I, I
Yeah.
Ok.
321.
So hold it there.
Ok. Everything.
We're about a minute to the start.
I sit on a travel bar because I'm reading the breeze and all of a sudden
I hear,
oh my God, he's blind.
It's not just going for sailboat rides. It's actually competing
and raising the level of their experience.
Does your head fill
in tight Nancy?
There you go.
Now, bear off five inky.
There are five.
There we go.
Nice pressure. Wow.
Home
study on course,
I started sailing when I was 26
back in 1979.
I've been a competitive athlete since I was 14
while I was at Perkins. I was on the
Perkins wrestling team and the track team
sailing was just another avenue for
being competitive
which overlapped into
getting a job because you have to be competitive to do that
in a few months.
I will be retiring from my job as
Braille shop instructor at Bay State Correctional Center.
We produce braille books for school kids
using computer technology and inmate labor.
Sometimes sailing seems to be more of a priority than the job.
It looks like what we have for you guys for today
is the backside of this front that went through last night,
uh which is giving us a nice light northerly this morning, which
I anticipate to hold most of the day. Somewhere in the 6 to 10 knot range.
This slides in.
Try again.
I
go right back.
You gotta
fit it.
There you go.
Just give me numbers. It's all
down two.
This is where it gets a little challenging
because it's light and we're looking for pressure,
counterintuitive
for me. At this point. The hard part is just
maintain mental focus,
especially as the caliber of sailing goes up,
the expectations go up,
the margin for error becomes tighter
with the one o'clock,
with the two o'clock
coming down, coming down, coming down.
But if you're passionate about what you do and you work hard at it,
um Most eventually there come, there comes points where everything will click.
That's what makes racing so much fun is that
when it works? It's wonderful.
Congratulations.
And here's your trophy.
Stay
sorry.
Nobody wants to be blind.
Nobody wants to lose vision.
Nobody wants to struggle through life.
And every time you go to the doctors,
you go with hope that they're gonna give you news that things will change.
But things don't change.
We go to work.
So you get yourself on a high to get there
and then you leave on a low of reality.
But it's those lows that give me
the energy to reach into my heart, to advocate for others.
And she says, Nanna, can you read this story?
I said, Leanna, Nanna can't see those words either.
She came back and she says, all right,
read me this story, Nana.
It's my daughter, Laurie said, just
make something up for her.
And I said, all right,
once upon a time and
Leanna went,
oh Nana,
you're making this up. No stories start with once upon a time.
So she knew
that I couldn't see the words.
The hardest thing I did
was to surrender my driver's license.
Do you see the V now or is it too blurry? I can see it.
Do you see it now? Yes.
Even if I only went a mile from the house,
it was that sense of freedom.
It was that independence.
It was mine.
I could get away if I wanted to.
And when I take this away, the do they go much further apart horizontally?
They're side by side? But they're really far apart, right?
So this brought it closer but not together, right?
Their,
their edges are touching my husband and I met when I was 16 and he met me with nos stags.
He met me with my
head turned to the side my entire life.
He was used to me driving that way.
So
I don't think, and I still don't think even my family fully understand
how difficult it is for me to see
if somebody's eyes look normal,
you don't see the disability
and so many people with vision loss, their eyes do look normal.
So you assume that they see, normally
you're gonna see a very pretty blue light.
It looks like when I lost my license, it's,
they, nobody understands why,
you know, like you've had that your entire life.
Yes.
So why can't you see now?
No,
because it's changing. You know,
the next step would be to consider doing some eye muscle surgery
to weaken that muscle that's pulling the eye towards the nose to
allow the eye to come a little bit more towards the center.
So you wouldn't necessarily need to have to turn your head as much
to see clearer. Where's your next adventure to?
Um,
I don't know the nationals probably next year
and then hopefully the world's in Japan.
So does the dog tell you when to
talk?
Yeah, he doesn't go with me. I wish he could.
Did you sail in the
Charles River too? Have you
ever been
sailing in there where,
you
know, this is terrible.
I don't know where we're staying.
You
don't know where you go.
You're not going to National.
They will kill me.
We're gonna go to the left.
I
thought I'd do my way around
me.
I don't
get where we park.
Bye.
Mary.
Mary
have
a rodeo
12.
Yeah.
