Disabled Sailing Trust New Zealand
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in the Media
We are actively trying to raise the profile of the Disabled Sailing Trust as a way to secure funding for the cataman. Here are two recent articles that appeared in print:
The Aucklander 20 February 2010
BROADER HORIZONS
Valerie Schuler talks to a loving father with a vision for his intellectually disabled son and others like him, but he needs help to turn his $2 million catamaran dream into reality.
His parents' world changed when little Charlie Fathing was born.
The 5-year-old from Devonport has Downs Syndrome, a heart condition and a rare form of epilepsy. The first months of his life were spent at Starship Children's Hospital.
It was in hospital, looking out over the Hauraki Gulf, that Charlie's dad Jon Kirk thought about building a specially adapted yacht for children with disabilities and their families. READ MORE >
Boating New Zealand January 2010
Sailing for the disabled
CHANGING LIVES A BREEZE
A New Zealand organisation is seeking funds to build a specially-adapted catamaran to introduce disabled youngsters to the joy of sailing. Sam Stewart reports.
PLANS FOR a life-changing catamaran for the use of hundreds of disabled children have been realised.
Inspired by the Disabled Sailing Trust, a 16-metre Roger Hill sailing cat has been designed with the aim of getting disabled children and their families on the water.
Long-time sailor Jon Kirk founded the Disabled Sailing Trust along with David Barnes, skipper of KZ1 in the 1988 America's Cup, and says the goal is to give people a new lease on life.
"It's giving them an opportunity they wouldn't necessarily get," Kirk says. "Sailing is quintessentially a New Zealand thing - so is exploring the outdoors, and most people take that for granted."
With ramps, flush decks, single-level saloon and cockpit, and lifts down to the hulls, the cat will be available to families and groups for a few hours or a few days, with an able-bodied skipper.
Kirk came up with the idea while spending a lot of time in Starship Children's Hospital caring for his now five-year-old son Charlie, who has Downs Syndrome.
"There are a lot of displaced families out there. Whole families move to be near Starship, and they are struggling. It's quite neat for them to do something together and have some respite."
As well as giving disabled people the opportunity to be involved in sport, and the benefits of exercise, he says there is something about sailing that inspires.
"It's a hard feeling to describe, but it's that feeling of being at one with the ocean. If you're confined to a wheelchair it's being able to experience that freedom and the inclusiveness. It's about getting out and doing stuff rather than sitting inside."
The cat will be able to carry eight people overnight, or 20 for a day trip, and will include a drop down transom boarding platform for easy access to the water.
However, it comes with an estimated build cost of $2 million, and Kirk is appealing for sponsors and the marine industry to help out.
"Finding money is the next thing. We've been doing the hard yards talking to sponsors so far, but need some commitment. A lot of the disabled sailing community are really looking forward to it. There's nothing else like it in the southern hemisphere. It needs to be done, it's a good idea and now it needs some support."