The Port Macquarie community group, Sailability, is calling for volunteers ahead of this year\u2019s sailing season, as the club prepares to take to the Hastings River again on Wednesday 25 September.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sailability is a volunteer organisation whose mission is to offer people with varying abilities freedom on the water.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The club uses a fleet of specially designed sailing dinghies with simplified controls and enhanced stability to hold weekly sailing days for people living with physical and mental disability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The club received $55,920 from the NSW Government to extend its carpark and complete landscaping around its new boat shed and accessible amenities block, as well as to install six accessible picnic tables in McInherney Park.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The not-for-profit club is the only organisation of its kind in the area and its 80 volunteers cater to approximately 60 sailors each week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The group provides its services at no charge, with sailors coming from disability support units at local schools in Port Macquarie, Wauchope, Laurieton and Kempsey, as well as disability service providers, aged care facilities and private enquiries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Census statistics for show there are approximately 6,000 people with serious or profound disability in the Port Macquarie area, and the club struggles to meet the demand for its services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
People keen to get involved in volunteering with the club can attend McInherney Park on Wednesdays between September and May to learn more, or go to www.sailabilitypm.com.au<\/a> and click the Contact Us tab.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Minister for Agriculture and Regional NSW, Tara Moriarty said:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThis fantastic community group is really making waves in terms of improving quality of life for people in the Port Macquarie area with disability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt\u2019s wonderful to see people experience a sense of achievement and improved self-confidence and self-esteem through their participation in Sailability\u2019s program.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Parliamentary Secretary for Disability Inclusion, Liesl Tesch* said:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n “Sailability is a beacon of hope and inclusion in Port Macquarie. By fostering a sense of belonging on the water, they\u2019re not only enhancing the lives of people with disability but also enriching the entire community.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n “The amazing volunteers at Sailability do such important work helping build confidence and resilience for so many people in the region each week.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n *Liesl Tesch is a seven-time Paralympian including winning two gold medals in sailing<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Sailability Port Macquarie volunteer Rick Eller said:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe club has come a long way from humble beginnings when it launched in December 2012, we were using two borrowed boats at the time, we had a handful of volunteers, and we were borrowing life jackets from the SES or emergency services here in Port Macquarie.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe best part about working for Sailability is the expressions and the smiles when the people who\u2019ve been sailing come back to the pontoon, that\u2019s what makes it all worthwhile.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sailability Port Macquarie Vice President Julie Constable said:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt\u2019s extremely important that people are aware that people with a disability are very able and keen to get out into society so something like this is off great benefit to the community.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Case study: Vision impaired sailor \u2013 Kathryn Stephens<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Sailability Port Macquarie<\/p>\n\n\n\n Kathryn Stephens:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cParticipating in sailing has opened up a whole new world of opportunities for me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI love the whole idea of being out on the water, the sensation and the sound and just the feel of sailing because I can\u2019t see what I\u2019m doing so it\u2019s all by sound and feel, and just the freedom of being out on the water, it\u2019s a great sensation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe people come from all sorts of different backgrounds and interests and it\u2019s just wonderful to catch up with them as well as meeting other sailing participants every week and we just have a great time and it\u2019s a really lovely community and it\u2019s got a really great feel about it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Port Macquarie community group, Sailability, is calling for volunteers ahead of this year\u2019s sailing season, as the club prepares to take to the Hastings River again on Wednesday 25 September. Sailability is a volunteer organisation whose mission is to offer people with varying abilities freedom on the water. The club uses a fleet of … Continue reading “Call for more mates to support Port Macquarie\u2019s Sailability”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29222","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nswnews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29222","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29222"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29222\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29223,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29222\/revisions\/29223"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29222"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29222"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29222"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}