大象传媒

The Jubilee Sailing Trust have a slogan '50% may be disabled, but 100% are actively involved'. I was part of the 50 strong crew on the voyage from Dublin to Falmouth and 'buddied up' with Lynn Smith from Helston. Lynn is blind, she lost her sight 18 months ago due to a brain tumour.

It was a terrible experience, my neck ached from peering at things. I also became very dizzy and disorientated, but it certainly helped me understand a little bit about what it's like for Lynn.

We joined the ship in Dublin on Ireland's Bank Holiday Monday and really enjoyed the Maritime Festival.听The Tenacious was moored along with eight other Tall Ships so it was quite a spectacle.听Once on board we were put into our Watch group.听

We learned how to pull ropes听and how to coil and stow them.听We also tried to learn the language of sailing but it was hard. If the watch leader shouts 'well' they mean stop and 'come up' is let go and for a long time we didn't know if we were 'sweating' or 'tailing'.听

Lynn amazed me how well she found her way round the ship. It was more difficult for her at night because safety doors would be closed, it must have been really confusing but she coped incredibly well. She was undeterred by a couple of nasty falls. I was so impressed with her when she听climbed the mast to the crows nest, she was up there ages.听When she came down she was ready to go again.

Lynn found the audio course monitor and the red glowing screen really helpful for her navigation.

Cooking in the galley as it rocks and rolls across the Atlantic didn't faze Lynn as she prepared a massive carbonara from scratch. It was delicious.

Each day there's a 'happy hour' but it's not what you think, we all have to clean the ship from top to bottom.听My role was cleaning the 'heads' another sailing term for loos.听 Lynn had to clean the deck, she soon worked out a clever way of cleaning the drains, she wrapped a cloth around her white stick and pushed her mop backwards and forwards.

It was my turn to climb the mast as we left Waterford, once we reached the crowsnest we were asked to climb up and out on to the yardarm. The rope under our feet would sag a bit each time someone else climbed on, it was a ghastly experience and I was glad when it was over.听

Throughout the voyage Lynn's confidence and independence grew by the hour. Even so it was a shock to me that once back in Cornwall听she raced home to do her washing so she could be back on board for the next leg of the voyage to Liverpool.

These voyages really are life changing experiences.

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