S1 Ep1306: First Blind Match Racing Championships for Visually Impaired Sailor Emily Wright

Time to take to the waters and catch up with visually impaired Sailor Emily Wright to find out what it was like competing in her first Blind Match Racing Championships in France.Emily first took up sailing through the Ellen MacArthur Cancer Trust. With the support of the Trust Emily has gained her Royal Yachting Association Day Skipper certificate, competed in her first yacht race with Round the Island Race earlier this summer on board the trust’s yacht Solent Hero with Ellen joining them for the race too and has now competed in her first Blind match Racing Championships with GBR Blind Sailing.RNIB Connect Radio’s Toby Davey caught up with Emily to find out how the blind Match Racing Championships went in France, how match racing differs from both yacht races like Round the Island Race and blind fleet racing.Emily explained to Toby how blind Match Racing works as unlike blind fleet racing where there is a mix of both visually impaired and sighted crew on board in match racing it is just the visually impaired sailors on board, using sounds on the boats and the marks marking the course, with match racing being one boat against another and a bit like playing chess on the water. Emily talked about what she will take from her blind match racing experience to her racing with her sighted friends at University and to other up-coming blind racing championships too.If like Emily you would like to get into sailing and racing as a blind or partially sighted person then do visit the GBR Blind Sailing website where you will find out more about opportunities to get into sailing and race training-https://www.gbrblindsailing.co.ukFor more about the Ellen MacArthur Cancer Trust, visit the Trust’s website-https://www.ellenmacarthurcancertrust.org(Image shows Emily's Team's yacht with two white sails up with the letters 'FRA' written on them in black. There are three people sat onboard, one of whom is facing towards the camera and smiling)