Tag Archives: VI Sailing

Ahoy Shipmates! A Video from visa-gb!

January 9, 2021NewsA Sailing Video, Ahoy Shipmates, Blind Sailing, partially sighted sailing, Sailing, VI Sailing, visa-g, visa-gbSaul Wynne

Ahoy Shipmates and a very happy new year to you all.

It’s great to have seen off 2020 with a size 12 sailing boot in the stern quarters. Our faces now turned to windward as we await nursey to arrive in full sail with hypodermic pointed at our quivering buttocks, ah the pain and the pleasure! But before we drift off into the arms of carry on nursing your attention is required.

Way back in the dim and distant days of yesteryear you’ll recall rumours of daring-do on the high seas as team Visa took on the Hollywood big wigs and shot an adventure fit for the big screen – well my hearties that moment is nearly upon us and the first cut is, as they say, in the can. As this is the first cut and the audio described version is still at the studio we’ll give you the heads up on the action. Please read below, to set the scene or you can jump to the video Here: Quick link to the video

Setting the Scene

With your freshly brewed cuppa and a newly opened packet of digestives, the king of biscuits as voted in 2020, you should sink into your favourite chair, put your feet on the cat and snuggle down as we set the scene.

Our story begins with the tinkling of halyards, sound of the sea, and the music begins. Our boat, a 45’ Jeanneau sailing yacht with a large cockpit, two steering wheels and enough bunks to sleep ten, was kindly loaned by to us by UKSA. We are moored, starboard side too, at Town Quay marina in Southampton.

Town Quay is located to the East side of pier where you would catch the Red Jet to Cowes and about 100 metres from the Red Funnel port. Once you leave Town Quay you are in Southampton water, which on the two days of filming was unremittingly grey with only the occasion squall to keep us honest.

As you leave the Quay you would expect to pass the huge cruise liners that start their world journeys in normal times. Anyway back to the music and this heralds the arrival of Anil and Nathalie, Anil is self-guiding himself along the pontoon and Nathalie has the arm of Jane, one of our splendid volunteers. As they reach the boat canes are folded and they climb aboard to join up with their crewmates Karen, Lorraine, Lofty and Vijay along with volunteers Jane, Bruce and Tim.

Once onboard the trip begins and the visually impaired crew make the boat ready for departure, engine started, lines off and we are away out into Southampton water. During the journey the crew hoist the sails, steer the boat, tack the boat, make a brew and do everything needed to go sailing.

With a first time sailor onboard and a busy stretch of water there are two reefs in the main and the headsail is also reefed, wind speed ranges from 8 to 18 knots.

The sea state is smooth as the wind is a north-westerly blowing offshore The voices you hear are from some of those taking part, the first is skipper Tim, then you’ll hear from Lofty, Lorraine, Nathalie, Bruce and Vijay.

We hope you enjoy this film below

We hope their words remind you of the fun of sailing and encourage you to join a trip with us in 2021

Sailing Schedule for Visa-GB 2021

Website: https://visa-gb.org.uk/

VI Sailors’ Week – Blind Week 12- 19 June 2021

January 7, 2021News12 - 19 June, 2021, Blind Sailing, Blind Week, partially sighted, partially sighted sailing, Sailing, VI Sailing, VI Sailors’ WeekSaul Wynne

VI Sailors’ Week – Blind Week!

12-19 June 2021 – Lymington

Happy New Year and we hope that you and your families are all safe and well under the challenging circumstances we are all currently enduring!

We were very disappointed to cancel Blind Week 2020 in Falmouth and have been hoping that the New Year 2021 will allow the event to return, even if constrained by health restrictions. In preparation for this, we have developed a preliminary Covid-19 strategy taking note of Government and RYA guidance.

Whilst the prospect of a vaccine gives cause for longer-term optimism, the extra measures that became necessary over Christmas remind us how serious the situation still is.

Although current indications are that social distancing measures and the tiered restrictions will be in place for some time during the rollout of the vaccination programme, we are nevertheless hopeful that these measures can be eased sufficiently by the summer to allow Blind Week to go ahead, albeit not necessarily in precisely its usual format.

We are therefore having to organise things a little differently this year and at this stage, we have decided not to invite detailed VI applications yet. Instead, we are now inviting you to simply ‘register your interest’ in taking part in Blind Week 2021. We will also be asking the Skippers to do the same.

