The
Sailability Group is a self contained group within the Burghfield
Sailing Club. We are a user group of Berkshire
Sail Training Centre, an RYA Recognised Training Centre and
meet all their safety requirements.
We
make a charge to members for each session to cover our basic running
costs, and we are grateful to Burghfield Sailing Club members for
their generous support. In addition donations from local firms and
grants from Awards For All have allowed the purchase of additional
boats and safety equipment.
Since Burghfield Sailing Club Sailability Group was founded we have been providing sailing experiences for 20 to 30 people each week. These include sailors with visual and hearing impairments, physical disabilities and learning difficulties.
The main organisers of Sailability, Charles, Pat and Ivor are all experienced sailors and Sailability volunteers, however, Burghfield Sailability would not be able to operate without our band of dedicated helpers, who turn up week after week, as well as travelling to many of the Open events around the Country to support our sailors.
If you would like to volunteer to help, please contact us
Burghfield Sailability in a Centre of Excellence for the Thames Valley ensuring our facilities are able to cope with the needs of our disabled sailors. Both male and female toilets and changing facilities are provided, as well as a lift to our club house functions room, bar and panoramic balcony. We have 3 pontoons, including a specially designed pontoon for wheel chair users. This is fitted with a lifting winch to help our sailors get aboard their boats direct from a wheelchair.
The lake itself has over 200 acres of sailable water, dotted with the occasional island. Water does not reach any deeper than 6 metres.
Full safety boat cover is provided by our volunteers during Sailability sessions in either our club rescue boats or our Pioner. There is always a RYA Senior Instructor present. |
