Case Study: Sailability Dobroyd/Dobroyd Aquatic Club Inclusion

The club is located less than eight kilometres from Sydney CBD on the quiet waters of Iron Cove, but with a lot less of the through traffic other waters get, the bay is home to one sailing club and three rowing clubs For this reason, there is one sailing club and three rowing clubs around the bay.

We have nine Hansa boats eight 303s and one 2.3. Two of these have electric servo assistance these can be used by individuals very limited mobility; the servos use electric motors and little joysticks to steer and trim the sails. We have three Australian Sailing instructors and numerous experienced sailors capable of teaching, coaching and racing. This Case Study was requested by the DEI Advisory group as we are seen to be doing good things in the inclusion space. Our objective is trying to keep up with other countries, particularly the Royal Yachting Association (RYA in the UK), Wellington NZ, and the rest of Europe.

Our Programmes

Sunday Have a Go Sailing

This runs every second Sunday year-round. We cater for people of all abilities. Sailors are loosely scheduled for a sail between 11am and 3pm. These sailors are encouraged to take as much control as they wish to and are capable of. They can simply go for a ride or sail the boats with as much assistance as they would like. Some are interested in learning to sail and developing their skills. We are happy to train family members who would like to sail with each other. Some may later become interested in the Saturday programme. We do lots of volunteer training in sailing, safety boat, pontoon and support.

These days are quite sociable. There is a lot of mingling on the deck and a low-cost BBQ. Some stay till the end of the day and join us for our debrief over beverages and some nibbles.

Saturday Better Sailing and Racing

This operates through the summer sailing season and monthly in winter. We have been racing with DAC for the last 11 years. Initially as a programme for those with neurodivergence.

We were conscious that our extra boats, cumbersome equipment and less mobile sailors would be disruptive to the clubs sailing and racing operations. It took a little time for everyone to get used to each other.  Now guide dogs, wheelchairs, etc are par for the course.

We started racing with the junior fleet, Optis and Sabots sailing their shorter course. We are now in the Open A fleet, often having the largest numbers on the start line. We sail multiple races on a shortened course; we finish at a similar time to the other fleets. Short course racing suits us best. Plenty of starts and closer racing. Our sailors compete in State, National and International regattas.

Other Programmes

We had a long-term weekly summer, special schools programme running for many years. Unfortunately, this stopped due to Covid and has not resumed.

We have run very successful ad-hoc projects when requested. A very enjoyable one was for indigenous high school students who did back-to-back sailing and powerboat courses to assist with their VET programs to work towards TAFE (Technical and Further Education; a nationwide vocational education system) qualifications in the maritime and indigenous ranger careers. Sailing and powerboat courses for hearing impaired. Come and Try Sailing Days for Groups including vision impaired, hearing impaired and visiting Japanese students.

Our Sailors

We have sailors on both Sunday and Saturday with all forms of impairment; physical, vision, hearing, neurodivergent and others.

Integration and Inclusion with Dobroyd Aquatic Club

Our presence at DAC has been normalise for some time. Like all sailors we attend working bees, are rostered on for support boat duty, canteen and functions.

Our Hansa 303s are now part of the club’s Learn to Sail, Transition to Racing and Open Days. Our boats are one of the best teaching platforms offering one on one accelerated coaching.

We run the club’s Powerboat Handling and Safety Boat training and are part of the committee.

The five ingredients to this success are:

1. TOOLS, the Hansa 303 and 2.3 are highly inclusive as supplied from the factory. They can be adapted with servo assistance for less mobile.
2. PATHWAY, Sunday Have a Go then through Saturday Better Sailing and Racing gives us a pathway into the mainstream of the sport of sailing.
3. ENVIRONMENT, Dobroyd Aquatic Club is a very inclusive and welcoming environment. There has been a thirty-year partnership with Sailability.
4. TEACHING, having sailors and instructors who are flexible and open to change and can work with a sailor to assess then work with and around their impairments.
5. GREAT VOLUNTEERS, we offer a very broad range of activities this attracts higher skilled Volunteers and Sailors. They are also younger.

Sailability NSW Mission Statement

Sailability NSW will facilitate participation in sailing and boat usage at social, recreational and competitive levels on inland, estuary and ocean water, for people with disabilities regardless of age and level of disability.

Sailability Dobroyd meets all the objectives of the NSW Mission Statement.

Australian Sailing – Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Advisory Group

The DEI Strategy was developed in collaboration with an external DEI Advisory Group, formed in 2023, with a focus on strengthening diversity, equity and inclusion in all forms across all communities throughout Australia. The external Advisory Group experts in consultation with clubs and class associations and Australian Sailing developed the strategy over the last 8 months.

Australian Sailing’s Strategy can be viewed and downloaded here.

Historically, 2009 World Masters Games

DAC and Sailability Dobroyd very successfully ran part of the sailing for these games. The Hansa 2.3 and 303 classes sailed. There were around 15 Hansa 2.3s and over 20 Hansa 303s. There were extremely strong winds (gusting over 30knots) for part of the regatta, such that sailing was abandoned at other venues. The Hansa classes were able to continue racing.

2026 a brilliant year for Sailability Dobroyd at the National Titles

The 2026 national champion in the 303 Single class is a Sailability Dobroyd sailor we also had the third-place getter on the podium. In the 303 Doubles class we achieved a very close fourth and fifth.

Of note was the performance of Sailability Illawarra second, fourth, and sixth in the Hansa 2.3s.

A very good year for NSW so far!