's (PSA's) work with clubs, programs and sailing schools.
What I'm looking for is expressions of interest in joining the CYA's Accessible Sailing Committee.
There is no executive jet to bring us all together, but we have a budget for two conference calls per year, one in the summer and the other in the fall prior to CYA's Annual Planning Conference.
If the prospect of becoming involved in this committee holds interest for you or anyone in your able sail community, please let me know as soon as possible, along with any questions you may have.
I'll respond to everyone that expresses interest and subsequently select a full spectrum group.
Reply to the committee chair: keith.c.hobbs at sympatico.ca
PS -- even if you aren't available as a committee member, suggestions are welcome from everyone on the updating of content for www.accessiblesailing.ca
Able Sail Ontario Committee
Greetings Ontario!
www.AbleSailOntario.ca
Now is your opportunity to join a group of your peers working on partnership and program enhancement initiatives for recreational and competitive sailing.
So far, three functional subcommittees have been formed: Program Participation, Racing / Events, and Public Relations.
Names of the volunteers for these groups are available from the committee chair, along with contact names and contact persons for several initial areas of interest that will be addressed by the subcommittees.
There is plenty of room for you to become involved and to incorporate any additional sailing matters that you find important.
Meeting notes from the teleconference of June 1, 2006 and an updated draft of the committee's mandate are available from the committee chair via the email below.
Ontario Sailing facilitates collaboration on recreational and high performance accessible sailing in Ontario.
Your contribution as a volunteer makes good things happen.
To indicate your interest, please contact the committee chair: ablesail at OntarioSailing.ca
Able Sail Network
New web homepage extols affordable, accessible, active sailing. www.ablesailnetwork.ca
Streaming communications
Since the last newsletter, accessible sailing community leaders across the country have received ongoing news updates that they are encouraged to share in their areas. If you have missed any of the following items, please check with your program operator or ask me for a copy.
- IFDS Bulletins
- US Independence Cup/North American Challenge Cup
- Special Olympics Sailing Regatta
- 2.4mR Canadian events
- ALACD www.ala.ca News Release / Communiqué de presse -- 04/28/2006
- IFDS request for videos
- US SAILING Announces Ranking System for 2007 US Disabled Sailing Team
- Freedoms: new boats available
- International Trapseat Cup (ITC)
- U.S. National Championship NOR / Martin-16
- Direct receipt (option) of the IFDS Bulletin
- Expansion of CYA Accessible Sailing Committee
- New Paralympic class boat arrives in North America
- 2008 Paralympic Qualification Guide
- Sabaudia's Cup 2006
- 2006 2.4mR US Nationals
- Coaching Internship Program / Rappel - Programme de stages d'entraîneurs
- 2.4mR Subsidies for IC / NACC still available
- Americas Regatta: the three Paralympic plus Martin-16 classes
- Notice of Race - 2006 Canadian 2.4mR Championship - August 19-20.
Class News
2.4mR
- new events website www.can24metre.com
- strong Canadian results at US Nationals.
- Canadians, National Yacht Club, August 19-20
Access
- SKUD-18's have arrived in Canada
- Canadian all classes championship, July 29 Trenton. John: information / registration (613) 392 6764
Challenger
- new boat has arrived in Canada. Information.
- IFDS worlds in UK, August 3-11, 2006. Details
Hobie-16/Trapseat
International Trapseat Cup, Dec. 27-30. Mission Bay YC.
Mike Strahle at: trapseat at c-zone.net or (530) 245-0964
Martin-16
- event calendar www.martin16class.org/events
- regatta reports www.martin16class.org/results
- production facility fire
Sonar
- regattas / results info
VIP: 30 years at Bronte Harbour
Where were you in 1977?
Thirty sailing seasons ago, Bronte Harbour Yacht Club (BHYC) started a full week of sailing that is experienced each June by a group of visually impaired adults--and the occasional teenager--mostly novice sailors whose disability ranges from total blindness to those with very limited vision
.
This is not only a sailing week that enables participants to stretch their horizons--it is also a mutual time of challenge, camaraderie and fun for the VIPs visually impaired participants and for the volunteers.
It was in England that the roots of the program began; club member Vicki deKleer learned about sailing programs there for the disabled and wondered whether BHYC might be able to provide a similar service here in Canada. She took the seeds of her idea to the members of the Board, and following their approval she enlisted volunteers to help her. It was felt that it would be wise to limit the program to a single impairment, blindness.
