May 30, 2022
1 minute reading time
World Sailing Paralympic Development Programme, Hong Kong
High support needs sailors account for over 44% of top ten Para World Championship finishers
Sailing is one of the few sports that caters so well to a large variety of disabilities. Athletes with severe disabilities for example can compete on a level playing field with those less hindered by an impairment.
The International Paralympic Committee (IPC), as well as encouraging equal opportunities for female and male athletes, is in favour of increasing opportunities for athletes with high support needs (AHSN). By adapting boats to accommodate different degrees of impairment, sailing competitions can easily include quadriplegic athletes that may, for example, use servo controls to steer the boat and adjust the sails.
A study conducted by World Sailing and the International Classifiers team on the last 14 Para World Championships shows that over 44% of top ten finishers are sailors with high support needs. In sailing, these persons are classified 1, 2 or 3, to include quadriplegics, paraplegics, persons with no arms, and the severely impaired vision sailors (B1 in IBSA Classification).
Needless to say, AHSN sailors are strongly in favour of the reinstatement of sailing into the Paralympic Games, and are loud advocates of the #BacktheBid and #SailToLA campaigns.