Disabled Crew Sail Their Dream

The Age

Thursday December 31, 1998

ANDREW DARBY

HOBART

When some of his fellow crew complained in the Sydney-Hobart storm that it was getting a bit dark out there, Paul Borg replied: ``Yeah, it's always dark out there."

``It doesn't worry me," said the winch grinder from Mooloolaba, who is blind. ``I'll challenge anyone to a game of golf at midnight."

This was no game of golf though. Mr Borg's humor was about proving that the disabled members of the yacht Aspect Computing were not to be held back.

The watch captain, Mr Kim Jaggar, an arm amputee said: ``People have to be able to laugh at themselves to realise their own weaknesses. That's a trait of disabled people. It helps them come to terms with their incapacities."

Of the 13 crew aboard Aspect, run by the Sydney-based Sailors with Disabilities Program, six were disabled. Their impediments ranged from dyslexia through stroke and blindness.

The youngest was 12-year-old Mudgee schoolboy Travis Foley, who said of the experience: ``It was pretty fun." Travis, a dyslexic, came to the yacht through the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia's youth training program.

On board Aspect he helped out a bit, taking delight in serving the crew sandwiches. Unfazed by the storm's severity, he wanted to do the race again.

The owner-skipper of the yacht, Mr David Pescud, shook his head when asked whether at any stage he had reconsidered the wisdom of having Travis aboard. ``I've taken my young daughters sailing," Mr Pescud said.

``Sailors with Disabilities are a tough lot. They've got a point to prove. It's about people saying what they can do. We don't want to be marginalised."

Neither were they in the race. His 16.6-metre sloop, designed as a round-the-world racer, was off Gabo Island, closer to the front of the fleet, when the storm hit.

``We travelled smoothly. Got the gear down. We've been bashed about a bit, but that happens."

Aspect's crew had trained to help each other. Mr Borg's strength on the winches fitted in on watch with another crewman's sight. ``There was no free ride for anyone on board," Mr Borg said. ``We're grateful for that because it got us through that terrible storm."

Not only did it survive, Aspect pounded down the coast to be ninth across the line. ``I just praise God that someone like the Sailors with Disabilities program has come up and given us another bite," Mr Borg said.

``If it weren't for people like them we'd be sitting at home and weaving baskets or something."

© 1998 The Age

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