Volunteers to the program have discovered that in return for giving their time (and a fleet of privately owned CS-30 sailboats, they themselves receive and incredibly rewarding experience.
A club member built a working model that illustrates the parts of a sailboat and how they interact. Another member designed and build a scale model of the harbour from the bridge to the end of the lighthouse pier, including docks and navigation buoys, so that VIPs would have a sense of where they were going before they reach the open lake.
The one week program's highlights have included a cruise to Fifty Point for a picnic, as well as the traditional CS-30 Regatta. An acoustic buoy designed by Sheridan College is used to signal turning marks on the race course. (Ed.: an acoustic buoy system is core to the subsequently developed Homerus international match racing championships for VIPs.)
Organization for the Sailing for the Visually Impaired program has changed hands over the years, passing from founder Vicki deKleer to Norm Ferguson, then progressively through Dini Opitz, Liz Mather, and George Strachan to the current program leader Michael Gibbon
With text by Alexandra Treiber as published in GAM 2002 and text/photos by KCH 2001.
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The Great Canadian Accessible Sailboat Fleet
BOATS BC AB SK MB ON QC NB NS NF Totals
2.4mR 2 15 17
Access 6 2 53 5 2 5 2 75
Challenger Tri. 1 1
Freedom/Ind.-20 1 1 1 3
Hobie-Trapseat 14 2 3 19
Martin-16 14 5 1 6 18 5 2 51
Mini-12 12 4 16
Sonar 3 1 1 5
Sunbird 1 1 2
Other keelboats 6 6
TOTALS 51 10 2 6 102 11 5 6 2 195
Notes:
1) this data does not include the boats used by Queens Quay Yachting with the CHIRS program, nor the Lake Joseph YC program with CNIB, nor Bronte Harbour YC's keelboats for its annual program for persons with a visual impairment.
2) for strategic planning purposes with its Long Term Sailor Development Model, the CYA needs to put on paper a boat progression model for the development classes for athletes with a disability just as it does for its other programs, where for example one moves from an Optimist to a 420 then a 29er and then Olympic class boats. In our case the obvious categories are the cat rigged Access 2.3 for entry level, then all the sloop classes: Martin-16, 303, Liberty, Challenger, Trapseat, Freedom-20, with the Martin-T/Martin162 at the top prior to the three Paralympic classes of 2.4mR, UD-18 and Sonar. This is an exercise of logic on paper where in reality one can start anywhere in the system if you have the capabilities to handle the boat.
3) data based on this newsletter's survey in fall 2005, updating its work from the previous year.
4) data updated May 2006 & July 2006
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Your National Sailing Network
As a member of the CYA http://www.sailing.ca/about/organization you are part of the Accessible Sailing Network. Through the CYA and it's (your) provincial sailing associations (PSA's) http://www.sailing.ca/services/organizations/provincial.shtm we are building sustainable networks that foster inclusion through sailing as leisure, recreation and sport. You get a lot now from your network that you may take for granted, whether it's learn-to-sail or learn-to-race, regattas, instructor and program liability insurance. Can the network be improved? It's your network, so have your say. Continue the dialogue at http://www.sailing.ca/scripts/discus/discus.cgi on how to make the network better and to make the official world practical to sailors and program organizers across the country.
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Previous newsletters / Future News
This and previous issues of Update / Le Point are posted on the CYA Message Board. which offers an open forum for discussion.
Looking forward to promoting accessible sailing together.
Send news as it happens.
Keith Hobbs
Chair, Accessible Sailing
Canadian Yachting Association
http://www.accessiblesailing.ca
My role with CYA and sailing overall is strictly as a volunteer. I chair the CYA accessible sailing committee, produce this newsletter and liaise with sailors and programs across the country to support all events and class associations.
CYA Staff
http://www.sailing.ca/about/staff/staff2.shtm
CYA's Provincial Sailing Associations
http://www.sailing.ca/services/organizations/provincial.shtm
CYA's national partner, the ALACD:
Active Living Alliance for Canadians with Disabilities
http://www.ala.ca/content/home.asp
ALACD Community Development Representatives
http://www.ala.ca/Content/Contact/Overview.asp?langid=1
Please advise of address change
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