An Epic Event and an amazing achievement, Marathon Runner James Barlow and Our Amazing Visa-GB Visually impaired sailors have done us proud!
This landmark event featuring James Barlow who ran an incredible 417 km around the island of Mallorca and pitted his wits against two yachts, crewed by visually impaired sailors from Visa-GB was a resounding success, and has raised over £25,000 in donations and support for both Visa-GB and EBU, the European Blind union.The challenge started at 7 am sharp on Monday 12th May 2025 at Puerto Pollensa in Mallorca where James, running, and the two visually impaired yacht crews were poised at the starting horn for the head to head around the island. James Barlow, a 32-year-old businessman from Manchester completed an epic solo run around Mallorca in just 5.5 days, covering 417 kilometers of diverse terrain, whilst the two yachts battled against challenging conditions to try and beat James by Sea.
A unique event
James was inspired to organise and run this event by his visually impaired brother, Andrew who has a passion for sailing and Visa-GB was his chosen charity whose goal is to empower visually impaired individuals through the freedom of sailing.
The two boats were chartered from the race start port at Puerto Pollensa and taking part in the challenge were crewed by eight visually impaired sailors from Visa-GB, Lizzie Kitchen, Adrian Higginbotham, Natalie Wright, Dave Smedley, and Nicola Thomas, Lloyd Sakr, Andrew Cattermole, Rizwan Arshad.
They were supported by sighted crew with Gaius Hiscox skippering one of the yachts, a Beneteau 37, Moin, supported by sighted crew William and Nicola Mackaness, and Tim Sanford skippering the other boat, a 40 ft Beneteau, Paspartout supported by Calvin Laidler and Sue Glanville. So, who won ? Well, the weather in Mallorca in mid May was changeable to say the least with everything thrown at the boats and our runner, it certainly wasn’t what you’d expect with long periods of strong winds and heavy rain on the cards.
Eventually it was James our runner who won, however the two yachts put in an admirable effort and managed to get 150 nautical miles under their belt, getting round to the bottom of Mallorca’s east coast before having to turn back to get back to base for their charter return deadline in Puerto Pollensa.. There was no night sailing or running allowed, so the boats called into some lovely ports and anchorages – Cala Ratjada, Porto Colom, Porto Cristo and Alcudia before heading back to Porto Pollensa, the finish line also for James the runner. This was a feat in itself considering the visually impaired sailors do all the work, and a fantastic time was had by all.
Supporting the blind sailors
This was Gaius Hiscox’s first time as skipper and part of the sighted crew volunteers with Visa GB, and crew feedback was fantastic. One of the visually impaired crew said ‘We just all seemed to be a very nice group including the volunteers. Our skipper Gaius was wonderful, he wanted us to understand what we were doing and participate in all the tasks on the boat. The fact Gaius is a teacher really made a difference.’
Gaius’s First time
Gaius said ‘I have sailed with a partially sighted sailor a few times, but never with a fully blind crew. What a lesson, and this was one of my most rewarding week’s sailing ever. The crew consisted of myself and 2 other sighted crew, one of whom I designated as mate, then there were 4 VI crew, of whom 2 were completely blind, one who could read a phone at 2 inches, but was otherwise completely blind, and one with RP, which means that they could see a bit in daylight, but effectively nothing in shadow. Of the VI crew I had 3 very experienced sailors and 1 with less experience.
As the team developed, I was able to instruct less, and the sighted crew almost never took the helm. the exception being some of the mooring operations, when I helmed, but even then the VI’s manned ropes etc under sighted supervision.
By the end of the week, the team would have a VI on the helm. and tacking was a fully VI operation with the sheets and winches all be operated by feel under the order’s of the helm. We did have a sighted crew checking astern before the tack, and calling ‘Lee-ho’ at the right time. Next time however I will probably leave calling ‘lee-ho’ to the VI on the helm, as they will be able to sense the sail going across.
Perhaps more importantly, my crew all enjoyed themselves.
To be a VISA GB skipper you have to be very patient, explain each man-oeuvre, and you can never be a ‘shouty’ skipper. The Adrenalin runs very high, but the reward of watching a blind team run the boat in an efficient and safe way is immense’.
Making a difference
The event raised an amazing £25,000 which will be shared between Visa-GB and the European blind union. Over 50 members of James’s family and supporters came out to Mallorca to cheer everyone on, there was a professional photographer, drone pilot, a big finishing ceremony and after party ! So the event really made a difference to those who participated and attended and will go a long way towards enabling future sailing events to happen for blind sailors – Calvin runs operations at the charity with a broad calendar of sailing events for blind and visually impaired sailors and this funding will greatly help in delivering sailing new opportunities at an accessible cost.
If you would like to make a difference and join the group of skippers and sighted crew for Visa-GB, OR, if you are visually impaired and would love to join a future event, do get in touch with Calvin Laidler at calvin.l@visa-gb.ork.uk – they are always looking for new volunteers and members and you too can join in getting out on the water with this rewarding and exciting charity!
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