So far it, it gets like hot here.
So I'd keep it back
back here.
Some people may have never been on a sailboat at all.
You know, they're trying to figure out, well,
what's that noise or where's this movement coming from?
Uh, particularly if they might not feel stable.
So there's noises that some people might never have experience
that we take for granted. Like the halli slapping on the mask.
Uh
What are they feeling? What does it feel like?
Uh, actually I could use some help back here. It's all messed up.
You
go,
I go this way, I'm crawling from that way.
Sailing has given me another challenge
that I, I embrace
with that worrying so much
that
I cannot see. I cannot do it
that
all the
shows and,
um,
got
the clue.
No, I don't wanna be treated differently.
Yeah, I don't wanna be protected and sheltered, you know,
I wanna be me.
Oh,
the,
if you don't use a stick
around there a little bit. So I know how the layout is.
Bingo. You found him?
Yeah.
Oh,
this
thing is right there
because we're going right up to the coast
between
1 to 2 and then back to one.
So that's course. Number two. Course number one is just
start, finish court to, to buoy
number one,
all the way down to buoy
number three
and then
back over and then back to start, finish
one of the training courses I had recently was about how to deal with,
with major change.
And
I sort of felt I already had gone through
all those steps and that's exactly what they said.
Don't view change
as something you should be negative about. Don't oppose it
really just go with the flow
the
team.
Sarah La.
So let's work out the seating arrangements.
Bye
54321.
Everything can change so fast with just one move.
It's just all about staying focused and trusting your team.
Talk,
talk,
talk
ta
the rules for a blind sailing team
consists of four members,
two blind sailors and
two sighted crew.
Ok? Focus focus, focus
the two blind sailors.
One controls the helm which steers the boat and
the other controls the sails which power the boat.
Yeah, there we go. Ok.
And there's a gaggle of sheets and lines you need to control
and it's different for a wee boat out on the main,
just a little bit still.
So you just need to remember where everything is.
The two sided members of the team. One is a tactician
down
one, a little light spot here
lets the blind sailors know
what's around the boats where a racing mark when it's coming up.
We're a two bolt length from the mark
and the other sighted crew member
sort of helps with lines and they are also a set of
eyes calling out how far a marker is or how close we are
ready about ready about
pack.
The tactician doesn't steer the boat.
It's actually the blind crew on the tiller, steering the boat
down two.
That's the vision of fine sailing here to let, let the blind sailor do,
do as much as possible.
Stay up, Scott, stay up,
stay up, up,
up,
they
back in 321 packing.
Thank you.
I,
up to
a lot of sailing is through the sea of the pants,
feel on your butt and you'll feel the angle of heel.
Listen to the waves to lured.
If there's a decent breeze, we have good boat speed because the waves are rhythmic.
Listen to the sales.
If they're luffing or either up too high or the trim is not proper,
right?
C
what we lack in vision,
we compensate for by
the senses we have left
11 on deck.
He looks up wind, he puts his cheek out there.
He feels the pressure of the wind on his cheek which allows
him to really understand the dynamic of where the boat's going,
how the boat should be trimmed.
It is a special, special talent
that they've developed and all of this is happening
while I'm listening to other boats,
while I'm listening to instructions from my guides,
while I'm listening to feedback from them
for lack of a better description. It's a full sensory experience
up one up two
stop.
Alright. Good
job. Wow.
Wow.
Oh, yeah.
Good job.
Oh yeah.
Oh yeah. Yeah.
If you guys all again,
you know, this whole thing is a new thing and we all made some new connections here
and I think that's what we really want to celebrate.
Um You know, whatever happens out the water, you know,
we might be cursing and yelling at each other out
there.
When, when we come back in here,
I think we're all a family because we were really in this
community together and I think we made bridges to other communities too.
And um
I mean, we just started a new family. So here's to that
when people ask me, you know, it's the craziest thing you've ever done.
And it's like, oh, I raced sailboats, you know, to that
to them.
I think it's, it's really shocking.
I was in my last year of college and
I underwent emergency neurosurgery to remove a, a
benign tumor
resulting from that surgery.
There was some damage done to my optic nerves which, uh,
left me to lose a lot of my functional vision
and, uh, sent me into a spiral of
depression and, uh, I just, I thought my life would
be over. II, I thought I'd just be spending
my life in bed and, you know, just, uh, stagnant and not moving on anymore.
