Published on: 19 July 2023
Severely disabled sailor, Mike Wood, is seeking to raise £1.5 million to build and run a catamaran yacht to introduce disabled children and young people to sailing.
Mike, who was injured in a motorcycle accident in 1978, paralysed from the chest down and confined to a wheelchair, has, quietly, over the last 30 years raised over £5 million to invest in sailing for disabled people and nearly 50,000 people have used the amazing yachts and dinghies he designed and built.
Introduced to the sport during rehabilitation and pushed to excellence by his physiotherapist while at Stoke Mandeville Hospital, Mike set up a monthly magazine call RED HERRING in 1993 with another disabled friend, Rob Williams. He then formed a charity to provide leisure and sporting facilities for wheelchair users, now known as the Disabled Sailors Association (DSA).
“A small group of friends and I developed many sports and leisure activities over the years, but we kept coming back to sailing as it offers so much to wheelchair users and if it is easy for a wheelchair user it’s easy for anyone.”
Whatever the disability, sailing offers it all, from tranquil drifting about on a quiet sunny afternoon to the steep learning curve of trimming your sails to perfection, the mental agility of navigation and race tactics to the adrenaline action of overtaking at a mark in a race, you can be alone or in a group or a team, there so many choices.
He has previously raised £500,000 to design and build a yacht that a person in a wheelchair could sail by themselves with or without the rest of the family, and HRH the Princess Royal launched ‘Verity K’ in 1995 and it was an instant success running at full capacity.
Demand then led to the building of an amazing catamaran that could be sailed single-handed by a wheelchair user but could have a crew of 12 for day sailing and six for cruising. This was again an instant success and runs at full capacity.
Both Verity K and Scott Bader are nearly 25 years old and wearing out as they are in use much more than the average yacht. Any disabled person can sail them and live on them if they want to. Mike says: “You are only a passenger with the DSA if you choose to be.”
Mike has worked with one of the world’s most prestigious catamaran builders HH Catamarans to arrive at a design for a new catamaran. This will meet the needs of modern adventurous disabled young people including facilities for the most complex disability needs, hoists for toilets and showers, fridge for medical stores heating and air conditioning.
“The DSA has never refused anyone because of their disability and the new design will allow us to continue this policy and extend our scope and availability,” Mike added.
Almost £500,000 has already been raised towards the project and Mike is seeking to raise the remaining funds to start the build.
To find out more and details on how you can support this great project visit https://www.disabledsailing.org
