Recently a number of volunteers from the WYST Under 23 Squad got together with the Blind Foundation of New Zealand and Blind Sailing NZ to host a “Have a Go Day” with a group of blind and visually impaired sailors, using the Trust’s Elliot 6 metre boats. With Wellington’s autumn weather behaving itself – well pretty much – a great day’s sailing was experienced in winds of 12 – 20 knots offshore from Oriental Bay.
The fact that no one can actually see the wind was a great leveler and it was very impressive how quickly the sailors adjusted to “feeling” the wind and getting to grips with the gusty conditions. Our U23 volunteers got to hone their communication skills at the same time as getting to sit back and relax as the visually impaired sailors took over the skippering and main sheeting roles for the day.
WYST is looking forward to hosting more of these days in the future.
