V O L U M E X I I I , N U M B E R 4 P u b l i s h e d f o r m e m b e r s of the C e n t e r for W o o d e n Boats
FREEDOM ON THE SOUND The equipment on the docks wheelchairs, crutches and slider boards - m a y have been a little different than what's normally found at the Center for Wooden Boats but the activities that took place A u g u s t 11 were the same ones that are always happening here - sailing, r o w i n g , p a d d l i n g and fun on the water.
private business (and we even sold a few of them C W B memberships d u r i n g the course of the day).
The day was planned as a sampler of boating activities for physically challenged and developmentally disabled boaters and would-be boaters of all ages and was sponsored by the C W B , Footloose Sailing Association and S K I F O R A L L .
SEPTEMBER
1991
First to set out in the m o r n i n g was the four-person r o w i n g gig, the Dan, w i t h C W B member R o b i n Hembree calling the strokes. N a n c y Oster, whose wheelchair sat on the dock, caught the cadence and was soon r o w i n g like a champ. US Rowing's double shell was next off the dock, w i t h Joy Farquhar introducing one of the day's participants to the exhilaration of s k i m m i n g across the lake inches off the water. A flotilla of Beetle Cats, Blanchard Jr's and C W B ' s venerable Yankee Clipper all skippered by C W B and Footloose sailors but crewed by the disabled soon followed. W h e n the d a y ended, 30 sail, r o w i n g and p a d d l i n g trips had been made on the waters of Lake U n i o n w i t h the participants, w h o ranged in age from six to 80, handling tillers, sheets and oars like o l d hands.
W i t h the help of the Northwest branch of US R o w i n g , J.C.'s Lake U n i o n Restaurant, Jerry B r o w n of the tug Challenger, the 4 - H Challenge Program, Seattle Alternative School #1, Seattle Public Schools' Special Services office and E d m a r k Corporation, participants were offered the opportunity to r o w , paddle and sail to their hearts' content. The day's events w o u l d not have been possible without those w h o responded to the call for volunteers. N o t only d i d they come from o u r o w n ranks, they came from H a r b o r v i e w H o s p i t a l , from S K I F O R A L L and Footloose, from the Veterans H o s p i t a l programs in Seattle and at Fort L e w i s and even from
They came to training sessions to learn h o w to correctly and safely transfer someone from a wheelchair to a boat. The non-boaters among them learned what the pointy end is called and the early arrivals on Sunday learned how to efficiently get the bilges d r y . A n d then they learned - or re-learned - just how fulfilling it is to bring the joy of messing about in small craft to someone w h o has been denied that feeling because of a disability.
The day's activities were put together to introduce neophytes to the joys of boating and increase recreational boating opportunities for those disabled w h o are already experienced boaters. It must have been a success. By day's end everyone, participants and volunteers alike, was talking not about the next "special" event but about coming back next week or next month to try it again.