Issue date
While in Auckland for the Volvo Yachting New Zealand Excellence Awards in November, the five Yachting New Zealand Regional Support Officers took the opportunity to learn more about inclusive sailing.
They were able to rig and sail some of Sailability Auckland’s Hansa Class boats. While this wasn’t a new experience for some of them, sailing with servo controls was, and I think it would be fair to say that they all found that it was harder than they thought it would be!
Rigging the boats was a great way of learning more about features such as the weighted keels and the reefing systems that make the Hansa boats so well suited to inclusive sailing.
All five also experienced being craned into their boats, and afterwards talked about some of the effects of different disabilities such as difficulties with temperature regulation, and considerations such as suitable life jacket choice.
