Meet Emma
Sailing helps Emma cope, gives her an outlet.
As a blind person, Emma has some great advice for that first visit.
Sailing offers Emma something that other sports have been unable to. She is an outdoors person and loves the wind and the sound of the water. Emma gets pure enjoyment out of sailing;聽its聽all absorbing. She loves the fact that you聽have to聽work it out 鈥 the spatial awareness, the angles.聽It鈥檚聽a really fulfilling thing to do, particularly if you put the time into learning the skills.聽
She likes the physical and the social side of sailing.聽
Along the way, she has been impressed by the great communication skills of the volunteers, and the faith they had in her abilities.聽
鈥淭he volunteers聽at Northampton Sailability聽are keen that the people who sail are also involved in the running of the club. There鈥檚 real commitment to proper equality, that聽we are all capable of making good decisions and we are all in it together. As the years have gone by, I have been able to get more involved. The club聽haven鈥檛聽forced me. If you just want to just turn up and have fun that is fine, if you want to do more you can.鈥
Now Emma loves taking people out herself, and helping more people learn to sail.聽
Emma has also suffered with depression in the past and believes her regular involvement in sailing has helped her through difficult moments.聽
Sailing has really helped me to live with my depression. It鈥檚 really helped me cope, given me an outlet. Sailing requires a lot of skills and concentration and has made life bearable in many ways.
