SEAS Sailability Review

We have been attending events run by this charity for a couple of years now, and I thought it was about time we wrote something about our experience of this wonderful organisation.

For a long time (over 12 years), I have struggled with my mobility. It was initially caused by blood clots in my lungs, but as I took time to recover, lots of other illnesses came to the fore which absolutely floored me. I then had more blood clots in my lungs seven years later, which made things much worse. This ultimately led me to having to use a wheelchair to get anywhere further than the couple of steps I can walk.

It became evident after being forced to rest for a long time that I needed to be outside. It’s where I spent a lot of my working life, and all of my childhood. I climbed, swam, cycled, jumped from high things, broke bones, worked on vehicles in all weathers, camped and much more. I’m a completely outdoors loving person. It’s where I feel calm, and free.

So, if I was going to get my mental health on track, and then my physical health, I needed to be, first and foremost, outside. But doing what? I could not push myself far in a manual wheelchair, and so our walks out, ended up very quickly with me just being pushed along. I couldn’t do much on my own without complete exhaustion. It seemed hopeless.

Until we found SEAS Sailability, that is. The idea of being on the water, had never really occurred to me, despite being close to it for a significant chunk of my adult life. Sure, I swam, but boats seemed like things for other people. Especially when I got ill. You do not sit on the shore of a lake, or the dock/pontoon of a local body of water, and expect to be asked if you want to take a ride while sat in a wheelchair. If you’re talked over and ignored in the supermarket, after all, you can expect it fully when water is concerned. We didn’t even know if I could go out with SEAS, or if I would actually manage!

When we finally went, though, it was better than I could have imagined. One of the stories I like to tell about SEAS, happened on our first ever day there. We arrived, got fitted out in some PFDs, and sat watching other people having fun from the dock. Then we met Karl, who came over to talk to us. His first question was, “what do you fancy doing?” Naturally, I asked him, “what can I do”, to which his answer was, quite unequivocally, “anything you want!”

He pointed out that we could sail, we could go on power boats, we could go on something powered, but slower, we could paddle canoes and kayaks; and that they even had a sacrificial wheelchair, if I wanted to go on one of the larger paddle boards. I was blown away. Any help I needed was there, and I simply needed to decide what I wanted to do.

It felt freeing. Finally, I could be outside doing something. Our first trip was out onto the Menai Strait, and under the Britannia Bridge on a Wheelyboat. If you think 1944 landing craft, but for wheelchairs, you would be pretty close. It was incredible, fast, fun, and wild! I remember it cementing my feeling that power boats were not for me, though, and I only ever went out on it once again when I was offered the chance to pilot it. Of course, I had to say yes.

Sessions after that explored Canadian Canoes (rafted), and then the big one! Sailing. I requested to sail one day, and they got one of the boats from its mooring and brought it over to the pontoon. It was a Hawk 20 if I remember rightly, as the coaming in the cockpit was high and supportive. A couple of strong volunteers helped me in, and I motored us out onto the Menai Strait. Then the engine was turned off, the sails went up, and we were off.

We didn’t get as far as we did with the power boat, but we zigzagged up and down the Strait, learned to tack, and gybe, and from that moment on, I knew, I was absolutely in love with sailing. The sessions with SEAS, from then on, were composed of as much sailing as I could manage to get. We ultimately ended up buying our own sailing boat off the back of the experiences we had with SEAS.

They also convinced us to try other things, of course. We tried unrafted Canadian Canoes (myself and Cerys), which we also fell very quickly in love with (and thus bought our own canoe). We also tried some Pyranha Kayaks, and will no doubt have a fleet of those in the garden very soon. We even earned a certificate!

One of the best events with SEAS, was a Paddle Adventure, from Beaumaris, to Plas Newydd. We took our own gear by this point to gain experience with it, but it was absolutely incredible. The wildlife, the friendly atmosphere, and the sense of achievement after paddling through the Swellies and seeing seals up close, will stay with us forever.

The charity is fantastic. They support not just people with disabilities, but their friends, family, and of course, carers. It’s a break away from the daily grind, of pain and stress, and it gives people a real boost. All the volunteers have been wonderful, and can never do enough to support you. There’s always a panad (brew), on hand, and they often have a BBQ roaring, so you can eat after being potentially wet and tired.

Karl in particular has been incredibly supportive, and instructive, and we thank him very, very much, as we do all the volunteers, and team at SEAS. You gave me/us smiles, laughs and memories, you gave me goals, and most importantly, you gave us all hope!

If you are in the North Wales area, I cannot recommend highly enough, giving them a shout.

A very grateful, Emma