I, I thought my life would have just, you know, basically just stopped.
It's supposed to call out
the streets, you're on
whatever, you know, tell you your location.
But, uh, it doesn't always work.
You know, I still keep, keep hope alive. Maybe a miracle will happen. But
I had to deal with the facts
and start, start to go from there.
You're on
100% of the time.
You
don't have a second chance to
go through the course.
So I'm gonna roll my number in the middle
five.
Ok. Got it.
I'm gonna hand you di
and I will bring the board toward
you
lose.
That's what makes racing so much fun is that
when it works, it's wonderful
and
carry over from sport
can be huge when applied to things like everyday personal life
that your life is not over. If you lose your vision
and even if you never had it,
you know,
you don't have to live it in a bubble.
I
got eight. Ok. I'm
gonna
move
you, you gonna be a rail
tycoon.
He's gonna try
it on
Mrs property, Pennsylvania
Railroad. I owe
25 bucks,
25. You gotta fork it over to me. Big guy. That's
ok. Hey, there's money here.
No, no,
it
just fell off
your money.
I know. I'm so sorry,
I'm blind. I
can't
got
the line
guard
in
the
file, right.
It's interesting when you look at
the type of person who's blind or visually impaired,
who decides to be a competitive sailor.
We all are assertive about
who, what and how we do things
and who we are.
Um
And if you're gonna step on us, we're gonna squawk. I'm
feeling,
watch
out.
I
clapped my hands over my ears.
How much is Illinois let me look. Can I see
it?
You can hold Carl only
four spaces from the start. You know,
we've noticed that about
you.
It's $240. 240,
it
can out of
w
it's
not out
of
wood.
I enjoy it.
Wait,
wait for that.
Ok.
When you're on the water, you're competitive. But when you're off the water
you come together and your friends and your
team and you're an equal playing ground and you share your joys of that race
and you share your pitfalls and you learn from each other.
And
even if we don't win,
I've given it my all, I've given it my best. It's a good day
because I could embrace it. I could do it
even though you're under the direction of your sighted guide,
they're your passenger
and you're driving against
the wind, but you're driving once again, you have that independence,
you're making decisions, you're com,
you're communicating,
you pray.
It's the only freedom that you really, that I really feel
that I have with that vision.
Yeah,
I just
feel
we are surely not preparing our teams to compete at the world level.
We
must be
the
field for
the results of this
US
national
show clearly that those teams put
the
dash.
Did you see the email from Al Specter?
I saw it this
morning. The thing is we're concentrating,
not being able to see
we're concentrating on what you can feel the wind or whatever it may be.
That's why we had those people to assist us in certain things.
It does not mean that we're gonna give them all the control and they all say, oh,
you can't, you,
your team can't sell with anybody but can
it goes to show that Ken does everything for you?
You know, it goes to show if we are tuned into Ken's instructions
and, and Ken knows exactly my, my one,
my down to it means other people to go this white.
I say
I'm going, I'm zigzagging all around the world.
I said what I said, what's going on here
when we sail,
Ken is a person. We give you that lay out
what's happening in the water.
It's not like somebody's guiding you
in, in that way. We feel that we are really
within
the competition.
So we know exactly what happened, even tell us what the
something happened there in the other boats. It tells us
other people don't do that.
So I feel very involved
sailing with
someone who knows what's happening and give you instruction.
That's how I am too inky.
I don't want somebody telling me to let the jib way out and then no, pull it way in and
it wastes a lot of strength
and en
and energy
to let it out and pull it in. I rather fine tune it.
I, I
tell everybody.
So
when you're racing
as a blind sailor,
we have to say thank you to those side of people.
You have eight boats
converging in the one point.
I don't care who you are, how best you are as a sailor.
You have eight but conversion one. But you took a turn.
You gotta be kidding me. These people get nervous.
They get nervous. Are we hoping to go to Japan?
I gotta practice Japanese first.
This really has been the premier event in blind sailing in the United States.
And it also helps to prepare us, uh, for competing on the world stage in Japan.
You
want?
How are you? Nice to see. You. See you, you're looking great. Oh, thank you. You
look
terrific
sailing a lot
as much as I can.
