Reptile Smile
Member
A bit of a long shot, but if you don't ask, you don't get... Also not entirely sure of the best place to post this.
I have 7 year old twins. One of them has cerebal palsy, and accordingly has mobility issues. She can walk, with difficulty, with sticks on level ground, or a frame, but at primary school (mainstream) is generally in her wheelchair. The other twin has no additional needs.
After a unexpectedly succesful day's canoeing on our summer holiday with the girls, my wife, quite out of the blue, said, "You know what we should do next year? You should do your day skipper, and we should charter a boat."
Once I got over my astonishment, we started to explore the practicalities. I think a week in the Netherlands could work v well, and we would therefore have probably a bit of sailing on the Markermeer and IJesselmeer, and also some time on the inland waterways (at least, the Mast Up route). It struck me that if the kids hate sailing, at least we could rescue something on the canals. It would essentially mean me doing the sailing (with a little help where possible from other daughter), whilst my wife is generally sitting in the cockpit with daughter with additional needs.
It's a bit of a gamble, and also a not insignificant expense, and I wondered if I could put a possible plea out there to see if anyone would be able to host us for a sail to see whether it "floats my kids' boat", as it were. My daughter with the additional needs would just be sat in the cockpit, and my wife would just be with her and supporting her. My other daughter may or may not participate with a bit of child-friendly crewing, and I'm of course regular crew. To put into context, I've sailed something like 750 miles in the last 10 years, and skippered something loike 500, mostly single handed, on a variety of boats - generally in the Bristoil Channel, but occasionally off the Kent and Essex coasts. I like to think I generally know what I'm doing (at least, if I've got that wrong, I might be barking up the wrong tree with the summer holiday idea...).
I hope it would be possible to just go for a bit of a bimble - it doesn't need to be (indeed, probably shouldn't be) a Force 6 sailing with the gunwhales in the water - I just want them to have an experience of sailing to know whether our summer hol plan is a go-er or not. It also doesn't need to be for too long a period of time - maybe just an hour or two, just to give them a taste of it. If anyone can help, we could get to anywhere from - I don't know - say Plymouth to the Solent, and anywhere in South Wales. The only constraint from our point of view would be it would need to start from a pontoon - I don't think it would be feasible to lift my daughter in from a tender.
I appreciate it's a huge and somewhat cheeky ask, but if anyone would be able to offer such a "accessibility experience", it would be fantastic to hear from you - do DM me. Alternatively, or additionally, if anyone has any other ideas about how I might approach this, please do let me know.
Thanks for your time in reading this.
I have 7 year old twins. One of them has cerebal palsy, and accordingly has mobility issues. She can walk, with difficulty, with sticks on level ground, or a frame, but at primary school (mainstream) is generally in her wheelchair. The other twin has no additional needs.
After a unexpectedly succesful day's canoeing on our summer holiday with the girls, my wife, quite out of the blue, said, "You know what we should do next year? You should do your day skipper, and we should charter a boat."
Once I got over my astonishment, we started to explore the practicalities. I think a week in the Netherlands could work v well, and we would therefore have probably a bit of sailing on the Markermeer and IJesselmeer, and also some time on the inland waterways (at least, the Mast Up route). It struck me that if the kids hate sailing, at least we could rescue something on the canals. It would essentially mean me doing the sailing (with a little help where possible from other daughter), whilst my wife is generally sitting in the cockpit with daughter with additional needs.
It's a bit of a gamble, and also a not insignificant expense, and I wondered if I could put a possible plea out there to see if anyone would be able to host us for a sail to see whether it "floats my kids' boat", as it were. My daughter with the additional needs would just be sat in the cockpit, and my wife would just be with her and supporting her. My other daughter may or may not participate with a bit of child-friendly crewing, and I'm of course regular crew. To put into context, I've sailed something like 750 miles in the last 10 years, and skippered something loike 500, mostly single handed, on a variety of boats - generally in the Bristoil Channel, but occasionally off the Kent and Essex coasts. I like to think I generally know what I'm doing (at least, if I've got that wrong, I might be barking up the wrong tree with the summer holiday idea...).
I hope it would be possible to just go for a bit of a bimble - it doesn't need to be (indeed, probably shouldn't be) a Force 6 sailing with the gunwhales in the water - I just want them to have an experience of sailing to know whether our summer hol plan is a go-er or not. It also doesn't need to be for too long a period of time - maybe just an hour or two, just to give them a taste of it. If anyone can help, we could get to anywhere from - I don't know - say Plymouth to the Solent, and anywhere in South Wales. The only constraint from our point of view would be it would need to start from a pontoon - I don't think it would be feasible to lift my daughter in from a tender.
I appreciate it's a huge and somewhat cheeky ask, but if anyone would be able to offer such a "accessibility experience", it would be fantastic to hear from you - do DM me. Alternatively, or additionally, if anyone has any other ideas about how I might approach this, please do let me know.
Thanks for your time in reading this.
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. However although my son's physical disability does his affect his walking he can climb on the boat and into the cockpit, whereas it sounds like you might be lifting your daughter aboard? manoevering her along the coach roof on her bottom and into the cockpit? Getting down into the saloon and to the heads might be awkward. You've obviously sailed but these are the details I would want to discuss. I think if you can just get aboard a friendly boat in a marina and test out that side of things then going out for a sail (maybe on a different occasion) is a doddle! I will say that both my twins have spent lots of time on our boat and find it a bit boring - afraid I put them off. However my other son who also has cerebral palsy is really happy on the boat and loves it the rougher the better. He climbs along the gunwhales while I walk behind him on the pontoon as goalie.... Go for it and if you draw a blank PM me. We're on a swinging mooring and getting to the boat is a challenge for us to get in the diary as we are two hours away.
