This is one highly biased set of thoughts about sailing as a blind person. It contains no magic tricks, no secret ways to make things simple, and no sage advice. If it encourages you to go try sailing, or eases your mind about teaching a blind person sailing, that is just fine. If it passes a few seconds of surfing time when you should have been doing something productive, that's just fine too. There is entirely too much talk of productivity around these days and if I can discourage some of that hype by wasting a little of your time, that's fine also.
It is hard for me to imagine anyone bothering to ask if a blind person can be a sailor. There are enough examples out there to prove it can be done if you need proof. However I did not learn what I know of sailing because other blind people had done it before me, I learned it because I wanted to and luckily found the opportunities to do so through BAADS. It is only narrow minded rehab counselors who consider that a blind person can do something only if a role model can be found.
If you have to ask "why sailing?" then you wouldn't understand anyhow, so go find something you care about. You may well ask, as a blind person, "will I enjoy sailing?" No one but you can answer that one, so go try.
Is sailing more dangerous for a blind person than for a sighted one? No. If you learn carefully and thoroughly, and if safety is always always your first consideration, then sailing is probably one of the least dangerous activities you can do. Compared to walking where there are cars, it's no contest.
Can a blind person sail by him/her self? Yep; although I have only done so on a wind surfer, there are at least 2 widely different situations in which this is possible.
1. In a quiet lake with perhaps an instructor in another boat spotting you, there is no reason why you can't go for a solo sail. The only help you'll need is to be told when to turn to avoid hitting things, and possibly directions back to the dock if you ever want to quit.
2. In the open ocean, with lots and lots of experience and technology. I know of at least 2 sailors who have made solo passages. Hank Decker sailed from San Francisco to Hawaii, I think a couple times. Geoffrey Hilton-Barber sailed singlehanded from South Africa to Australia a couple years ago. Obviously these voyages took lots of preparation and support, but it can be done. A blind sailor rounding the Horn? Who knows, not me.
Can a blind sailor be a skipper or a helpful member of a crew racing or cruising? You bet. Many groups around the world involve blind people in racing, there is an international "blind sail" competition every 2 years. Since I have no interest in racing, I know nothing about it.
In cruising, again, the only things a blind person probably can't do are spot traffic and land, and do chart work. The technology for doing navigation and probably electronic charting is becoming practical, and if you have the money and want it, could probably be had now with a deal of fuss. For me, mostly day sailing on San Francisco Bay, this kind of technology is not important enough to bother with.
As you learn all aspects of sailing, you should learn what charts look like and what symbols are used. When I passed my American Sailing Association Basic Coastal Cruising certification I was able to tell fellow class members what to look for on a chart to answer exam questions and to help interpret chart information in planning courses and the like. The more you know about a planned cruise, the more you can help. If you are doing a cruise which requires lots of pilotage, take notes about the course, bearings, reference points, buoys and the like. Then you can help the sighted helmsperson sail the course and perhaps reduce the need for her to look at the chart.
I most often sail with my sighted wife. Luckily she likes to steer and I am not particularly good at the helm. I have met and heard of blind people who love to steer and are good at it so here my example only expresses my personal interest and capabilities.
One of my favorite stories involving having the correct knowledge is about the first time I went sailing with Sue, my wife-to-be. I had just taken a sailing class at Cal State Hayward. This was what I considered "P.E." On one of our first dates, I suggested we go down to Lake Merritt in Oakland and rent an El Toro so I could introduce her to sailing. Since Sue had never been in a sailboat, I expected a hysterical giggle or "who are you kidding" or the like. I was amazed when she said "O.K." Of course this was a very calm lake and there was help immediately available so we could hardly get into trouble, but none the less I knew enough of what to do that we rigged the boat and had a nice little sail while I showed Sue about the basics. Yes, we got back to the dock in one piece and not wet. I am sure that this was the beginning of my knowing that Sue was the girl for me. Now we are both ASA certified skippers and take great joy in sailing the Bay together.
What are the aspects of sailing which are most enjoyable for a blind person? All of it of course. Learning a boat and all of its equipment is great fun. If you don't like to explore things and are not a gadget freak, I don't know how well you'll do as a sailor. I am sure there are sailors who are not gadget junkies but I find it hard to imagine. For me, working with rigging, hopping around the boat pulling on lines and finding stuff for the skipper is great fun, and the more heeled over it is the more fun. There are limits of course, in 15 foot seas and 40 knot winds, it gets a bit tricky to move about but doing so safely gives one a real feeling of accomplishment.
In some ways, a moderately sized sailboat is a great environment for a blind person. There are lots of easily identifiable things to grab onto so that you can always be sure of your orientation to the boat. Usually, things are put in their own particular places, so finding stuff "shouldn't" be hard. With the exception of the electronics, most of the equipment on a sailboat is quite easy to work without seeing it. Perhaps you won't get quite so perfect a trim on the jib as a sighted person looking at the telltails might, but you can learn to do it quite well enough for anything but the most demanding racing skippers.
Does one have to mention the other stuff? The feeling of open space, the cleaner air, the sounds of the water and the boat, that wonderful lift when the boat first heels to the breeze and you shut down the engine, all of it is just as grand for a blind person as for anyone. I recall an interview of Hank Decker by William F. Buckley in which he asked something like "since sailing is entirely a visual experience, why would a blind person want to do it?" I can only hope that this was intended to provoke Decker. If it was a serious question, then Buckley isn't half the sailor he claims to be.
