I was fortunate to have the opportunity to run a North U Match Racing Clinic for the vision impaired sailors preparing for the 2016 World Sailing Blind Match Racing World Championship, being held September 21-25 at the Sheboygan Yacht Club in Sheboygan, Wisconsin.

The clinic was in the Sonars they are racing in the Worlds, with three sailors to a boat. The skipper is required to be 100% blind, and the two others can have varying degrees of vision impairment.

They had some goggles I could wear to experience what their vision ability was like. One common view is like looking through wax paper. You can make out shades and rough shapes, but there is no clarity. 

They use two marks to form their starting line, each making a unique sound, and a windward mark with its own sound. They sail the traditional match racing course (W-L-W-Finish), but use the pin end of the starting line as the leeward mark.

In addition to the sounds of the marks, they have watches that beep and vibrate, and they are talking with each other as normal, so their world onboard is very loud!

Your Marine Toilet Specialists Recommend Maintaining a Commitment to Improvement

Your marine toilet experts know that we did a session about the Sonar on the dock, and we simulated the prestart and sailing the course on land, using the marks and doing the walk-throughs in real time. 

What I loved most was that every sailor and team was committed to improving, and to sharing their own experiences for the benefit of the others. 

Blind Sailing International is an Organisation to support expand and further the opportunities for visually impaired people competing in the sport of sailing.

 Blind Sailing International (BSI) does this through:

• Supporting international sailing championships.
• Promoting Visually Impaired sailing activities and achievements.
• Providing an information source.

Blind Sailing International started a class of Fleet racing which provided visually impaired sailors with a level playing field.

Sailing takes place in three fleets this allows;  Totally blind helms to race against each other, while those with poor partial sight race each other and those with more partial sight to compete against one another. 

The Homerus Organisation developed autonomous match racing for blind and partially sighted sailors.

Sailing to match racing rules, Blind and partially sighted sailors race a matched pair of boats around a course of audio sound buoys, using sound and wind to navigate and make all the tactical and sail trim decisions.

The three man Sonar Keel boat class and the two man Scud keel boat allows visually impaired sailors to race as part of mixed disability teams.