May 2, 2023
The Bluffton Sun
Page 27A
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Chandler Hummell and his mother ride the power lift, operated by Capt. Trey Snow, allowing him to board Spirit, an accessible boat for people with mobility challenges.
By Lynne Cope Hummell EDITOR
(Editor’s note: Typically, a journalist does not write about family members. This article includes an exception to that format.) At Windmill Harbour Marina on the north end of Hilton Head Island, on a brisk and slightly overcast morning in March, five passengers and a captain stepped down from the dock onto the deck of a vessel moored there. Another passenger for the day’s cruise rolled aboard. With assistance from his mom (this writer), Chandler Hummell, seated in his manual wheelchair, rolled across a
metal ramp from the dock onto to a teak platform attached to the stern of the vessel. The platform was then lowered by hydraulic scissor-lift, controlled by USCG certified Capt. Trey Snow. Once the platform was secured and locked in place, Capt. Snow opened the aft doors and Hummell rolled onto the deck of the boat. He was the first wheelchair passenger on the boat that was custom built to accommodate people with mobility challenges. “It was so cool to be able to take my wheelchair into the middle of Skull Creek aboard Spirit,” said Hummell. “Usually, I’m just looking out from the shore.”
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