Don't take too much attention to their vision. Feel much about the feeling.
But you, you were vision impaired from birth, right?
No, no, no, no, you weren't. I was, I lost my vision at 17 years old.
Did that gradually happen or no? As a matter of fact, I lost my vision one night
overnight.
I had a little problem with my vision. I went to see a doctor at the surgery.
I woke up the next morning. I couldn't see anything else
that evening. My father came to the hospital
with the president of the country.
He looked at me
and um,
the president's wife, he said, oh, well,
things would be ok.
You'd be going to the United States.
My left eye
was supposed to be safe.
By the time
you're trying to go, come here in the United States,
it began to affect my left eye from where
I was born in Congo. You know,
Congo.
In most African nations, blind people sit in the corner and beg
for money.
That's one of the thing my parents didn't want to see me do.
That's why my, my father was so devastated but to, to hear about me becoming blind.
And I remember
when I was young in Africa, we walked by, we said a blind person sitting, you know,
putting hand like this begging for money.
We will take
beer, bottle, a cup,
we drop in his hand.
Oh, you throw it up. No, that's not money.
We thought, oh, you can see. We, we, we, you know, I think people should beat them up.
And when I, I was really declared blind in Massachusetts, I wanna kill myself.
And that's one of the things I said to
the lady was help. You know,
my good friend Linda said,
I'd rather, I'd rather die than be blind.
You've got your hats for your fruit.
So if you want to pull one out and give one to Nancy,
please.
Oh,
it's extra large to fit yours this year.
And
this is in,
there are three classifications that we're looking for.
Uh the first classification called B one that's the worst.
Those are people who are for all practical purposes, totally blind.
Uh We'll accept, they can see a little bit of light.
Uh But if they can see the, the hand moving,
uh that vision is too good to be a B one sailor.
I
have,
I have no,
I
bet
the next classification of people with some sight but not a lot. And if you
think of the eye chart, think of the big E on the eye chart.
If they can barely see three times the size of that big E,
then they'll fall to that second category.
I am A B two.
That was
in the third category of people who can see that three times big E,
that's the B three category.
If they can see the big E and then some small other than that,
they don't fit into the classifications for blind sailing.
So this will give you an idea we'll look at for the peripheral vision.
So, so the number of course, will be able to see off one side of the page,
the other side of the page weird because I have this blinder
and then I have vision way out to the side too.
So it's not as narrow as you might think.
It's like there's this doughnut shaker with blindness in each eye.
So
do I, do I get it to you again?
Do I, do I have to reclassify you? I'm A B one
BB one, I'm
total.
Uh We've, we've sailed by a variety of different roles of cast gears
and uh the the, the, the program seems to be evolving.
Uh Some blind sailors are, are handling the main sheet now.
Uh Some who well, less experienced in handling GYP sheet,
there should be one sided guy who really isn't touching anything. And then,
uh, but I just wanted to,
to make sure that everyone feels comfortable with the
roles that they're playing is gonna be a,
a much bigger breeze today.
I can't wait.
I think we're gonna have some good wind. Have a lot of fun out there there.
V
The start of the race is critical because every boat wants the best position
on the starting line.
Usually it's a win would start. So you have to use that zig zag pattern.
Let's say Winwood
a lurid all the way downwind
and then back up again to Winwood
in order to finish
race committee here, we're gonna get underway momentarily.
We'll be bringing down the A P flag
up for just a little bit more. Stop
turning, stop,
turn
tiller in the middle.
Sometimes there's a bit of screaming and yelling.
Uh, you know,
you're in my way and there are several rules that dictate
as to who has the right of way at the start.
They will give you a horn at five minutes and at four minutes and at one minute
and at go,
you wanna get a running start,
so you're crossing the starting line just at that proper time.
If you don't get a good start, then it's playing catch up
up on the rail up.
Five
oh,
Jesus is a
card.
And then you round that Winwood Mark counterclockwise and head
downwind where you're letting the sail all the way out,
be
run
with at one o'clock
that
for,
sit
down, down, down.
No
judge that
your head
shut that, run
away,
run
away,
hurry it up
and run away.
Sit
up.
Today's racing in the nationals is
probably the closest competitive racing I've seen
in all blind sailing.
The skill level of the sailors has really increased tremendously.
