Meet Marcia
An athlete, a long distance runner, a wheelchair user, and now a sailor.
I was an athlete, in fact, I was a high jumper and then I ended up as a long-distance runner, which is quite a leap from one to the other.
However, when I ended up injured and in a wheelchair, I needed something to replace it, and one day I met Judy Figures who was the founder of Grafham Water Sailability.
Judy was great and she encouraged me to come and try sailing, and after my first outing on the Challenger I was hooked, and that was it.
Sailing is a great sport, it really is, there’s always a boat out there somewhere that will suit you, no matter what your disability.
I kept looking at this boat, the Drascombe and thinking there must be a way of being able to sit in it. The seating in there is non-existent, and there is no support for anybody with a spinal injury, and then I came across a fantastic seat, and it was actually on a pair of canoes that had been hooked together.
It was a disabled person that was using it, so I found out the details, and mentioned it to the people at the club here, and Calvin did the magic in fitting it to the Drascombe, and altering some of the bits and pieces on the boat, so that I was able to get out on the water again, which was fantastic!
We couldn’t do it without our helpers. Calvin has been my mainstay on the Drascombe, but all the helpers here, we couldn’t go sailing without them.
It’s great because you can go out there on the water, and you can forget all about your disability. All your cares go behind you.
