Cowes Sailability Club members enjoyed trips up Beaulieu River in Hampshire at the end of the 2018 sailing season.
As autumn approached, Cowes Sailability Club took advantage of the lingering good weather to arrange a series of trips for members on Wetwheels Hamble, a wheelchair-accessible motor catamaran. Groups of people with a range of disabilities and volunteer helpers sped across the Solent and voyaged up the Beaulieu River in Hampshire.
Jenny Girvin-Baker, who has a rare joint condition, was fortunate to gain a place on one of the trips. “It was a really special way to end the sailing season with Cowes Sailability Club,” she says. “I especially enjoyed bouncing at top speed over to the mainland and we even saw a dolphin on the way.”
Another highlight of the day for Jenny was catching sight of Gipsy Moth IV, the ketch in which Sir Francis Chichester sailed single-handed around the world in 1966-67, completing what was, at the time, the fastest voyage around the world by any small vessel. The sailing boat was restored in 2003-5 and is now often seen in the waters around Lymington and the Isle of Wight. “The weather was beautiful and it was lovely to see the Gipsy Moth,” she says.
Wetwheels Hamble was chartered for the trips by Cowes Sailability Club from the Wetwheels Foundation.
Click here for information about becoming a member of Cowes Sailability Club.