There's lots of magic awaiting you out there besides the things I've already mentioned. Standing at the forestay or the mast and feeling the shape of a full sail, feeling the hardness of the jib sheet in a stiff breeze, hearing the clang of a passing bell buoy, or the raucous moan of a whistling buoy, all these are easily had even for a near beginner. As you get more advanced, you get to experience the real quiet of a calm ocean, or the almost frightening silence when you're deep in the trough between big waves. And of course, crouching on the bow listening for dolphins squeaking and blowing almost close enough to touch. If that doesn't bring chills to your spine, then you are dead.
So you are a little afraid of trying to sail. Well, I admit that every time I go out, I am a little afraid as we leave the dock. Once the sails are up and things settle down, then it's fine. Then there's docking again of course; unfortunately most of us do have to come back to land, darn it anyhow. One of the things I have found I could do which I thought would be impossible is to step off of a slowly moving boat with a line in my hand and help stop the boat and get her firmly and safely tied up. How this is done varies widely with the boat and the situation. There is certainly some danger here, getting an exploratory foot between a couple tons of boat and the dock is a very bad idea, so great care has to be taken. Finding yourself standing on the dock with a line that's getting pulled out of your hand when you can't find the cleat is also a poor way to get wet, so an understanding of what to expect and a lot of practice on a quiet boat are important if you want to try this one.
One place where I have to be careful involves the need to use 2 hands to perform some operation. The first rule of sailing is one hand for the boat, one for yourself. That means hold on. Whenever you're moving about the boat or performing some other task that needs hands, find some way to wrap an arm around something or otherwise make sure you are attached to the boat. If you sail in waves you may wish to use a standard harness and tether in cases where someone else might not do so. Probably however the sighted person should be tethered also, and putting on the tether is almost never a bad idea, it just might save your life. I have caught myself just leaning against the mast while using both hands. I need to constantly think what would happen right this instant if an unexpected wave knocked the boat over on her ear. I don't have all the answers here, it is just one of those areas where your individual care and responsibility are yours to keep track of.
Might you fall in the water or get hit by the boom? Sure you might, if you do something stupid, but so might anyone else. If you start sailing in a dinghy, probably the best way, part of your training should be capsizing and recovery. Unless you're not a swimmer at all, and have very poor spatial orientation, you'll probably find this fun. If you are not a swimmer, then start sailing in bigger boats where falling overboard or capsizing isn't part of the plan. and keep track of yourself and where you are all the time. You'll be fine.
The only time I fell in, I was on the dock, doing boat maintenance, and had my white cane firmly grasped in my hand. I stepped back into an empty slip. Although this is not a recommended activity, it wasn't all that bad. If there had been a boat in that slip it could have been very bad indeed. I fell because I wasn't thinking about where I was going. Beyond being sorry for my wife who wasn't watching and heard the mighty splash, and being embarrassed that it took 2 strong men to help me back up on the dock 'cause I am rather overweight, well, it was kinda fun. But don't emulate me here, it was a dumb move. Even in this situation, I found that as soon as I came to the surface I knew where I was and what had happened. Almost before I had time to think about it, I had swum the very short distance to the dock and had my arms up on the dock surface. From then on, I was stable and in absolutely no danger. The first thing I did then was to call to my poor wife that I was O.K. and not to panic.
As far as I am concerned, crossing the Embarcadero from the Muni platform with an inaccessible traffic light is a hell of a lot more dangerous than any aspect of sailing. It's fine to be a little afraid. If you're not occasionally so, you are probably a fool, but if you let fear keep you from exploring your world, then you're gonna miss the fun.
What technology will help a blind sailor? Even though I am an electronic engineer and develop adaptive technology, I use very little special technology in sailing. Autohelm makes a very good audible compass. BAADS has several of them, although they are not now on any of our boats. We had one on our poor lost Endless Time, but people seemed to find it more of an irritation than a help. If one were doing long ocean passages then this device would be a great help. However in most bay sailing, you are usually sailing to the wind, not a compass course. Therefore your face and your ears and your sense of the boat will do for you what can be done.
I have had it in mind for years to build an audible wind direction indicator. I have the knowledge and facilities to do this and maybe someday I will. For me though, sailing is purer and more fun without a bunch of beeping talking junk. I would like to arrange talking depth meters, and perhaps knot meters some day, but just haven't got around to doing so. I understand that the English division of Autohelm makes talking GPS units and other gear, but it's very expensive and for the kind of sailing I do, not necessary.
So, you say, I claimed to be a gadget freak? Well, sailboats are full of more gadgets than you can shake a white cane at, and most of them are much more accessible to a blind person than much of modern electronics. One of the few electronic devices I'd like would be a marine VHF radio that is accessible. I have looked high and low, and except for the most expensive units costing 5 or 6 times the price of a typical small boat radio, they all are difficult to operate if you can't see the bloody display. I have talked to manufacturers about why they do things this way. It would seem to me that a sailor would like a radio he can put on a desired channel without looking, but the 'marketers" don't see it that way. Before you ask, NO, it is NOT easy to modify modern electronics equipment to make it talk. Marine equipment needs to be relatively waterproof and adding talking gizmos to it would certainly make waterproofing more difficult.
Again, for the kind of sailing I do with BAADS, all the electronics just isn't important enough to be worth the trouble.
A safety note for you uncontrollable gadget freaks here: I recommend you don't bring scanners, radios and the like with you when you come sailing. I have seen several expensive radios and cell phones leave the belts of sailors as they were boarding the boat. The "thunk plunk" as they bounce off the dock and into the muddy water is a lousy way to spoil a good sail. So leave your hand held stuff at home or pack it very carefully in a backpack and put it safely below.
Written August 2000.
Updated 6-20-2005