Meet Luca - Sailability Middle Harbour

Luca has been sailing with Sailability Middle Harbour for many years.  The joy he gets from sailing and his infectious laugh would make the saddest person happy.  Luca has been blind from early childhood, and started learning Braille in Primary school. He is now 22 years old and makes handmade Braille greeting cards, helps businesses who want, for example, a Braille menu and has provided Braille signs for organisations such as the Manly Art Gallery. His business is called Braille by Luca. He also presents Braille workshops for schools and other groups. Luca’s passion is to help create a world accessible to all!   

Hello MHYC members.  We are on a recruitment drive for more volunteers. 

We are sailing again on Sunday 8th September.  If you are interested to see what we do please call by anytime between 9am and 11.30am.   If after observing how we operate you think this activity is for you we’d be delighted to welcome you! 

Who are we?  
Sailability Middle Harbour (SMH) is one of the 25 NSW programs of Sailability NSW. As such, we aim to fulfill Sailability NSW’s mission which is to “facilitate participation in sailing and boat usage at social, recreational and competitive levels for people with disabilities regardless of age and level of disability.”  Our SMH sailors have physical and/or intellectual disabilities and the age range is 8 to 65 years old.  

We have teenagers and adults of all ages volunteering. Some of our volunteers are skippers.  Other volunteers operate the safety boat or distribute and clean life jackets and slings or crane those that need it into the boats.   Many volunteers do a bit of everything and of course there is always time for a coffee! 

What do we do?
We take the sailors out on Hansa 303 boats which are two-person dinghies and steered with a joystick. The ballasted centreboard provides stability and reefable sails makes sailing very safe in most conditions. 

When do we sail? 
We sail every second Sunday of the month and every last Sunday of the month.  We begin rigging the boats at 8.00 am for a 9.00 am start and finish about 12.30.  Some volunteers stay for the whole time and others donate just a couple of hours.  We are a very flexible and friendly group and you do not need to commit to every sail. We all just turn up when we can.  You can choose to be part of the deck crew or skipper or do a bit of both.  

Interested?  
You can contact Sally O’Neill on 0411 886 539 or just turn up on a Sunday and have a look at what we do.  You will find us on the hard stand at MHYC.  

More information about Middle Harbour Sailability can be found on our website.