report by local news paper in Australia
Local sailor Grahme Rayner has a mission
- to make sailing accessible to everyone
around world. Grahme of Glenfield is a member
of sailability, an organization dedicated
to given everyone the opportunity to sail,
regardless of age, disability or experience.
Following his warm reception in Japan in
April, when he completed the Melbolurne to
Osaka yacht race, Grahme was to go back and
sell the idea of sailability to Japan. With
the help of Liverpool Greenway Rotary and
P&O Nedlloyd,
Grahme took four Access dinghies to the
Japanese region.
The dinghies are specially designed to make
the art of sailing simple for beginners.
"A lot of those disabled groups over
there are funded by the government",
Grahme said.
The concept behind sailability is that the
community becomes involved with disabled
groups. "We want to break down barriers,
not put them up," he said.
With the help of Japanese Nobuyoshi(Noby)
Nishii, Grahme organized six 'com and try
' days in Japan, which saw 650 people attend
to test the boats.
Mr. Nishii has come to Australia to learn
more about the running of Sailability here
and personally thank the Lord Mayer of Melbourne
for the kind donation of the boats.
Grahme said strong support of the sailing
organization comes largely from his own experiences
as a disables sailor. "It did a lot
for my self-confidence," he said of
sailing.
Although about discussing his own feats Grahme
has just recently competed in the Mobility
Cup in Canada Where he placed 14 and is currently
competed 14 and is currently being fitted
for the Sydney 2000 Paralympic Games. Sailability
meets on the first and third Sunday of every
month at 11am at the Boatshed, Chipping Norton.