You are here: Home > Sailing > Notes by Peter Flanagan
These notes represent the points I have remembered from some twelve years experience with blind sailors (and skiers) at Chorleywood College (for girls with little or no sight) and at the ICC courses for visually impaired people originated by James Stevens. We have been fortunate at both centres in having a number of helpers who have been involved over long periods and hence we have managed to learn a lot by experience. It is this collected wisdom that I will attempt to recall!
New recruits will need to learn their way around and be protected from any real danger areas by extra barriers (such as ropes) by the waste side for instance. Do please introduce yourself. Until they recognise your voice, use normal speech. Don't try to avoid words like "see". Ask how much they can see and if they have any other health problems (for example, diabetes or deafness). Some people may need help with certain foods (for example, whole fish) or preparing hot drinks. Guiding from one place to another is best done by asking them to take your arm. Visually impaired people hate being grabbed from behind and pushed into the unknown. The conventional guidance system is for them to walk half a step behind with a light finger grip on your (usually) right elbow or shoulder and if they have good mobility you don't have to mention steps or stairs. However, on board or in crowds or open ground it is much better for them to have a firm grip on your arm to prevent stumbling over the normal "bits" that people leave around and it also enables you to move sideways through narrow gaps. Do remember to warn them if head room is restricted. I find it best to always insist on a firm grip as visually impaired people vary from the very agile to the frankly clumsy and with a group of people it is best to stick to the safest method.
When going ashore and back most visually impaired people will use a cane. This helps them find launch gunwales, seats and so on, and gives them a meaningful "feel" at the boats and pontoons. When going to the dinghy areas, however, canes should be left behind. Our jobs as helpers do not end when sailing stops: we need to be there to provide help whenever needed. The amount of help needed is usually less than expected so try not to be over protective. If members of other courses get there first let them get involved! We usually try to reserve the nearest table to the galley so the visually impaired people, at least, can find a seat for themselves.
Do check that their sailing clothes are suitable. If they are short of essentials the office might help, or take them shopping. Make sure they have, or get, a buoyancy aid that fits well and does up properly. To avoid hunting for one each day, tell them to keep it until they leave.
The courses for visually impaired people have always consisted of a mixture of beginners and experienced sailors. It operates as a number of courses in which each student progresses according to their own ability and wishes. It is rarely possible to plan details in advance, as day-to-day conditions determine what is possible. Apart from strong wind conditions when rides in yawls or keel boats are all that is possible, a student to instructor ratio of 2:1 is the most that is effective. After a little experience, single-handed sailing (and high-performance crewing) becomes possible and this usually needs to be done 1:1. An overall ratio of 6:4 allows the more experienced to have individual attention at the start of the week and the newcomers to have their turns later on.
Do remember that the concentration required for visually impaired people to sail is much higher than for the sighted. Also many visually impaired people are less fit than they would wish due to a sedentary lifestyle and there are often associated conditions which further reduce stamina, so expect the pupils to get tired - often quite suddenly. Look out for any substantial deafness as this can make orientation very difficult. Keep the number of objectives for each session to very few and make sure they are really covered - keep it simple.
You will find visually impaired helms will follow your instructions instantly and without question! This remarkable reaction enables you, even if not in the boat, to talk them up to moorings or alongside with great accuracy. As long as you can keep in good audible contact, therefore, solo sailing is not difficult to control - radios are the latest and best aid.
For the first few sessions don't concentrate too much on the function and naming of parts: this is best done by having a boat fully rigged, on its side, out of the water so that it can be fully handled after a couple of days experience. Try to get the pupil always to enter the dinghy by stepping well over the gunwale and holding on to a shroud. This gives instant orientation as to which end is which and where they are fore and aft.
The first thing to learn is the "going-about" drill. Do this on the boat (preferably alongside). Use the main halyard attached to the aft end of the boom to raise it to the sailing position (no sails unless very calm). Keep repeating the tack until it's starting to be familiar.
You will find that the mainsheet hand may be used to feel the way from side to side. Make sure the mainsheet doesn't get round the tiller because of this. Unless the pupil is unusually nervous, have them sitting on the gunwale using the tiller extension and toes under straps (they can feel the wind much better on the gunwale than on the seat). Having spent some time on this, get rigged fairly smartly and go sailing.
