Sea Works Its Magic : A Day on the Water Gives a Lift to Disabled Sailors and Restores Their Confidence

NEWPORT BEACH — George Karman thought that his sailing days were over 23 years ago when a stroke left him paralyzed on one side. A former industrial engineer from Huntington Beach, he couldn’t imagine steering a boat without the use of his left arm or leg.

Today Karman, 65, is a frequent crew member aboard the Out Patient, a 30-foot sailboat based in Newport Harbor. “It’s refreshing to be able to do it,” he says. “To get out and breathe the fresh air and absorb the sights has meant a great deal.”

What’s made it all possible is Access to Sailing, a nonprofit organization based in Huntington Beach. Its mission: to make sailors of people in wheelchairs, with brain injuries or suffering from any other physical, neurological or mental impairment that might otherwise keep them off the water.

“The idea is to get people to focus on what they can do rather than what they can’t,” says Duncan Milne, the organization’s founder. “They get on the boat with one feeling about themselves and get off with another. It’s a growth experience, like therapy on the water.”

Milne, 45, knows whereof he speaks. A former physical education teacher and scuba diving instructor, he inadvertently drove off a cliff on a motorcycle in 1977. The accident broke his back, leaving him paralyzed and in a wheelchair. Although he was forced to give up many of the physical activities he loved, Milne found that he could still sail by rigging the boat so that its ropes and ties could be manipulated by hand from the stern.

He has served on a seven-man team of disabled and able-bodied sailors competing in a 110-mile race along the Mexican coast. He has sailed a 12-foot boat solo from Los Angeles to Avalon. And in 1988 he and three other disabled sailors traveled to Helsinki, Finland, to participate in the disabled division of the World Cup.

Milne founded Access to Sailing two years ago, he says, to provide therapeutic sailing experiences for disabled people who otherwise might not get the opportunity. “The point is to take a chance on something new and, by extending yourself, to grow,” he says.

His organization, for one, has grown a lot.

Begun on a shoestring with one donated boat, the group--supported entirely by contributions and modest fees from participants--now owns six vessels, each especially rigged for operation by disabled sailors. Working with about 20 hospitals and care agencies throughout Southern California, Milne says, he averages a total of 12 to 20 passengers on as many as six excursions each week. The only rule is that everyone, operating under the watchful eyes and gentle instructions of Milne, must sail the boat.

“It’s an opportunity for freedom of mobility,” says Anne Johnson, coordinator of outdoor programs at Casa Colina rehabilitation center in Pomona, whose patients frequently participate in the sailing program. “It’s an equalizer. It develops a tremendous sense of empowerment and improved self-esteem. Everyone has a right to risk.”

Indeed, no one tried to duck skippering responsibilities during a recent daylong spin around Newport Harbor.

Scott Reid described the experience as “quiet and peaceful.” A diesel mechanic from Norco, Reid, 30, had a collision with a drunk driver five years ago that resulted in a brain injury causing slurred speech and uncertain movement. Being on a boat, he said, helps improve his balance while sailing with other disabled people enhances his social skills. “If I get in trouble,” Reid said haltingly, “I’ll be helped and not yelled at. The people here understand my slowness and don’t get impatient.”

Timothy Ades, 40, whose multiple sclerosis makes walking difficult, said he appreciates the opportunity of operating something solely with his hands. “I think it’s great,” he says of the sailing experience. “It’s something I look forward to.”

And Karman, the stroke victim, said that sailing with Milne has helped him overcome an ailment common to most disabled people everywhere. “One of the worst problems for handicapped people,” Karman says, “is depression. It kind of wrings the blues out of you to do something you don’t ordinarily do. You just can’t be depressed after a day like this.”