Disabled accept ocean challenge

By KATHY MARKS

SYDNEY - The skipper is illiterate, the navigator has one arm, the mast man is deaf and the bowman has no legs.

United by a passion for sailing, they are preparing to embark on one of the most ambitious ventures ever by a disabled crew: the circumnavigation of Australia.

It is an epic challenge, involving a six-week, 6500 nautical mile ocean voyage. But the seven crew members - all with different disabilities - aim not only to complete the journey non-stop and unassisted in their 16m yacht, KAZ, but to break the circumnavigation record set by an able-bodied crew in 1999.

Most are experienced sailors who have competed in gruelling ocean races such as the annual Sydney to Hobart. The skipper, David Pescud, captained a boat that came ninth in the disaster-ridden 1998 race.

Pescud, who is dyslexic, set up a group called Sailors With DisAbilities in 1994 after hearing a radio interview with paraplegic Phil Vardy, who was burning to compete with the world's elite sailors.

The organisation is committed to changing perceptions of people with disabilities.

KAZ will leave Sydney today, weather permitting, and head north on an anti-clockwise circuit of Australia. The crew hope to break the unofficial record of just under 44 days, set by Australian Kanga Birtles.

They will need to average a speed of 6.18 knots to achieve that feat. Their efforts will be monitored by the British-based World Sailing Speed Record Council.

- INDEPENDENT

Further reading: nzherald.co.nz/marine