Run through the functions in a brief manner and after a bit of a "joy ride" get them on the helm with the boat on a beam reach (no mainsheet at first). Explain what a beam reach is and how the tiller changes the point of sailing. Introduce "luff up" and "bear away" as two tiller movements, explain what these mean and henceforth always give steering instructions in these terms. This is very important as all guides need to use the same terminology and you will always get it right even if you are watching them sail from outside the boat and they are sitting in the wrong place!
It is commonly supposed that when the tiller is straight the boat will go straight, you should demonstrate that this is not so by heeling the boat hard to both windward and leeward with the tiller held straight - but some pupils may find it difficult to detect the rotation of the boat.
Most pupils find it best to keep their steering hand on the tiller extension at a point where their hand is over either the inwhale or gunwhale when the tiller is straight (fore and aft). This gives them an approximately neutral reference point from which they can luff or bear away. This habit leads to a rather inflexible slightly crouched stance and a reluctance to move their weight outboard in gusts; but nearly all visually impaired helms do sail this way and compensate with very good mainsheet control. A more flexible approach can be encouraged at a much later stage by encouraging really active crewing in high performance boats and sailing solo in a responsive boat like the Topper.
It is normal to teach a "correct" centreboard position for each point of sailing. For a visually impaired helm, however, it is best to put it down and forget it! Both the "feel" and responsiveness of the helm are strongly influenced by centreboard position. Visually impaired people frequently get disorientated, for example, by tack followed by gybe or being stuck head to wind and so on, and have to sort things out. They should always, therefore, have enough centreboard down to obtain full rudder response. They also rely partly on the "feel" of weather helm to steer a straight course. On a reach, for instance, with half centeboard the helm may be nearly neutral, which we may prefer (and is faster) but for visually impaired people if the helm changes from weather to lee helm as the hull is heeled to leeward or windward, control is easily lost. Most dinghies (for example, Wayfarers) handle quite adequately with full centreboard - so use it. Occasionally a boat may carry an impossible amount of weather helm (for example, the Coypu) in which case try to find a compromise position.
During these early steps use your weight and the mainsheet to keep the boat balanced and then do some tacks. When it is starting to work, hand over the mainsheet and be prepared to move even more. Try to get the pupils to steer straight courses on the beam reaches by verbal instructions coupled with observation of the wind direction and any residual vision (even the sun on the face helps). Some pupils can do remarkably well - but they can't tell how they do it.
If you have a second pupil, brief them on the correct use of the foresail and their role in achieving balance while they are waiting their turn to helm. If you can arrange continuous jib sheeting this is much easier to use as it is easy to locate and doesn't require going to leeward to find a lost sheet end! The "crew" should be encouraged not to release the jib on the shout of "lee-ho" during a tack but to feel or listen for the jib starting to flap before releasing the sheet (otherwise the helm thinks he is head to wind) and not to pull on the other side until the wind is clearly on the new windward side. A shout to the helm of "you're there!" helps a lot as the crew can detect the wind more easily than an aft-facing helm who doesn't quite know when to curtail his tack!
In general, you will need to slow both helm and crew down to stop them rushing from side to side and teach them to time their going-about manoeuvre from the feel of the boat and the wind. The most important points are probably to keep the helm's backside on the side until the wind comes out of the mainsail, stop the crew pulling the jib over too soon and keeping the extension in front of the helm so that he can swing it out on the new windward side before curtailing the tack.
During subsequent sessions you can introduce close-hauled, broad reach and training run legs and also steering towards a sound source. Visually impaired helms frequently steer the wrong way when first given a sound to follow, so try to find a suitable engine to follow quite early on as this helps them to understand what is happening when they move the tiller. Don't introduce the gybe until the tack is quite sound as this can cause real confusion.
The pupil should gradually learn to do all the rigging and so on, including picking up and leaving moorings. Some changes from normal are recommended:
A frequent question asked is, "Why do we need to gybe?" A good way to discuss this is to use a tactile map of the estuary with imaginary courses. Another is to use a familiar room as an imaginary sailing area and walk around it with imaginary winds coming from various directions using an arm to represent a boom.
