"Whatever your disability, whether you know how to sail
or not, you will end up smiling!"

info@chesilsailability.org.uk       07543 656390

              

Naming Ceremony for Rod Shipley 1 and 2

Yesterday saw the official naming of our first two boats that are our own, Rod Shipley 1 and Rod Shipley 2. These were very generously donated by Mrs Shipley as part of the Rod Shipley Memorial Fund with the Chesil Trust. With over 40 people attending, including the Worshipful the Mayor of Weymouth & Portland, Mrs Shipley, local councellors, sailing club representatives, friends of Rod Shipley and members of Chesil Sailability, there was a great atmosphere. Rod Shipley started in boats at an early age, starting sailing at school in Portsmouth. He spent many years in the Navy, travelling the high seas, with his last posting in Portland. He then started work in Dorchester and then joined Chesil Beach Motors, which he ran for many years, and which is why he is well known in this area. He always retained his love for the sea, and was involved in the Royal Dorset Yacht Club. And on his retirement, he and Mrs Shipley continued to go boating and travel all over the world. Rod Shipley passed away in 2012, and Mrs Shipley set up the Rod Shipley Memorial Fund with the Chesil Trust, to recreate that opportunity to get involved in sailing, that had so inspired Rod Shipley when he was at school. And so it is through her generosity that we are able celebrate this milestone for Chesil Sailability. The two boats, Hansa 303's, are the Landrovers of the accessible sailing world - simple, robust and stable. They can sailed two up, or single handed. They can be adapted for people with severe physical disabilities with controls. They enable people with severe disabilities to sail independently - something very special that we can do, and gives them a unique freedom on the water. They are a great boat for just going out on the water & having fun, learning to sail, or race in. We have started a race team, and have Team Chesil going to competitions, and will be running regional and national events for these boats here. We have some old boats on loan to start with, but these need to be returned soon, so these two new boats form the start and the core of our own fleet. So we hope you get a sense of why these boats are so important for us at Chesil Sailability, and how they will give great pleasure & make a real difference to people’s lives, week in and week out, over many years to come. We would like to thank Mrs Shipley for her enormous generosity through the Rod Shipley Memorial Fund.   After the speeches, one of our sailors, Tim, presented Mrs Shipley with a bouquet of flowers and spoke to her about the fantastic feeling he gets when sailing the boats.     After some really tasty tea and cake, the boats were taken sailing by our sailors. It was a great sunny and breezy evening, and the boats were very much enjoyed our sailors - some going sailing for the first time and others training for national events!

Chesil Sailability: 25th Jun 2014 06:45:07

 

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