By SUZANNE McFADDEN
A school of deaf children will electronically eavesdrop on Joe Spooner as he sails in the round-the-world race.
Spooner, deaf in one ear after being seriously bashed at the Atlanta Olympics, is forging a special bond with the children of the Kelston Deaf Education Centre.
While he is at sea on board News Corp in the Volvo Ocean Race, the pupils will keep in close touch with him through the wonders of modern technology.
They will follow the boat live on the internet each day, and talk to Spooner on board via e-mail.
The children will then continue to watch the progress of Spooner in the America's Cup, when he will be a mastman for Team New Zealand.
The school's deputy principal, Les Berry, said it was crucial for the children to have role models like the 27-year-old yachtie.
"He is a man who has lost his hearing but is off to sail in the round-the-world race and the America's Cup," he said.
"When I first started here, the careers for deaf people were very limited. The boys became carpenters or bootmakers, and the girls did typing or sewing.
"Now the world is their oyster - they can do any job they wish to pursue."
Doors have opened with the help of new technology - and it is no different for Spooner.
During his weeks at sea, he will wear a unique hearing aid controlled by his wristwatch. A lightweight waterproof microphone sits snugly inside his deaf ear and sends sound through a wire, threaded through his hat, to his good ear.
He can control the volume on his watch, and shut out wind and wave noise with the push of another button.
During the America's Cup, Spooner will be able to switch channels and tune into the Team New Zealand on-board communications loop, which allows the bowman to receive instructions from the skipper at the other end of the boat.
The hearing aid is the only one of its kind in the world, made by Takapuna company Phonak NZ.
Spooner leaves for New York in a fortnight to join up with the News Corp team, run by New Zealand offshore sailor Ross Field.
He will sail in the first leg, from Southampton to Cape Town, starting in September, and rejoin the crew for the last legs - after a summer sailing with Team NZ on the Hauraki Gulf.
Feature: America's Cup
Team NZ: who's in, who's out
Yachtsman shows deaf children how
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