Carry out the gybing drill in the boat in a similar manner to the going about drill. A few points of special emphasis may help the visually impaired helm (an aft mainsheet is assumed):
There are a number of ways to achieve a straight course:
Note: techniques discussed in this section are meant to cover all levels of experience and should only be applied as appropriate.
Very few partially sighted people can see enough to manoeuvre a dinghy around stationary objects, even in good light, and other moving boats present an even greater problem. However, many can pick up something, often at considerable distances and such sight is worth using. Among objects likely to be visible are coloured sails, boundaries between fields or between fields and woods, and the sun.
Using a lead boat with a sound source to aid visually impaired helms works very well. If other safety cover is available it need not be a motorboat but a sailing boat with a bleeper. Getting the helm to follow the sound can, with practice, enable them to keep straight on any point of sailing and with further experience they can play chasing upwind or downwind, tacking or gybing on their own initiative.
Visually impaired helms generally excel at sailing to windward. They achieve excellent mainsheet control and have a great feel for keeping a dinghy nicely "in the slot". To reach this level of confidence you need to have them keep the boat as near to the optimum angle of heel as possible, by easing the mainsheet early in the gusts, adjusting weight distribution and sheeting back in soon afterwards. There is a tendency to bear away, after releasing the main, to restore the drive and unless the need to sheet right in again is emphasized, a progressively off-wind course can result. Finding the right angle relative to the wind is best achieved by practising a slow luff which is corrected by a short sharp tiller movement to bear away back to an optimum course before forward movement is lost. The clues to luffing too far are the usual ones: flapping sails, heeling to windward and loss of drive. It is important that sails with flapping leaches are avoided and that helms learn to distinguish a dropping wind strength from pointing too high. Having learned to sail to windward most helms can maintain a chosen course between close hauled and a beam reach if they have guidance on where to set the boom and they then steer to maintain maximum drive. In a reasonably steady breeze this works quite well. Guidance on the boom angle can be given by a guide, or the crew, or by marking the mainsheet with whipping twine (or on a Topper by reaching up and feeling it).
This technique is for downwind sailing. When the chosen course is downwind, it is no longer practical to maintain a course by judging how the wind is reacting with the mainsail as the point at which the wind no longer drives the sail is too far to windward of the chosen course. If guidance is first given to set the boom angle and adjust the weight distribution to get the boat fully upright (level) on the chosen broad reach or run, the visually impaired helmsman can use the tiller alone to keep the boat level. This means that he will bear away if the boat heels to leeward and luff if the boat starts to heel to windward. By this means a surprisingly straight course is achieved even if it is a bit gusty, as the windier moments are sailed a little freer - which eliminates any tendency to broach. In addition, the warning of an impending accidental gybe may be detected by a heel to windward and a loss of speed. If you are crewing a visually impaired helm who is sailing this way, you will find that you can steer him without speaking by small adjustments of your position: if you move to leeward he will bear away and if you move to windward he will luff up.
These may include sound bleepers, walkie talkies or an audio compass.
The use of bleepers has decreased of late with the advent of other aids but some earlier experience is worth recording. Using a bleeper in a second sailing boat and playing "follow me" is a good teaching aid and can be made increasingly sneaky by not announcing your own changes of course. Experienced visually impaired helms can get very good at it. The disadvantages are that it is a terrible strain having a bleeper going continuously in your own boat and in the event of a capsize or a squall you're in a poor position to deal with it. External rescue cover is then essential. Using three bleepers mounted on buoys (or some form of robust and soft float) is a good way of learning to sail a course. The bleepers need to be of different pitch or sound quality and taken in order and left on the same side. On a quiet lake this works very well and the Chorleywood pupils could race each other round a course in Toppers under good conditions. At Salcombe it has never really been successful due to the tide which makes it very difficult to judge the windward legs or to pass up tide of a mark without getting entangled in the underwater tackle. Two buoys can similarly be used to practise sailing between them on "sausage" legs in any direction. The buoys need to be fairly close to each other as they are soon lost in anything but a lightish breeze. At Chorleywood we eventually had a bleeper on the pontoon at a point where pupils could come alongside on their own and a bleeping buoy near the middle of the lake to indicate a safe direction. As the lake has soft sides and no moorings, with the additional clues provided by traffic, pedestrians, birds, wind in the trees and so on, several pupils with no sight were able to sail totally freely and it was sailing thus that they came to prefer. Although simple, keeping the devices waterproof, maintained and finding suitable floats on which to put them, were all considerable problems and the bleepers have now all been lost or ceased to function.
