Sailing In The Mainstream
Watching Nicole Davy hanging from a trapeze wire, trimming the sheets as she and helm Barry Arnison fly a hull of their Tornado catamaran, powering up Southampton Water, you’d be forgiven for thinking it was just another boat crew having fun. And in many ways, for Nicole and Barry, it was exactly that, just another day’s racing their beloved Tornado, “Feel the Magic”. But Nicole is blind, completely blind, unable to even differentiate light from dark, classified a B1, the most severe on the scale of blindness. Not that she lets that get in the way of what she loves best, sailing.
Nicole and Barry had just completed the punishing 50 mile Solent Slog race at Weston Sailing Club. A bright and gusty day had given all competitors a good workout and a complete soaking, especially down the western end of the Solent where conditions were reportedly “very lively”. Waiting patiently on the slipway at the Club was Nicole’s faithful black Labrador, Kelly, clearly used to watching Nicole sail away and then waiting several hours for her to return.
“I’ve been crewing for Barry now for eight years” says Nicole. “I learned the basics of sailing on a windsurfer a long time ago whilst on holiday in the Maldives, it was there that I began to understand the feeling of the wind on my face and how that related to the setting of a sail. But Barry’s Tornado was the first proper boat I sailed on. I remember the day well. It was at Grafham Sailing Club and it was snowing. I remember that sense of exhilaration when the boat went fast, it was such a brilliant feeling although I didn’t really know what I was doing at the time. Since then I have learned a lot but I have also put on nearly one and a half stones in weight as my muscles have got stronger, particularly those in my forearms and stomach”.
Nicole explained the challenges she faces as a blind crew. “The main problem is not being able to anticipate a gust of wind for example, or a big wave. Most sighted crews can see a gust coming and trim the sails in anticipation or they can see a big wave coming and brace themselves so they don’t overbalance, but I can’t do that, and that is the only real disadvantage. Barry is not only a good helm, but he’s a patient and good teacher too. On the water, we communicate constantly about the sea sate, the wind, the position of other boats in the fleet and anything else of importance. And over the years, we’ve become a really good team, and competitive too. We race at our home club at Grafham, but often travel farther afield; we came mid-fleet in the Steeple Race earlier this year, we are entering the Three Piers Race in July and the Tornado Nationals in Brightlingsea in September – that will be a very special event, not least because it will be without Tornado legend Reg White who was such an inspiration for so many sailors and it is his home town too”.
Talking to Nicole it was clear that she very much preferred to do her sailing as a regular sailor, within the mainstream, and not part of a blind-only or disabled-only organised sailing activity. “There’s nothing wrong with that if that’s what you want to do”, she explained, “it’s just not for me”. And watching Nicole in the club house after the race, it’s clear to see why. Nicole is just one of the sailors. The talk amongst her friends was about the race, not her disability. She is known by just about all of her peers although I noticed it was her dog Kelly who was getting the larger share of the attention and the biscuits.
“If I have one plea”, Nicole stated, “it would be that disabled crew like me need more people like Barry. There are plenty of disabled people out there who would like to sail as part of an integrated crew, but there are very few people like Barry prepared to offer their time. Perhaps they are worried about disability but hopefully seeing how Barry and I work together should dispel any concerns they have”
Catamaran supremos like Hugh Styles and Grant Piggott have also been happy to share their expertise with Nicole and Barry, providing tips and advice on race training and sail trimming. If you are part of it, you already know that the multihull community is a fairly close-knit one and, as ISAF found out when they scrapped the Multihull event from the Olympics, they have a pretty big bark as well. But it’s also reassuring to see sailors like Nicole being a part of that community.
