SailMV was started in 1992 to give young Islanders a chance to learn how to sail the open ocean. Now, that offering is being extended to locals with significantly limiting physical disabilities through a new wheelchair-accessible vessel and a fleet of SailMobility boats, part of an adaptive program that will allow someone to sail by using even just their teeth.
Until this weekend, the SailMobility program, started in 2019, was limited to those who could lift themselves into a sailboat and operate the lines with their hands. But a new vessel with a ramp and hydraulic system will allow accommodations for those who have lost the use of their hands or feet, or who use a wheelchair, to sail in the fleet of adaptive boats.
“When you think of SailMV, you think of youth, but sailing is for everyone,” executive director Andrew Nutton, who goes by Andy, said during the christening of a new vessel on Friday last week. “[Sometimes] challenges are too great, and you can’t see past that. But once you take those barriers away, there’s a cool breeze and an open sea.”
The newest member of the program’s fleet is a metal boat, named Providence, one of only two on the East Coast. It features a wide, extended stern that provides access for someone in a wheelchair and a system that can place someone in a sailing boat on the water.
On Friday, the vessel was christened with a bottle of champagne and cheers from a crowd of sailing enthusiasts. Nutton followed with a passionate speech about the new possibilities of the craft, which bobbed in the waves behind him while tied to the dock at the Edgartown Yacht Club.
“May she bring luck, safe harbor, and adventure to all those who sail upon her. Godspeed, Providence,” he said.
Nutton, who was named executive director in 2023, created SailMobility when he was the director of programs, modeled after similar projects he saw when he was a sailor in his country-of-origin, the United Kingdom.
Individuals from Camp Jabberwocky and Island Autism with intellectual disabilities were able to sail on the open ocean because of the new program, but Nutton envisioned sailboats that would allow for those with physical disabilities to give sailing a try. On Friday, the christening symbolized this adaptive sailing vision coming to fruition.
Nutton said SailMV will continue their partnership with Camp Jabberwocky and Island Autism, and will now extend their reach to the local senior population as well, as evidenced by an Island Elderly Housing representative’s presence at Friday’s event. The program will also hinge on new volunteers who are able to teach adaptive sailing practices to those with disabilities — with the intention of teaching them how to sail without assistance.
Peggy Schwier, former president of the board of SailMV, a position she held for fifteen years, said projects like this resonate with the original motive for the program in 1992 — getting groups of people together and on the water who had previously not had access. Back then, it was local youth.
“It’s very gratifying to see how [SailMV has] grown,” Schwier said on Friday.
James Lodge, a retired Islander who has a long history of maritime work, including over 30 years as a Steamship Authority captain, said he is looking forward to utilizing these new sailboats and getting back on the water. Lodge, now 71, has faced his own mobility impediments in recent years.
With these new vessels, he can operate a sailboat without worrying about safety or accessibility — an adventure that is focused on what he can do, and what he can experience, not what he can’t. And it’s a tribute to his lifetime dedication to the open sea and the Island community. He said he was focused on multiple projects to increase wheelchair access, elevators, and mobility improvements when he worked for the Steamship, so it’s been great to see SailMV move in that direction as well.
“We were always focused on accessibility [at the Steamship],” Lodge said. “We cared for everyone to be included.”
Lodge operated his first boat at six years old on the shores of Martha’s Vineyard in 1960. Sixty-five years later, he still loves sailing with the same vigor. And while his mobility didn’t stop him completely from getting in a sailboat in the past few years — mainly due to his strong will and seafaring nature — it had its challenges, and he can now go forward knowing the process is more aligned with safe practice. Barriers that were once there have been lifted.
“I think it’s an absolute asset to be able to offer it to people who otherwise wouldn’t have the opportunity to experience the thrill of sailing,” he said. “This [new sailboat] opens up all new horizons.”
Lodge’s son, Tristan Lodge, is a member of the board for SailMV. He has followed his father’s example of maritime work, and is a proud sailor on the Island. Lodge said this project represents the opening of a door and a new wave of opportunity.
“[SailMobility] represents a constant evolution in marine innovation this community has been a part of for centuries… [and] most importantly, offers an additional avenue for self growth, confidence, and reliance that sailing provides. With these programs, SailMV is truly able to offer every person on the Island, from our elderly community to those with disabilities, an outlet to be involved in what makes our Island so unique,” Lodge said.
Around 80 people attended Friday’s event, mingling amongst each other and sharing sea stories, and reflecting on the ways the SailMV program has grown. Many who attended had helped bring this project to fruition through financial support.
Friday’s event at the club wasn’t just an unveiling of the boat, it was also a “thank you” to the many locals who sponsored the SailMobility project.
A 2022 grant from MVYouth for $300,000 was the jumpstart for this mobility program, but Nutton said even more Island groups, families and individuals donated to ensure this new vessel could become a reality.
Also on Friday, the high school SailMV Team presented about their recent accomplishment as the #1 sailing team in Massachusetts last year. Their parents clapped enthusiastically while leaning against the mahogany bar, detailed sailboat paintings and photographs lining the walls above them.
Nutton’s hope is that a SailMobility team may compete in a similar fashion one day. Anybody can go on a boat, he said, but that’s just an experience.
“Now, they have the ability to steer, to sheet in, sheet out,” he said. “It’s more than just an experience.”
Anyone interested in volunteering with the SailMobility program this summer to teach adaptive sailing practices, or those who are interested in utilizing the program themselves, reach out to SailMV at anutton@sailmv.org or find more information for summer registration on their website.