The use of "hands-off" walkie talkies first came to our notice at a plastic ski slope with one transmitter and a number of receivers so that pupils could be coached from below whilst descending the slope. These original "speak easy" units from Maxon were on the CB band (27 MHz), liable to interference and of only moderate sound quality. Both coach and pupil had a headband earphone with a small microphone attached and a wire aerial sticking up. The electronic package could be carried in a pocket or clipped to a belt or jacket. The main switch had three positions "off", "PTT" and "VOX". PTT means "Press To Transmit" and VOX means "Voice-activated transmission". In practice, the coach has his set on VOX and the pupils are on PTT. The coach transmits whenever (or just after) his microphone is activated and can hear he is transmitting from his own voice in his earphone. The pupil cannot receive if he is himself transmitting and so for safety always uses the PTT position, which is effectively receive only as he has no direct access to the transmit button. These units have been used for a number of years by blind downhill skiers for easier transmission of instructions from their guides. For sailing, the headband and aerial proved too cumbersome and the sets needed to be at least splash proof. A pair of modified sets were sponsored by the RNIB and these have a "waterproof" case with an "o" ring seal which has to be broken to switch on or off. The aerials are on the cases and the receiver has a Walkman type earpiece kept in the pupil's ear by a sweatband round the head but no microphone. These units are not fully waterproof, are expensive and still liable to interference. We have nevertheless used them successfully for a number of years without serious mishap. More recently Tandy have offered a model TCR-500 (initially £60 per pair but recently on offer at £30 per pair). These have identical headband and microphones to the Maxon but are FM quality and are license free on the 49 MHz band. The sound quality is excellent and the range adequate at a quarter of a mile. They are also capable of being re-crystallised so that up to eight pairs could be used together. We have found that they can be modified to receive only by replacing the headband unit with a Walkman earpiece and an aerial wire entwined in the sweat band. Tandy have recently introduced another version which is similar but uses an earpiece to serve as both microphone and earphone. This version is on the same frequency as the TRC-500 so can be used in conjunction but the range is not so good and the coach has no clue when he is transmitting so we would recommend these units be used as receivers only. Our aim in seeking out these radios has been to find something that could be used to coach a blind windsurfer without wrecking it! We have heard of a French unit costing several hundred pounds that water skiers have used and is claimed to be really waterproof but it is not hands-off in use. If the present Tandy units are well wrapped in two or three freezer bags and sealed with tape, they are sufficiently waterproof to be considered expendable. We have had many capsizes in Toppers and have only wrecked one receiver to date. The receiver package is best stored in a small bumbag which can be slung over one shoulder across the back so that it lies between the shoulder blades and under the life jacket. In use the guide should always say something at least every ten seconds to ensure that the pupil knows that contact is being maintained. If the guide asks if he is being heard clearly the pupil should briefly raise one hand vertically in acknowledgement. If a pupil feels that contact has been lost or if he needs to speak to his guide he should hove-to, wave an arm from side to side and wait for assistance. Flat batteries are the commonest reason for failure and it is best to use Duracell for reliability; the sets seem to dislike a voltage below about 7.5 volts so a meter is a convenient way of checking battery strength (Duracell MN 1604 read about 9.2 volts when new). The transmitting set uses more power than the receiver so the guide should carry a spare battery and change it if he can no longer hear himself in his own earpiece.