Oh
my God.
As a result of that, what we saw
in one of the mark rounding one of the blind sailors fell overboard.
Oh, somebody down right there
all that
time.
Every time I'm in the book, I don't see myself losing.
Wanna win
downtown. Don
all the way out now. Down five, down five
we're not going to catch first. So he's too far ahead.
Get that gib out there. Get out there a little more and
it gives you the power to fight just like
it's probably like road rage.
Thank you for working.
Nice. We're about to finish
my back in Nancy.
Ok. Good done.
We got second.
What a day?
I
thought
your,
you
what
you
need.
I can't believe
I went over to the other side to the low side too soon.
And,
um,
I don't know, we just, I just kept going on. I started trimming in the sail
and the boat was just on its
keeled up and I just went over and I felt a little panicked as I saw
the look on his face and his mouth open and
that water just going over him completely. And
we
were,
but
next time would you just let us
know
we didn't and we didn't stop because it's about the sportsmanship.
Not about how you play. It's about finishing
and we finished every race. We didn't care about how we were finishing.
We were learning,
it was
disappointing
from the point of view.
I thought we had a couple of good, really good starts and, and we just,
it just didn't go our way today.
One of the things we try to do is to bring in some
of our elite coaches and skilled coaching sailors from around the United States.
And what that does is it exposes the sailors whether they're
um of a beginner level or whether they're elite sailors.
It really helps raise the game.
It's a difficult thing to visualize when the conditions are changing.
But one thing I want to add to that, Ken is that's what it makes a real,
the subtle difference between a good sailor and a great sailor.
When you can shift the gears in challenging conditions.
Today, we worked on practicing that while we were heading out.
But when you practice practice, like it's racing,
you put the pressure on yourself so that when you get to the regatta.
It doesn't feel like pressure, it just feels like practice. So, it's the same as
kids. I used to sail three or four times a week. Yeah.
Cool. So, so more time on the water and more racing, if possible. Ok. No more kids,
I'm gonna be back here on Sunday practicing.
But then
there aren't that many people are that hardcore. So,
I think in terms of sailing I just take it a little bit farther than some.
I go to greater lengths to stay on the water to do different things on the water.
As a sailor
to perfect my sport because personally it is my sport.
He's an incredible swimmer.
He would go across
to the other side if you know, nobody stopped him.
It's part of being independent.
It's part of being able to make economic choices instead of having them made for you.
That is to say being on social security.
S SI SSD. I, I've been there
not deep enough. Yeah,
I don't feel the why knees because of it. It's, it's ok. Well, one more speed bump.
Let's get it done
this with the surf.
Look where the sun is
and
swim out in the water.
Yeah, but you're gonna walk right at the people
and you go lap.
So once you devote that kind of time and effort,
the only choice they have
is to push on and, and develop your skills to the maximum extent possible.
Once we get the IV and we'll get the medicine
started to kind of help with the whole process and
then we'll get uh, the kitchen there.
Ok.
All
right.
They're cutting all four muscles in each eye.
The possible outcome
will be, my head will be straight
and the stags
will still be there.
Um
I'm hoping I gained some vision.
I could,
you know
that
for me to straighten my head
and use both eyes
together
and sync. Not just one at a time.
How
are you
all
set?
He's already made a trip up onto the bed to say,
all right,
I'm gonna put a little mark so everyone knows that we're gonna do both eyes.
So I'm gonna put my initials right there. OK?
This is permanent but
you know, I like tattoos.
Michelangelo is leaving his
work,
just make sure I'm asleep in there.
I
wake
up, they're gonna start the IV
from go to store.
It's OK. That's me.
We were both working in Boston at the time and I used
to see him at the Y I'd be working out there and
uh I would see him on the streets occasionally with his dog.
And what are dogs with little
chicks?
Hey, you are not supposed to be sniffing. You're supposed to be in a
place.
Yeah.
Get down, go to your place.
I didn't think it was ever gonna work. So there was a big age difference.
I found out his mother's husband
and share the same age difference.
Oh, you're lucky
you just missed the, uh, usual. How did we meet
thing?
La, la, la la.
Let's see.
See, my, my house is one big gear locker. It depends on the season.
Either skis out
or sailing and swimming gear out.
