In 1993 Mike Wood MBE, a wheelchair user himself, founded the Disabled Sailors Association. Since then the charity has enabled 50,000 disabled people to go sailing in specially designed dinghies, yachts and our existing Catamaran, The Spirit of Scott Bader. Which is now 25 years old and has taken over 12,000 disabled people sailing.

Currently 70% of our sailors are aged 5-25 and wish to sail with us and take advantage of our sail training opportunities, including RYA and DofE qualifications. The demand has increased considerably for young people wanting disabled sailing places, including those with the most complex of disabilities. Our current Catamaran, Scott Bader now needs replacing due to extremely heavy usage/wear and tear from its 25 years service. The proposed new HH44 Open Catamaran is a uniquely designed, specially equipped and fully wheelchair accessible Catamaran, with its design focussing specifically on the needs of disabled children and young adults.

This is an image of the proposed new Catamaran.

We have recently launched our fundraising campaign to raise the funds needed for this incredibly special and one of a kind Catamaran. It will allow anyone to access and experience the joy, freedom and independence of sailing. The Disabled Sailors Association is a non-for profit charity, which relies solely on donations from individuals and the voluntary sector to be able to continue its important work. The charity is unique by offering opportunities and experiences to disabled people that are simply not available anywhere else.

We enable people with any disability to go sailing, including those with physical, hidden and learning disabilities, those with serious illnesses, life limiting illness or disability and mental health problems.