The audio compass in its latest version is an excellent and sophisticated electronic package. We have had one mounted in a Squib and another in a Wayfarer with excellent results. The unit and speaker are waterproof, so apart from the battery pack it is robust under normal conditions. It contains a fluxgate compass which provides a rock steady reference and is not affected by boat rolling or pitching and two modes of audible output. The boat may be lined up on a chosen course from the "stand by" position and the compass can be activated to provide first the actual heading then an error signal which is a bleep of increasing repetition rate with increase of error and of either high or low pitch to denote that the error is above or below the desired course. On the desired course the compass is silent. By simply pressing buttons the desired course may be modified by chosen small increments. If the course is a windward one then a 100 degree tack may be initiated to either port or starboard, again by pressing buttons. Most helms quickly learn to steer a fair course in this mode, the point to note is that they usually approach the chosen course far too fast and overshoot so that apparent over correction needs to be applied just before the neutral point is reached. This mode is very useful when crewing a visually impaired helm as it is safe to leave the helm to steer and raise or lower a spinnaker, for instance, without an unexpected change of course. In an alternative mode, the compass repeats the magnetic heading every few seconds. This mode is difficult to use off the wind as the number changes are difficult to use for course correction. However, experienced helms who can sail to windward instinctively find this mode very informative and can use it to determine wind shifts of short or long duration and even regular "bends" that are found in parts of the estuary. The tacking angle can also detect the difference between beating with or against the tide. In general, this is a very useful mode for the advanced student.
Before regular unaccompanied sailing can be undertaken it is important to achieve the following:
It scarcely needs saying that it is essential for the guide or instructor to retain control of the situation in any eventuality -this includes avoiding collisions and dealing with capsizes or adverse weather conditions. The first essential is that motorised support is available but it is not essential for the guide to be in the motorboat. Secondly, the guide must be able to communicate with the helm quickly when necessary. Thirdly, the guide and helm need to practice together and develop a degree of mutual trust in their abilities. The first attempts need to be in an open safe piece of water under mild conditions. The use of a radio is a big help then, as the amount of information that can be given is much greater than by shouting and also because the volume and clarity in the helm's ear remains constant over a considerable distance. This also gives the impression that the guide is always close at hand!
Typically we would start by having the instructor in the boat and guiding but taking no part in the sailing whilst proceeding to the sailing area, with the radio link established between him and the helm. An accompanying dory with driver comes alongside in the sailing area and the instructor steps out when hove-to. The instructor can sit a little way from the engine (to reduce background noise) and talk the pupil through a sailing session normally giving instructions to the crew through the helm. It is easiest to coach by following behind but the pupils may prefer to follow your engine. We usually do a bit of both but mostly whichever the pupils prefer. After a while it may be possible to control the pupil's boat from a moored position with your engine switched off. When necessary the instructor can step back aboard (when hove-to) but for preference the pupil's boat should always come alongside the moored dory. As confidence and performance improves the second helper is no longer necessary. The guide can tow the pupil off the mooring (sails down) and take them to the sailing area, anchor, hoist their sails and let them carry on sailing. They should soon progress well enough to sail back to base, being closely shadowed by their guide. When approaching the base the guide can either tie up to their mooring and talk them into him or go alongside the pontoon and do likewise. Finally, they will be confident enough to sail straight off from the base. This is no problem from a mooring when you can untie them and push their bow onto the favoured tack, but from a pontoon it often helps to have someone else push them off when you are already on the water and in position to take over.
It has been assumed until now that the pupils have sailed in a boat like a Wayfarer or Mayflower, which are likely to cause damage in a collision and are unlikely to capsize, but might be a problem if it does. When the pupils are prepared to risk a capsize, the Topper is the ideal next boat because it is easy to right or recover when aground and unlikely to cause significant damage in a collision. Apart from the continuing need for motorised rescue cover, the guides and pupils can be a bit more venturesome and build up slowly until some pupils will be able to sail under planing conditions. Helms may not always want to use radios as they reduce their ability to detect the direction of ambient sounds. In a capsize the radios usually keep working but helms do not always know where the boat is, so they may need guidance which way to swim. Once found, the boat is usually recovered quite normally.
It occasionally happens that a visually impaired person goes under the mainsail on a capsize. Should this happen, they should feel for the seam and move along it to the leach or mast. In the meantime, the guide must be prepared to jump into the water and dive under the sail. In my own boat I have always used a mylar mainsail after one rather worrying experience with my visually impaired crew.
It is quite useful to have a whistle in case radio contact is lost as, if it is windy, this is more easily heard than a voice. Some sort of code can be readily improvised, for example, one short blast for tack and one long blast for hove-to.
You may need to go to the assistance of another craft when guiding from a dory. If so, the quickest option is to guide your pupil's Topper straight on to the shore and tell them to stay there until you return!
