Downtown Sailing Center

ACCESS ABILITY

The Downtown Sailing Center believes everyone should have access to sailing regardless of their physical ability. To make this happen the DSC hosts a number of programs and events. These include Access Ability open sail days (6 Saturdays during the summer when participants who phone ahead and register may learn to sail for free from 10 am to 1 pm), the Access Ability youth summer sailing day camp (a prototype program being developed for youth ages 8 – 16), and the 6th annual Ya'Gotta Regatta (a free end of season race and party for all of our disabled sailors, their friends, and family). Please see the appropriate section for more information.

ACCESS-ABILITY Open Sail Days

Access Ability Open Sail

With the help of a number of local organizations including Kennedy Krieger and Kernan Hospital, the DSC runs the Access Ability Open Sail Program. This free program is designed to provide inclusive sailing opportunities for those with disabilities and to promote life skills such as self-reliance, self-confidence, teamwork, patience, and respect for others. The program meets 6 times a summer.

The DSC provides a very safe learning environment with excellent instructors, life jackets for everyone, and a fleet of non-capsizable Access 10 dinghies from Australia that can be easily modified to meet multiple needs. The Access 10 is a stable sailboat particularly suited for those who don't have the ability to move around in the boat.

Photo: Andy Herbick
Sailing Access dinghies are easily modified for multiple needs

After an on-land safety briefing and sailing class, Participants and volunteers don life jackets and head down to the dock. They transfer to the boats using the safest possible method (the DSC has a Hoyer lift to ensure safe transfers from wheelchairs to boats). Once in the dinghies the participants sit in a well supported chair and steer the boat with a joystick. The boom sits high overhead, a design that avoids injury from accidental jibes. The DSC also has an Access dinghy outfitted with motorized systems to allow someone with very limited mobility to steer and sail the boat by use of an electronic joystick.

Larger accessible sailboats ranging up to 23 ft are also available.

The Access-Ability Program encompasses a range of sailing opportunities from a three-hour long sailing experience to a series of weekly/monthly lessons designed to make everyone a competent independent sailor. Group and individual participants can arrange a weekday outing or sign up for a scheduled free Access-Ability Sail on the following Saturdays:

Access-Ability free open sail schedule:

  • April 26th 10am - 1pm
  • May 10th 10am - 1pm
  • June 7th 10am - 1pm
  • June 21st 10am - 1pm
  • July 5th 10am - 1pm
  • July 19th 10am - 1pm
  • Aug 9th 10am - 1pm

To schedule a weekday outing or to register for an Access Ability open sail, email sailing@downtownsailing.org or call the DSC office: (410) 727.0722

ACCESS ABILITY YOUTH CAMP

The Sailing Center is planning for an accessible youth day camp during summer 2007 to serve youth (ages 8 – 16) who are physically or developmentally disabled. Information will be posted as it becomes available.

JULY 21st 2007 BALTIMORE CELEBRITY SAILING EVENT

Baltimore Celebrity Sailing Event to benefit the DSC's Accessible Boating Program and the US Disabled Paralympic Team, "Team Sailing for Life". Come see local Baltimore Sports Celebrities, The local media, honored guests and Baltimore's famous sailorscompete against each other infriendly competition. For more information, check out our flyer.

AUGUST 25th 2007 6th ANNUAL St. AGNES YA'GOTTA REGATTA

Save the date! Volunteers, sailors, spectators and family are all invited to the 6th Ya'Gotta Regatta, which will continue in the tradition of allowing those with disabilities to experience the freedom of sailing. If you've been sailing all season with the Access Ability sailing program or you are just getting started, come down and participate in the racing, the food, the sun, and the fun! Participation is free, life jackets, volunteer sailing assistants, and boats are all provided. Come on down, meet the new faces and sail around the race course as our narrator provides commentary and the barbecue sizzles. Drinks and food are provided, this is an all-family event!

Read on for an account of the 2006 Ya'Gotta regatta... were you there?

For questions, comments, or to register for any of the sailing center's accessible programming, please call the office at (410) 727.0722 or email us at sailing@downtownsailing.org. If these dates and times simply will not work with your schedule, give us a call! We would be happy to try to accommodate your scheduling needs.

DOWNTOWN SAILING CENTER HOSTED 5th ANNUAL ST. AGNES YA’ GOTTA REGATTA

Sept. 10 event allowed those with disabilities to experience the freedom of sailing

Were you there? Ya Gotta Regatta
Photos by Andy Herbick

(Baltimore, MD)- On Sunday, September 10, 2006 the Downtown Sailing Center hosted its’ Fifth Annual ‘Ya Gotta Regatta, sponsored by St. Agnes Hospital in support of Accessibility Sailing. “B” dock was packed to capacity with participants, volunteers, healthcare professionals and spectators while the Access 10 fleet made it’s way around the marks in clear, cool September breezes. Over 25 special sailors were in attendance, which culminated in an awards ceremony with Baltimore City councilwoman Sheila Dixon and MD Department of Disabilities Secretary, Kristen Cox presenting the medals. DSC’s Accessibility sailing program runs once a month from May-September during the calendar year.