We caught up with Alex and his mum, Wendy, at Snettisham Beach Sailing Club to talk about his love of sailing and how he first discovered Sailability. Wendy recalled having seen an advert for Sailability at Rutland Water, and the rest is history, "Alex tried it and just loved it!”.

Alex is keen to develop his skills in sailing, he relished the challenge of Cadet week, enjoyed the RYA OnBoard programme, and has subsequently completed his Level 1, 2, and 3. Now a confident sailor, Alex enjoys sailing his Topper alongside his Dad, and sharing his experiences with his peers, showing them that it’s not scary, it’s just really good fun.

An enthusiastic sailor, Alex now has aspirations of joining his friends in the instructor team, and intends to train as an assistant instructor next season, so he too can help other young people to learn to sail.

“It’s lovely - its Alex for Alex, not disabled Alex, or Down's syndrome Alex, he's just Alex.”

Wendy spoke with pride at seeing her son’s confidence grow. She is keen to raise awareness of the benefits of Sailability, not only in terms of learning new skills, and being physical active but the social benefits that Alex now takes with him into school.

Wendy hopes more local sailing clubs will offer sailing for disabled people, so that like her son more young people with disabilities can have the opportunity.

For Alex, this is just the beginning, he has set his sights on being a you tube blogger ‘Alex H’, sail or wrestle in the Paralympics, and maybe one day, teaching his own children to sail. However for now he just wants to take his girlfriend sailing, so he can tip her in!