It is quite practical when the pupil is really experienced (that is, only needs orientation) to sail with him in another Topper even in a race. In the event of an awkward capsize, it is often easiest to swop boats. If you don't have a dory, do double check everything on the pupil's boat before he starts sailing as dealing with the rigging and adjustments from another sailing boat is not easy. If you need to reef, it is best to take both boats ashore and start again.
Progression to helming higher performance boats is possible for the partially sighted given plenty of room - but up to now everyone with no sight who has tried a radial rigged Laser has found it responds too fast and they become disorientated.
When a sailing area is available adjacent to a launch and recovery area, a guide with a radio can control local sailing without needing to be on the water but the need for instant rescue cover still remains.
Most of the visually impaired sailors have taken readily to rowing. It helps, at first, if a drawing pin is put into the oar grip so that it is uppermost when the blade is in the correct position. After a few trial runs most visually impaired people can follow a whistle from another rowing boat all round the harbour! If the pupil is deaf he may not be able to row to a whistle and may need a coded whistle or to use a radio. Normally one guide can lead two or three confident rowers when there is no wind. Canoeing is a similar option but needs a trained guide to deal with the capsize problem.
Windsurfing has attracted the more adventurous but no one has had enough time at it to gain real competence at Salcombe, although at Chorleywood several girls could windsurf round the lake quite effectively. In principle, windsurfing is a good option, especially for the partially sighted as they can sail really fast without causing much damage when it goes wrong.
Crewing in high performance boats is important on two counts. Firstly, it introduces them to another level of dinghy sailing and gives them a real feel for the use of their own weight in sailing, which is important to them whilst helming themselves. Secondly, it gives them a skill which they may be able to use locally if they can find acceptance at a sailing club. Most sighted people are fearful of sailing with a blind person and it is very hard to break through this barrier. The more help we can give them the better, so do stretch them by having them learn to crew under racing conditions, to use trapezes and even raise, lower and trim spinnakers.
Tactile maps are of great interest and very informative. We have prepared one of Salcombe estuary but it would be nice to have a local street map or layout of Egremont and to be able to prepare tactile diagrams where one might usually use a blackboard. We have, on occasion, prepared such material by having bold diagrams copied onto a special tactile paper in a thermal copier. However, I have recently found a material called "German film" which forms a tactile image when pressed with a stylus (or a ballpoint pen) and as it is transparent, tracings of charts and diagrams can easily be prepared. It can also be embossed with braille. RNIB can supply German film.
Navigational instruments have, we know, been modified for use by visually impaired people and for the totally involved it is possible to get a speech output for a computerised navigational system.
At a more affordable level it should be possible to get a dinghy sailing manual put onto cassette tape or transposed into braille (the RNIB might help).
Models are also useful; a model of a Wayfarer, say two feet long, complete with all sails and rigging would be splendid. Even a very basic toy is useful, but it is easily lost between courses.
We have been getting a lot of help from the radios lately but the actual sets are either personally owned or borrowed. Some visually impaired people are now getting their own to use privately for sailing or other activities (for example, bowls) but it would be good to have several matched pairs always available. (In practice, each "pair" should include a spare).
The audio compasses have again been borrowed but some visually impaired people might well be interested in having their own and it would be best if at least one compass was always available.
The justification for the special attention we have given to encouraging visually impaired people to sail lies in what they get out of it. This is probably highly individual but for some it has led to them joining a sailing club and competing successfully (as crews) and sometimes winning, without any allowance for their disability. For others, being in charge of a boat on their own gives great satisfaction. One pupil said it was the first time in her life that she had ever been allowed to be in real control of anything! But there are huge barriers to be overcome after our blind friends have learnt to sail. It is difficult to become accepted in a club, or even join in some cases, and even harder to be able to sail regularly unless you are totally determined. The recent world blind sailing championships clearly identified a need for further competitive involvement as nearly all our regular pupils applied for selection, many took part and we provided the only blind helm to go to New Zealand who had not been a sailor before losing her sight!
It is clear, therefore, that those of us who are involved with introducing visually impaired people to sailing should use our influence to help our pupils find other outlets where they can expand their interests and relate our experiences to others who might also help them.
© 1990 Peter Flanagan
This page was last modified on 10 February 2008.