Hello, my name is Murray MacDonald and I am Autistic :) I live in Edinburgh in Scotland but originally hail from Oban on the West Coast of Scotland.

I have spent the last 2 years running a highly successful campaign called AUTISM ON THE WATER (AOTW). This is a campaign to raise awareness of the autistic spectrum through the sport of sailing. I believe that Sailing can benefit those with autism by improving Confidence - Social Skills - Problem Solving Skills. Everyday skills autistic people struggle with all the time. Sailing is a intense sport that requires these skills, having grown up in a large sailing family and been taking part in the sport for nearly 15 years, I have greatly improved in my confidence, social and problem solving skills although I am still learning stuff everyday.

With AOTW, I have been able to give something back to the world of autism. We have helped autistic people access sailing, I took charge of a whole autistic team at a National Championship event (probably the first ever autistic team at the time) and helped many individuals in the sailing world understand autism. We have even reached internationally in Hong Kong where I was heavily involved with the Volvo Ocean Race and our main ambassador is David Witt who was the skipper of Team SHK Scallywag in the last edition of the race sending the word that we strongly associate with when we are racing "Never give up".

I want to get more autistic involvement as well as more racing on our own Hunter 707 which was generously sponsored to us by several companies who all share our vision of encouraging autistic people to sail. However, some of the projects I have planned with AOTW require me to have certain qaulfications. My success story with my sailing has been the fact I have done all my sailing learning mainly by myself with help from others but never doing any sailing or dinghy courses. Now that AOTW owns a boat and with alot of coastal sailing events planned for 2019, I want to further gain knowledge and experience and get that "piece of paper" so I am looking to do a RYA Day Skipper. I have found one that starts in early March 2019 on the River Hamble in the Solent and it is a 9 day combined Theory and Practical which suits my requirements.

The cost for this course is fairly substantial as well as covering the logistical costs of travel to Hamble and accommodation and as I do not work full time, I am looking for some help with this and so have come down the Crowdfunding route. Anything you can spare would be massively appreciated and will really help further develop the contribution Autism on the Water.

If you have any questions or would like to know more about me or my involvement with AOTW please feel free to contact me or visit AOTW's Facebook page www.facebook.com/autismonthewater

Please note that the support you provide will be for me personally, to develop my own sailing skillset. It will, however, also enable me to contribute in an increasingly meaningful way to the work of AOTW.

Thank you all so much and for those on social media, please share the page!

Murray :)