‘It’s freeing’: Sailors with disabilities come from across Canada to compete in 2023 Mobility Cup | CBC News

Linda Clarke has lived with the neurodegenerative disease ALS for 12 years, taking away most of her muscle function and ability to speak. But on the water, she’s the same sailor she’s been for 33 years.

“It’s freeing to get out on the water and leave my wheelchair behind,” Clarke told CBC Toronto using a device that turns text to audio.

This week, she’s competing in Mobility Cup 2023, an annual regatta that gives sailors with neurological and physical disabilities the opportunity to compete on the water.

Competitors use Martin-16 vessels, which organizers say are specifically designed for people with physical disabilities. An adapted joystick tiller helps sailors steer the vessel, while electronic buttons that multiply hand strength allow them to control the sails. The adapted boats also have heavier keels to give them more stability and prevent tipping. 

Clarke, along with some of the other sailors, also have a coach accompany them while they sail.

“Mobility Cup brings like-minded people together. We know how to have fun, but we are really competitive,” added Clarke, who raced against 17 other boats on Monday afternoon.

The annual competition has been around since the early 1990s, but organizers say it’s grown in recent years and led to an explosion of sailing clubs across Canada that equip sailors with disabilities.

Karen-Ann Xavier, principal administrator for Able Sail Toronto, the city’s local club for adaptive sailing, says there are 17 such clubs across the country, with growth happening especially in the Maritimes. 

The beauty of Mobility Cup, she adds, is that it brings all those clubs together.

“People look forward to it every year, going to Mobility Cup,” said Xavier. “They’re meeting friends that they see once a year.”

She says the event is made possible by its 110 volunteers, some of whom travel a long way just to help out.

“It’s like one big happy family,” said Xavier, who adds next year’s Mobility Cup will be held in Nova Scotia.

Robert Muzzy has cerebral palsy, but gets in and out of his boat using a harness attached to the dock. He says that’s allowed him to spend lots of time on the water while the weather is hot.

“If I’m not here, I’m coming. If I’ve been here, I’m coming back,” said Muzzy. “It’s like all summer, I’m always here.”

‘It’s just freedom’

Muzzy has a short commute to National Yacht Club, where Able Sail Toronto is located, but others have come a long way to compete this week.

One of them is Hayley Redmond, who lives in St. John’s, but tells CBC Toronto that she never misses Mobility Cup.

“It makes it very exciting for us, just to let go of the chair, forget your worries, focus on the water and make your goal,” said Redmond, who also has cerebral palsy.

“It’s just freedom.”

Organizers say Mobility Cup is called the “regatta of possibility.”

Tracy Schmidt, a quadruple amputee who says she was born without any fully formed limbs, says she loves sailing in Mobility Cup, but also competes against able-bodied sailors.

“The beauty of sailing is that it’s a level playing field,” said Schmidt. “It’s so enabling.”

Known as ‘Unstoppable Tracy,” Schmidt is also a motivational speaker who won a bronze medal in para-alpine skiing.

She says learning how to sail as a disabled person provides confidence in other walks of life.

“It’s so enabling.” 

Technology allows quadriplegics to sail

Schmidt uses the one finger she has on her right hand to control her boat, but “sip-and-puff” technology is allowing those with no control of their arms or legs to operate a boat. 

Sailors use a tube with their mouth, which turns the rudder one way by sucking in and the other way by blowing out. Biting on a switch changes that function to sheeting the sails in or out.

Danny McCoy, who was paralyzed from the waist down in 1994 but went on to found Disabled Sailing Association of Ontario in 1998 and compete for Canada in the 2000 Paralympics says the technology is “game-changing.”

Adaptive sailing has come so far, he says, and is making racing both possible and exciting for disabled sailors.

“It’s just great fun, great camaraderie. If you want to race, you can race the able-bodied guys and still beat them.”