Visa GB’s West Country cruise was another amazing sailing week, with eight visually impaired sailors having a brilliant time, joining two yachts from Plymouth’s Queen Anne’s Battery marina, right opposite the iconic Plymouth Barbican, and just around the corner from Plymouth Hoe and the Sound.
The event started during the first of the summer heatwaves with beautiful sunshine, but through the week became changeable with a mix of everything with cloud, rain and wind thrown into the mix.
We called into some glorious spots throughout the week including the River Yealm, Fowey, Falmouth including docking up the river Fal near the King Harry ferry close to the only tea plantation to be found in the UK, as well as anchoring and a trip ashore in beautiful Cawsand, and a mini race between the two yachts up the river Tamar to the iconic Tamar bridges.
Fun was had by all including some amazing rowing races in the Fowey river on our inflatable tenders, and an amusing game of ‘After Eights’ during a get together between the two boats, to find out more you really must join a Visa GB trip to experience !
Fantastic feedback was received from our visually impaired sailors which you can see below, please do enjoy the lovely photographs included in this post !
Big thanks to Henry, Simon, Jenny, Jane, Helen and Calvin as volunteers as well as our Shore team for making this very enjoyable event happen !
Date of trip: 20th – 27th June 2025
Where: Plymouth, UK, sailing along the glorious south Devon and Cornwall coast and rivers
Boat chartered: Bavaria 38 and Hanse 375
Crew:
VI’s (*Visually Impaired): Chris Goodwin, James Connell, James Whitfield, Verity Peat, Dan Elman Brown, Dee Jones, Karina Gregory
Volunteers: Jenny Horton, Jane Littleproud, Henry Ward, Helen Brice
Trustee: Simon Maycock
Feedback
Chris Goodwin
Sailing again. My fourth VISA trip but in a new place – on the south coast of Cornwall. Except really this is old ground since it took in many places fondly remembered from family holidays long ago. From Plymouth on the Devon/Cornish border, round the corner to Cawsand, further along to Fowey and into the calm inlet at Falmouth.
Living on a sailing yacht really is a different pace of life compared to my usual daily city routine. Gone are the noises of trains, planes and automobiles, exchanged for the gentle lapping of water against the hull, or the roar of wind in your ears as the boat rides up and down over the swell. I can’t drive but I can helm a 38 foot sailing boat with seven aboard. Quite a responsibility but an enjoyable one.
Then once back in port there are the small jobs to tidy the ship ready for the next day and possibly fit in a dinghy rowing race with the crew from the other VISA boat. And there is always time to get another cuppa on.
Thanks
Chris
Dan Ellman-Brown
We left Plymouth yacht club on the Friday afternoon and went on to the boat, familiarized ourselves with cabins a galley, etc
On Saturday morning ,we motored off out the harbour and started sailing All the Vi’s did the share of everything
Putting ropes, winching, going over the coach House to the mast, raising the anchor, helming, turning the auto helm on/off, cooking.
I think the most challenging thing I found was walking up to the mast and over the coach House (because my balance isn’t very good)
I have thoroughly enjoyed this week and am sailing again in September
I am hooked again!!
Thanks Dee, you are a great and welcome addition to the crew
Thanks again
Dan
Karina Gregory Trip Report
Beyond Limits
Having a visual impairment and integrating into a sighted world can be extremely challenging and exhausting. No matter how sight loss is obtained, whether it be from birth or developing in later life, each situation brings its own challenges.
Personally I have been registered blind (Severely Sight Impaired) since birth which has meant that everything I have learnt I have had to be shown in a way I can pick up, relate to and understand. I have consequently struggled in situations where I have been left on my own to learn how to do things without any guidance and then felt a failure if a task has not been done to an acceptable level which, over time, has gradually eroded my self confidence and led to me feeling inadequate.
I have enjoyed sailing ever since I discovered it in 2019. For me it is my safe space where I can forget about everything going on ashore and truly live in the moment. Trips with VISA-GB provide a valuable opportunity for visually impaired people to meet up and share a mutual interest without feeling the ‘odd one out’ due to their sight loss. Having been on several VISA-GB trips I knew what to expect was naturally looking forward to getting away and on to the water. We boarded the boat in Plymouth on a warm and sunny Friday afternoon where we spent the evening unpacking, eating our evening meal and getting to know each other. The crew consisted of 3 sighted and 3 visually impaired members. There was another boat with 4 visually impaired and 3 sighted crew on board. After getting our life jackets fitted and the safety briefing we set off out of Plymouth towards the river Yealm. We were due to stay there overnight, however, needed to return to Plymouth to collect a member of the crew who had remained ashore during the day to ill health. This gave the remaining crew opportunity to have a look around Plymouth during the evening. It was a very pleasant sailing day with bright sunshine and enough wind to get lots of sailing in.
Sunday morning saw us get underway properly and we headed to Fowey where we berthed overnight. It was a bit more choppy on the way to Fowye and I think we were all relieved to get there. This saw the first challenge – unbeknown to me, having got on and off the boat via the bathing platform at the stern of the boat, there was no side gate which opened to enable getting on an off the boat. This was a completely new situation to me having never been on a boat without a gate at the side. So, not being able to see, how do you get on and off? The answer was soon explained to me by our skipper for whom this was his first experience of sailing with visually impaired individuals. Before attempting anything the process was explained to me so I knew exactly what to expect and how it was going to work. Ordinarily at this point anxiety would have kicked in and it would have a definite ‘no no’, however, having experience of needing to make snap decisions about whether to trust someone, the way it had been explained and broken down into steps reassured me that it was going to be OK. Getting over the guard rail was the easy bit, then it was a case of bending one leg whilst lowering the other leg to the pontoon whilst not really having any idea of how far down it was in terms of actual distance. Mission accomplished successfully an exploration of Fowye followed – a quaint little town. Back on board we had an early night in preparation for the next day’s sailing. On Monday we headed to Falmouth where we moored on a floating pontoon overnight.
Tuesday saw us return to Foywe mooring on a different pontoon on the opposite side of the river…here comes the next challenge – the dinghy. Having sailed on tall ships and yachts dinghy’s are not something I have a great deal of experience of. When I sailed last year it took me until the end of the week to get in the dinghy from the yacht – again part of it was that I did not know what I was going in to. Again, recognising my apprehension the skipper broke the task down into individual steps which immediately put me at ease. Getting in and out of the dinghy from the pontoon felt much more secure and it wasn’t long before we were out on the river and I was steering the dinghy! Later that evening it was decided that there would be a dinghy race between the two boats the following morning – all I needed to do now was learn how to row! Having never rowed before or never seen the action of rowing I really was starting from the beginning. So, back in the dinghy for a rowing lesson which I really enjoyed and never saw myself doing before this. Having mastered the art, with thanks to our Skipper, I was as prepared as I was going to be for the race – we all thoroughly enjoyed it. There are two things I got from this experience, one was a renewed sense of believing in myself and the second was that things can be achieved particularly when broken down into small manageable steps.
As someone who ordinarily experiences a high level of anxiety whenever I feel overwhelmed by a situation I am going to think back to getting in the dinghy. Due to a lack of wind we had to rely on the engine for the majority of Wednesday’s onward journey to Cawsand where we anchored overnight. Out came the dinghy again for a trip ashore for a look around and a crafty drink in one of the local pubs.
Thursday saw us rise early and head up the river Tamar and under the Tamar bridge. After anchoring for lunch after which we made the short journey back to the marina where a fish and chip supper was enjoyed by everyone on Plymouth Hoe.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank my fellow VI sailors for their company, and the sighted crew for enabling it to happen.
Karina Gregory – Member of VI Crew
