Design ideas for disabled sailors

I am a student of Naval Architecture from Cadiz (SPAIN), I am working on my graduate project, is about a 14 m. sailship adapted for a disabled sailor. I am looking for information related to this theme. I'll be thankful for any information you could provide to me related to sail ships adaptations, or any system that could make easier the sailing for a disabled sailor.

Yours sincerely,

Nicolás Nemirovsky

 

You might find http://www.ransbyoceanchallenges.com/ interesting, or get in contact with Stephen Sumner stephen.sumner@ntlworld.com who posted in rec.boats.building that he was involved in putting together a challenge to sail around the world non-stop, single handled by a disabled sailor and was looking for input.

Someone also suggested finding later books by Tristan Jones 'who lost his legs as a result of his adventures but continued to sail and eventually established a foundation for disabled sailors.'

 

Here are some other interesting links as well:

Sailing Web Options for Sailers with Disabilities
http://www.footeprint.com/sailingweb/

International Foundation for Disabled Sailing
http://www.ifds.org/

A Catamaran for Disabled Sailors by Jim Antrim
http://www.antrimdesign.com/baads/

OWLS Disabled Sail Program
http://www.owlscharity.org/martin.html

Victory 21 Disabled Sailing
http://users.sisna.com/darinc/dissail.html

Sailing Alternatives - providing the instruction, environment and support for disabled and able-bodied individuals to experience the thrills of sailing
http://www.sailingalternatives.org/

 

Nicolás you might want to have a look a the "Disabled Persons Transport Advisory Comitee" at http://www.dptac.gov.uk/

Also look for the Tenacious, by Tony Castro (www.tonycastro.co.uk), at the Jubilee Sailing Trust's Web Site http://www.jst.org.uk/.

You should go to the ELCANO sailing school (the one at the entrance of Cádiz), and see if they can give any information. They've had regattas for disabled sailors, so they might give some directions.

P.D.: estás haciendo el proyecto con Antonio de Querol?

 

Nicolás, you should have a look at
http://www.solent.ac.uk/maritime/research/mfr2001.html

where you will find:

http://www.solent.ac.uk/maritime/research/handiami_project.htm

Good luck with your project.

 

A new thread has been posted related to this one which may evolve in an exciting direction: Project Proposal : Proa Design for Handicapped Sailors

 

There is also the 2.4 metre class, the Norlins sailboats.
at www.ozemail.com.au/~mcleans/aus24metre.htm
that may be sail by able and disable sailors.

 

Saludos

Hola Nicolas, yo estudie en Cádiz tambien, hize el proyecto con Antoni Querol. Saludalo de mi parte si lo ves por allí. Ahora mismop hago 3 de una carrera de diseño de yates en Southampton, Inglaterra. No se si podré ayudarte en algo. Pero por pedir que no quede.

Y Fernado Sanz, alias Nandi. Hola tambien. Que tal por Escocia. Suelo ver a tu hermano por aqui. Espero que te vaya todo bien.

 

What kind of disabilities?

 

I'm currently building to this design, which I feel may offer some benefits to disabled sailors.

This is a tried and true design, having resulted from many years of testing others of the type. No traditional cockpit, the boat is sailed entirely from below decks. 360 degree visibilty is afforded by the pilothouse. All lines lead below, through water traps which also serve as ventilation. These vent trunks/water traps are designed to prevent water intrusion even in the unlikely chance of a roll. The boat is unsinkable, and the righting moment exists to 165 degrees. The low aspect, balanced lug is roller furled, again, from below decks. This boat minimizes leeway utilizing what the designer calls, "chine runners", essentially a Scheel keel, without the keel. This means that the only foil underwater is the kick-up rudder. Draft with the rudder up, is 9". Far from poor behavior under sail, this boat performs like most shoal draft keel boats, tacking true, and pointing well, with minimal leeway.

The designer's own boat has been sailed up and down the east coast of the US, with a great deal of time spent in the Carribean. Last year, the designer, aboard his own boat, won the Watertribe Challenge, a 300 mile nonstop race for sail and human powered vessels, from Tampa to Key Largo, FL. He finished 15 hours ahead of the next finisher.

The design is intended for economical construction in plywood/glass/epoxy.

It seems that the major problem encountered by sailors lacking mobility, is getting aboard. While this design probably isn't an improvement over other boats in this respect, once aboard the boat, everything is accomplished from the protected pilothouse, which also serves as the galley, and substantial berth. This might be a good small cruising boat for the independent sailor. I'm looking forward to sailing mine this summer.

http://home.triad.rr.com/lcruise/paradox1.htm
PARADOX

http://www.microcruising.com/
Microcruising in the Bahamas

DC

 

Kims answer

How about this design we have been working on. 16ft tri with a wingsail, seat and 1 sail control.working on a hand throttle for thje tiller and that will be finished soon. The wing automatically tracks the apparent wind and rotates 360 degs. Seems nearly impossible to tip over as the wing weathervanes in gusts of wind. Goes well upwind and also in reverse. Look it up at wingsails.net
Good sailing to all, Kim

 

Cat for the Disabled

I just recently received an inquiry as to the adaptabilty of my sailing rig design to a larger catamaran size for a disabled sailor. I recalled seeing a beautiful design in a recent issue of Yachting World (Feb 04)...the yacht "Impossible Dream" by Nic Bailey.

I had not noticed any referenced sites on this forum for that design, so I gathered a few together here:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/1733625.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/3090864.stm
http://www.btinternet.com/~nic.bailey/impossible-dream.htm
http://www.multihullsmag.com/magazine/OldMags/Jan-Feb 2004.htm

This truly is a beautiful design.

With reference to a sailing rig for a disabled person I might suggest a look at one referenced in the archives of my website at:
http://www.runningtideyachts.com/articles/othermansboat1.html
This rig was developed by a retired navy fellow who had a substantial handicap.

 

Cat for the Disabled

Somehow several of my referenced site got screwed up, so lets try again.


http://www.btinternet.com/~nic.bailey/impossible-dream.htm


http://www.runningtideyachts.com/articles/othermansboat1.html

 

I have a paraplegic sailor friend and we've kicked around a lot of ideas for a boat for him. We think an Atlantic or Harry proa makes a lot of sense. The crew doesn't have to move from side to side on each tack. And with an Atlantic proa, the crew doesn't have to leave the windward hull for sail changes, etc.

With an inclined rig and either a hang glider harness or a bosuns chair hung from the masthead, he could reach any place on the boat by pulling in on a line to the appropriate corner, as well as lower himself into the cabin. These lines would be anchored to the seat/harness, run to a block at the respective corner, and back to a cleat on the seat/harness for a 2: purchase. The vertical halyard would have a multi-part purchase to allow him to adjust the height easily. This arrangement allows him to secure himself in a very stable way anywhere on or between the hulls.

Once in the cabin, he could clip into a track running along the ceiling and once again have complete freedom of movement anywhere. This is one time when the long narrow cabin of a multihull actually comes in handy.

 

Easier options

There is an easier way and Rob Denney from Harry proa has seen this rig and likes it very much, and hopefully will be trying it on 1 of his boats shortly.
To see our idea look up www.wingsails.net . We have made a little tri with a hand throttle, mounted on the tiller , to control the wing. To move the rig left, turn the handle left and vice versa for right. The rig trims automatically and will weather vane if hit by a gust. It even works too and not too badly either. Hoping to start some larger projects soon too .Kim