Meet Faye

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Meet Faye
Cowes Sailability Club enables me to sail free, leaving my disabilities behind on the shore.  I love being able to leave my wheelchair on the pontoon, board a Drascombe Longboat with assistance from volunteers, and get actively involved in sailing the boat.

Cowes Sailability Club gives me a real sense of adventure.  I can’t go on a rollercoaster, but I can go sailing, and that’s just as exhilarating.  I just love it when the sailing boat heels right over or when I get splashed by the sea water. It’s so exciting!

I would encourage anyone with a disability to try sailing, either with Cowes Sailability Club or with another Sailability organisation near to where they live.  The volunteers at Cowes Sailability Club create such a friendly and welcoming environment, you know that you are not being judged.  Once on the boat, you are not a wheelchair user, you are just one of the crew.

I got my love of sailing from my Dad who set up his own Sailability charity called Sailfree in Yorkshire when I was a child.  Then, when I moved to the Isle of Wight, I got involved with Cowes Sailability.  I have rare conditions including Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, postural tachycardia syndrome, mast cell activation syndrome, chronic fatigue syndrome and hemiplegic migraines.  I am also deaf, but I try not to let any of this hold me back.

Through Cowes Sailability, I have been able to make friends with other island residents who are challenged by disability, as well as with volunteers.  Being a part of Cowes Sailability Club and going sailing regularly on Monday afternoons really improves my mental health and helps me to relax.  Mondays are the only night of the week when I sleep right through!