As we are sure you will understand, currently we cannot guarantee that Blind Week will proceed, and if so, in what format and timing. The final decision will need to be taken by Easter at the latest.

At that time and, subject to the outlook being positive, we will make direct contact with those who have registered their interest in order to move things forward at an accelerated pace, although this delayed and compressed application process will no doubt prove challenging!

At that point, we will obviously give you more details of the event and its measures to keep everyone as safe as possible. We are very conscious of the fact that the pandemic situation may evolve to permit some, most, or all aspects of our usual Blind Week formula to work in June 2021, or that a postponement to dates later in the year may need to be explored.

We are very keen to return to those days out on the water, enjoying the freedom of the seas and the sensations of sailing – with a VI at the helm and a cuppa somewhere in the picture – which all of us have missed so much!

We, therefore, ask you to register your interest in participating in Blind Week 2021 via an emailed reply to this letter – including your name and mobile phone number as soon as possible and no later than 15 March 2021 to mail@blindweeksailing.co.uk

This will ensure that we are then able to make direct contact in the spring with all those who have expressed an interest, at which time we will be able to provide a clearer picture of how the event will run and a speedy completion of VI application forms will be requested!

We hope you will register your interest in getting out on the water in 2021 in whatever format we can safely deliver!

With our warmest wishes for a good and hopefully an improving 2021!

Will Bridge Blind Week Co-ordinator & Rosie Shorman Blind Week Administrator

Sporting Activities for the Disabled Charitable Trust: Charity no. 1044893

31 Pacific Close, Southampton, SO14 3TX mail@blindweeksailing.co.uk

Blind Sailing week video Below

RYA Website

Ahoy Shipmates! A Video from visa-gb!

January 7, 2021ArticleA Sailing Video, Ahoy Shipmates, Blind Sailing, partially sighted sailing, Sailing, VI Sailing, visa-g, visa-gbSaul Wynne

Ahoy Shipmates and a very happy new year to you all.

Setting the Scene

With a first time sailor onboard and a busy stretch of water there are two reefs in the main and the headsail is also reefed, wind speed ranges from 8 to 18 knots.

We hope you enjoy this film below

We hope their words remind you of the fun of sailing and encourage you to join a trip with us in 2021

Sailing Schedule for Visa-GB 2021

Website: https://visa-gb.org.uk/

Sailing Schedule for Visa-GB 2021

August 12, 2020Article, News2021, Blind Sailing, Sailing, Sailing Schedule, VI Sailing, visa-gb, visually impaired sailing, Visually Impaired Sailing AssociationSaul Wynne

Visually Impaired Sailing Association (Visa-gb)

Sailing Events for 2021 include the following:

Scottish Island Flotilla, 15th to 22nd May.
The Royal Escape Race, 25th to 31st May.
Round the Island Race 3rd July, charter 28th June to 4th July.
Sea Vision 2021, 5th June to 3rd July.
Blind Week 12th to 19th June 2021.
Warm Weather Cruise September/October.

There’s a space for you. For information on any of the trips email: membership@visa-gb.org.uk or call Sue on 07767717440

There are more details about us on our website: www.Visa-gb.org.uk

More details about the sailing events below

Scotland 2021. 4 yachts chartered from 15th May to Monday 22nd May, starting at Largs Sailing Club on the beautiful West Coast of Scotland. The Visa-gb flotilla will cruise these sheltered waters, enjoy some shore time together and celebrate all that is good about visually impaired sailing. Booking costs £300 plus travel. Suitable for novices and experienced sailors.

Royal Escape race, 28th May. Brighton to Fécamp in France. Yacht chartered from Tuesday 25 May to Monday 31 May so you’ll get a few days practice before setting off on this long established and most enjoyable cross channel hop. Lots of friends to make and the joy of landing on foreign soil! Sponsorship allows us to subsidise the trip, estimated cost of £35 per day. Novices and Experienced sailors welcome, but you’ll need to be physically fit for this one.

Round The Island Race 3rd July. Yacht chartered from Monday 28th of June to Sunday 4th of July. Starting from Cowes, circumnavigate the Isle of Wight in one day. With 1800 yachts taking part, the Visa-gb entry will cut its way through the fleet with a finely honed crew of hardened racers – maybe! Our first foray into this world event. Thanks to sponsorship we hope to have a cost of no more than £50 per day. Crew must be fit and have sailing experience.