Oh,
yeah. On the water for 30 yeah, it actually comes out to 32 seasons now.
Now, now it's gone
beyond
life
boats.
31 different boat types.
I think that
you put that into perspective. And,
um, I mean, he, his, his mother has always said
she raised him just like she raised the others.
Um,
no differently.
Uh, you know, you go out there, you want to ride a bike, go out there and ride a bike, you
fall, fall and he did. If you want something badly enough,
you have to work hard to get it
and in order to work hard to get it,
you have to try to figure out how to
overcome the obstacles that are preventing you from getting it
overwhelmed. I don't know. It's hard. It's the first time ever.
So I, I couldn't see to do my hair because everything was too blurry.
But I got close enough to
just look,
I'm anxious to know when the swelling goes down,
what my vision will be like then.
Oh my God,
it's all in front of me. Oh my God. I know.
This is me. This is what I look like
and I'd go out every time I came to the bathroom I'd look and I think
this is me
and then I'd go out and I'd lay on the couch and I'd cry and I'd call my kids.
I lost my identity.
I don't know who that woman is in the bathroom, but she doesn't look like me.
Now, I can stand back. I can see my shoulders.
I'm like, oh my goodness, they're very tiny
and to see my entire pace of my hair, I finally figured out how to do my hair,
how to put on my makeup.
I don't need to be here.
I'm off the commission for the blind. We don't know how long this will last.
Um I'm
taking this moment and I'm embracing it
and this year I hope to be a sighted guide with all of you.
It was the first time in years on Christmas Eve that I saw the stars.
So I'm thrilled
to see all of you that have helped us
along the way and to see your face. I left my glasses on.
So you wouldn't realize I could see you,
but it was nice to see all of you and thank you for giving us life and being here for us.
So I want to give it back
to
you.
I really like to thank Arthur because the selling program
as he had had in his own heart
for many time, we know how it is. You can organize bla
you easily.
But you know, it is what it is, right?
It gives us autonomy,
it gives us self-confidence,
but we have to find out,
you know, to other people as well. Sometimes
we thank you. Thank you
when I was in the hospital
and they told me that, you know, the doctor said that
inky, uh there's nothing much we can do for you.
The doctors and uh
some of their friends,
they decided that maybe since he doesn't understand that, uh he can do something,
although he's blind
and they decided to send some visually impaired
profession to come to talk to me.
There were some lawyers who were blind,
there were teachers blind
and I, I think it took maybe two or three visits
that when I decided who if they can do it,
why couldn't I, why shouldn't I,
I love my job because it gave me a
sense of accomplishment because I'm trying to help people
with
disability, achieving their dreams, you know, of
going back to school, going back to work or whatever it may be.
I am a vocational rehabilitation counselor.
What involved is to
bring you up to date as far as the skills are concerned,
so we can prepare you to go back to work.
I like people to know that I am quote
unquote a person
with disability with a lot of interest
and a lot of accomplishment
when someone
loses their vision,
it's a real blow.
A lot of people compare it
to losing a close family member or friend
when going through rehab. It's basically just
sort of ex keep every day just expanding your circle of comfort.
So the first couple of times it would just be
stepping out of the house and, you know, taking a walk around the block
and sailing was just another way of sort of expanding that circle of comfort.
So I jumped at the chance to do it
and definitely
meeting my wife. You know, she's, she's been essential
that gorgeous.
But I had to get to a point where I was ready to be in a relationship again,
I was ready to be
um to be, to be a partner again.
Am I ready? Now,
September 1st, uh we did uh an American ceremony,
uh had 100 and 40 of our close friends and family there.
To me, it is a big thank you to all the people that have sort of helped me get,
get to that point.
You can't be in the sport of blind sailing without, you know, having a good heart. And
you have to be really dedicated to, to this,
to, to a team and to this organization
even coming out here and then preparing to,
to teach instructors and putting together the, the, the teaching manual.
It's, it's about being dedicated to it
time.
So what do you, so what specifically do you want to
just sit to do?
Put
your
hand,
put your hand over here.
Well, I'm
not.
So, just to make sure you're pointing out anything that if they're leaning over,
you know, either have their hand up,
you know, as they're getting familiar
and
when you're taking somebody around you may wanna be first.
