May 7, 2024
2 minutes reading time
Spare Part ACF 747 and Limbitless ACF 849 with spinnakers
Guest editorial: Inclusion in sailing extends beyond the water by Matt Grier
Matt Grier, Project Director at the Andrew Cassell Foundation, has seen the power of sailing to remove obstacles and break down barriers. A coach since 1999, he has worked with national Topper and Laser squads through the RYA Youth and Junior Programme and British Sailing Team, and helped lead World Sailing's Inclusive Development Program at the 2023 World Sailing Championships in The Hague. He tells us about the Foundation and its aims for the future of sailing.
The Foundation exists because of the experience of one man: Andrew (Andy) Cassell who, as a child with disabilities was welcomed into the sailing world as an equal and valued member of the local community.
Today that sounds like good practice, but when he was born it was common for disabled children to be limited, hidden away or institutionalised, as it still is in some parts of the world. Andy won the 1961 Albacore Nationals at the age of 16, and after having to break off a campaign for selection to the 1964 Olympics after the death of a funder went on to race successfully in Dragons and Darings and then won RORC 3/4 Ton Cup, and came 3rd in the world 3/4 Ton cup.
The Foundation seeks to replicate that experience introducing disabled people to the world of competitive keelboat sailing with and against able bodied sailors one equal terms. When Paralympic sailing was dropped by the IPC in 2016, Andy and I saw a whole host of potential disabled sports people without opportunity, and this led to an evolution of the Foundation’s role from primarily supporting performance campaigns to helping disabled sailors gain experience and connection with the wider sailing community.
The pathway which the Foundation now operates works on the principle that sailing is far more than winning championships and that the process is as important as the end result. This has enabled many of our disabled sailors to make remarkable process in their own lives as well as on the water. We continue to focus on race training on the water because of our heritage and because of the rapid improvement in skills which it brings. This rapidity is important because participants often have limited endurance, at least at the start of their participation, and we want to maximise the impact of every on-water session.
The effort we invest in our participants on the water is mirrored off the water where we help our sailors develop connection to the wider abled sailing community, friendships and provide significant mentoring between sessions. This enables participants to be in a position to make their own way into the sailing fraternity whether in keelboat racing or moving into other areas of sailing. Through this the Foundation is becoming a key organisation in ensuring that disability remains represented at the highest levels in sailing and that disability or inclusive sailing does not become segregated.