2021 Sea Vision 5th June to 3rd July. Thanks to the National Lottery we can deliver this exciting project in 2021. Starting in Falmouth in Cornwall with a yacht chartered for four weeks, the project involves sailing east to Lymington in Hampshire to join Blind Week (12-19June), and then back to Falmouth afterwards. As we journey we shall be promoting what we do and why we do it. Ports of call may include Fowey, Plymouth, Salcombe, Dartmouth, Weymouth & Poole. These trips will be heavily subsidised thanks to the National Lottery. Ideal for those wanting to try sailing for the first time, join us for half a day or a week. You’ll be supported by experienced sailors throughout the tri

Blind Week 12 – 19 June 2021, sailing from Lymington. Be part of this 30 year old event. Further details in January 2021 for the event in June.

Warm Weather Cruise, following the success of our 2019 trip to Majorca we plan to be off again in September or October Spain or another exotic location. If you are interested let us know. Expected cost £400 plus flights.

There’s a space for you. For information on any of the trips email: membership@visa-gb.org.uk or call Sue on 07767717440

There are more details about us on our website: www.Visa-gb.org.uk

Thank you reading this, there’ll be more exciting plans for 2022 and beyond. We look forward to talking to you soon! Sue, Lofty, Eddie, Anil, Alan, Tim, Lorraine and Dee.

Blind Sailing Week: Apply by 16 March

March 11, 2020News2020, Blind Week, Blind Week 2020, Sailing, Sailors’ Week, VI Sailing, visually ImpairedSaul Wynne

Sailors’ Week – Blind Week 2020

20-27 June – Falmouth, Cornwall

APPLICATION DEADLINE – BLIND WEEK Closing date: Monday 16 March 2020.

We are writing with a warm invitation to participate in this year’s event!

Our 2020 sailing week will be Falmouth-based and hosted once again by the Royal Cornwall Yacht Club.

Participants will gather during the afternoon of Saturday 20 June and we start the week with an opening dinner at the RCYC clubhouse that evening.

Having sailed to a variety of locations along the coast during the week, the yachts and their crews will re-convene at the Royal Cornwall Yacht Club for the closing dinner on the evening of Friday 26 June. The event will then end on the morning of Saturday 27 June when crews will disembark their yachts and return home.

I am delighted to say that Mike Browne has once again agreed to facilitate this event through his charity, Sporting Activities for the Disabled Charitable Trust.

If you are visually impaired and would like to apply for a place to crew on a yacht for the week please contact the below email to find out more and get the forms/emails you need to reply too Closing date: Monday 16 March 2020.

Please note that we now have a dedicated Blind Week email address which is: mail@blindweeksailing.co.uk and all emails and correspondence should be sent to this new address.

The RYA’s recently made video of the event is a useful introduction

To avoid misunderstandings it is important to reply to this email, even if you have previously indicated that you would like to participate in Blind Week 2020.

We are very aware of the need to keep costs under tight control and we have been able to maintain the VI participant’s fee for the 2020 event at £250.

If you haven’t participated in Blind Week before, please read ‘What’s it all About?’ – a description by regular VI participants to be found in the document which follows on from this letter (as we’ve been told that email attachments can sometimes be a headache!)

We should emphasise that you really do not need any prior sailing experience to participate in and really enjoy Blind Week. Complete beginners and newcomers are just as warmly welcomed as experienced VI sailors whose skills have been developed over many sea miles! If you know of any visually impaired person who may not be aware of the event, but might also like to come along, or any friend who doesn’t appear to have received this email, please do ask them to contact us – or you can simply copy this email onto them.

Please note that Blind Week only caters for applicants over 18 years old. In addition, the sailing yachts used are not specially equipped or adapted to cater for physical disabilities, and therefore the event requires moderate agility by all the crew, including VI participants. This requirement is set out in the ‘What’s It All About’ document, Section 4, and we ask you to confirm that you meet it.

At this early planning stage it is impossible to offer firm places until we know the availability of boats. So while we will quickly acknowledge receipt of your application, we will only be able to confirm your place and your provisional yacht allocation in early April.

We very much look forward to hearing from you! mail@blindweeksailing.co.uk

Once again – our best wishes for 2020… a New Year in which we hope you’ll spend some of your time on the water with us!

Will Bridge and Rosie Shorman

Blind Week Co-ordinators