You know,
I think Allen Dennett definitely put a lot more time than I'm able to put into it.
But even going through writing part of the manual, um,
and putting it just your thoughts and how to adapt,
teaching sailing for someone who's blind and visually impaired and you know, what,
what, what actually happens out in the boat.
Um
I think
that definitely takes some time and dedication to,
I mean, I feel comfortable like this, but I've been on a boat.
It's like leaning against the lifeline.
Is it something that would be?
I just
just just asked me.
So it's like learning from both sides, right?
Like they dealt with like vision loss every day, but they've never,
probably never had experience on a boat.
Um Yeah, I think the conga line technique works where, you know,
either they're touching, you know, I tell them,
put your hands on me and we're gonna now make a move along the perimeter of this boat.
So keep them really close and I like them in contact with them.
Absolutely.
Our sail blind team will be competing
in Japan for the Blind Sailing World Championships
and they will be joined by a team from
Texas and together we will be representing the USA
as we compete in Japan against the best blind sailors in the world.
So we're very optimistic that our team is going to do. Well,
we have become a solid team.
We are ready.
Thank
you.
Thank
you.
Thank
you
very
much.
Yeah,
the area we raise today is the first western western area.
I translated Japanese briefly.
Uh
Kai
no Regatta
Deva
uh K to
and
so
Toga
and
to, to
the most
important thing I have to do now is to introduce the other members of the jury.
This is
Katsuya
Hasbi
Hashiba.
As you
sign your name here,
I work
in the
water.
You have
the,
how
do you
call
right?
Love
it.
Hey, ma hold on, ma
hold up.
00,
gay, ma
gay.
Keep up, keep up, keep
up
strong, strong.
Let's talk for air
talk when you're ready.
There's a boat at about 11 o'clock.
You see it,
the caliber in Japan is something else, which is what I would have expected
when you're in a fleet of blind sailors and
you're talking about feet to inches of clearance.
That to me is having arrived at, at the top of my game.
I got
made in six.
OK.
Feeling that breeze going across your face, you have a sense of where you are
a sense of where you've been
and you know, the direction you're going
and give you a sense of control.
It's like,
OK, This is me. I have to do this
on the last race of the last day.
We got a bullet
and that bullet was enough
to break the tie between us
and Japan.
The
division
B one class, the third place goes to
USA Massachusetts.
I love your ties.
You can tell where they're from
and no American Co
how did they scare them off?
Right.
OK.
First of all,
thank you to those particular people who uh really made a
significant contribution so that these folks could get to Japan,
the other person, I'd like to introduce
and that person is going to take over my role as the director and chairman of,
of Sale Blind the Competitive program.
And that's the answer to doing.
I think she has
the, the broadest
perspective of anyone as to
how the program can be more successful.
She can bring the blind sailor's perspective to it.
The fact that she doesn't have the depth of
sailing experience that some of the other sighted guides
um
really is immaterial
every time they get on the boat,
what's important to me to bring a better
understanding is for everybody to feel where everything
was from the Cunningham Bank to get that whole layout of the boat before we would even
sail
quite a bit.
Looking good. Tina,
it's
going a little bit too high.
I think they're all
enjoying this moment of learning and trying different things. And
I like watching the experienced sailors
that have been on the helm. Take the new role,
not just the main but of the gym.
It's
very
slow.
No,
it's right there.
I would like to see more blind sailors sailing in, inside of regattas
because I believe in inclusion
and I believe that's the best way to demonstrate to
people. We're not a segment or team to be pitied.
We're a team
that's looking to make things better for everyone.
Sailing has taught me how not to fear things that I cannot see.
That awareness is spread through our blind community sailing program.
I
we're gonna practice until about the third week
of July rotating positions that we are and
you sailors have a lot of input on how you want to see the program,
run it.
So I want a little feedback, what everybody,
the blind sailors feel about their roles right now.
Let's start with
Teen Eagle first. How is this swapping roles working for you?
I, I felt like I got a lot out of both
doing all the roles but hearing the feedback and hearing the
kinds of things other people were doing in all the roles.
So yeah,
and you do tend to appreciate
the helmsman who I just thought sat back in the boat and did nothing but
seeing how instructional sailing has really become something they're,
they're excited about.
That has been really rewarding.
I
talk
to you.
OK.