Our Vision:
Enable people with physical disabilities to fully participate in the sport of sailing.
Our Mission:
Be a comprehensive, crowd-sourced resource of adaptive equipment for a wide variety of sailboats so that people with physical disabilities can sail them safely and proficiently.
Universal design is a philosophy of creating products and environments that are accessible to all, regardless of age, size, ability or disability.
Sailors have always relied on equipment adaptations to sail their boats, from the use of cleats and block-and-tackle to winches and autohelms. Those with a physical impairment are no different, but may need additional adaptations to meet their needs. Adaptations have been developed for specific boats sailed in adaptive or Para Sailing events. However, there are other boat types used in community or club sailing programs that could be sailed by people with disabilities if adaptive equipment were available.
It is the intent of this website to serve as a comprehensive resource through “crowd sourcing” where those who have created adaptations contribute and share information on their designs with those looking for adaptations for their boats and physical impairments. The goal is to enable more people to enjoy the sport of sailing no matter what disability they may have.
Who is behind this project?
This Adaptive Sailing Equipment website project is being developed by a small core group of sailors: Sarah Everhart Skeels, Timmy Larr, Gene Hinkel, Bam Miller, Brian Skeels and Spencer Raggio. All of us have connections to yacht clubs, adaptive sailing programs, community sailing organizations, US Sailing… however, this is a grassroots, open-source effort. We consider the information contained on this site community property. We created this project and are participating and promoting it as sailors — not on behalf of any organizations we’re affiliated with. We are individuals who are passionate about creating opportunities and sharing information in the adaptive sailing world. Please join us, and help us, by sharing as much detailed information as you can about the boat modifications you are using.
Our goal is to give new adaptive programs and sailors a head start, and improve communications between those working on boat adaptations so that we can all benefit from the work being done in this area.
Submit your boat adaptation!
Use our Online Submission Form or download the ASE Submission Form as a PDF and send us your cool sailboat modification for inclusion here. Email responses to [email protected]