Marine networking leads to the development of the ‘Sailguide’ system for blind sailors
In November 2006 Marine South East was contacted by Tony Lawton, a keen dinghy sailor who is visually impaired. Tony was seeking a company to develop a system especially designed for sailors such as himself, who wished to sail independently around a racing course on a large lake or offshore water.
Tony had sought advice from several people but none were aware of a system which was capable of meeting his requirements. Marine South East made enquiries and also forwarded the request to Nic Parker at the British Marine Federation.
Soon after Marine South East received a call from Ken Wittamore of Triskel Marine based in Cornwall. Ken had been working with the BMF on the 'Soundbuoy' Project and felt that his company could assist as they had already developed suitable technology which could be adapted to meet Tony's requirements.
Triskel worked with Tony to develop a GPS based system which would allow him to steer around a series of buoys using distance and bearing to the mark information provided by a computer generated voice.
In August the first live trials were held with a prototype 'Sailguide' system. Tony took the helm of a cruiser and using only the information from the system made all the navigational decisions to steer the boat around the mark.
After the trials Tony Lawton said "This is the first time since becoming blind that I have been able to sail a boat with no external assistance. It was a wonderful,
emotional moment when I first steered the boat around the mark and all of the TML crew cheered and clapped. I had thought that I would never be able to sail independently again but using the Sailguide I hope to be racing independently again next season."
Since the trials Tony has contacted Marine South East to say "a big thank you" to us for helping to make the links with Triskel Ltd as they have enabled him to make his "dream become a reality". Tony anticipates a further trial in the near future when he will be navigating around a complete set of race marks after which the 'Sailguide' system will be fitted to his Challenger dinghy and he will be back on the dinghy racing circuit.
Further information on Triskel's work including the 'Sailguide' system can be viewed on http://www.triskelmarine.co.uk
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