Al Grundy is making waves for sailors with disability 30 years after his first historic race

When Al Grundy showed up to his first Sydney to Hobart training session 30 years ago, he knew so little about sailing that he wore cowboy boots to the dock. Under those boots, he wore a steel and titanium calliper on his right leg, supporting an injury he sustained when he contracted polio at three years old.

He, like a number of other soon-to-be sailors, had responded to an advertisement forming the first Sydney to Hobart crew made up entirely of people living with a disability.

This year will mark Al Grundy’s 13th Sydney to Hobart, and 30th year of racing. Credit: Rhett Wyman

Neither the boots nor the calliper made it on board that day, but for Grundy, crossing the finish line sparked a passion for sailing that led him to circumnavigate the continent in 2003 and take 12 turns at the Sydney to Hobart. He’s back again this year.

“In 1994, we were coming around Tasman Island, ready to go across Storm Bay, and I thought ‘I’m never going to do this again’. Then a couple of beers later, after you’ve arrived, you sort of go, ‘Would you be here next year?’ ‘Oh yeah, okay.’”

Joining Grundy this year on board the Kayle will be a crew of 16, half of whom live with disabilities.

The boat – owned by the Making Waves Foundation, which helps young people with a disability or experiencing disadvantage access sailing – is designed for accessibility.

Returning for his second race this year is 60-year-old James Hunter, who grew up sailing double-handed dinghies on Canberra’s Lake Burley Griffin. After years away from the water, he returned to sailing after losing his sight in his mid-50s.

“You quickly learn that you need to own who you are on board,” said Hunter, “your abilities and disabilities … to work with and through others to achieve some wonderful things”.

During last year’s race, Hunter was responsible for trimming the main sail, sensing the movements of the wind and boat, and tying lashings into the ropes to keep track of his work. At the end of the race, he was selected to helm Kayle up the Derwent River and across the finish line.

“It was without doubt one of the most emotional, proud [moments]. The highlight of my life.

“It’s not just sailing. It’s personal growth on the water, challenging and recalibrating the perceptions of those around. It’s about showing a broader society what’s possible in little ways. Out of these little ways, people begin to rethink what’s possible.”

But the Sydney to Hobart is a notoriously difficult undertaking, and disability can create its own challenges for racers. Alyson Gearing, 63, is a lifelong sailor and instructor who lost her hearing 15 years ago.

In normal circumstances, hearing aids support her day-to-day life; however, when sitting on the stern of a yacht going 25 knots in the middle of the night, diminished hearing can be a deeply isolating experience. Earlier this year, on an overnight qualifying race for the Sydney to Hobart, Gearing said she “suffered badly from depression”.

“There were a lot of things I would have liked to say or ask questions. Say something about the sail trim, but then I’d think, ‘Oh, maybe it’s already been discussed.’ Or I’d like to ask questions, but then I think, ‘I’m not going to be able to hear the answer.’ That gets pretty frustrating for people.”

“You sort of think back into your own mind and go into dark places. You think, ‘I hate this’. It’s so lonely out there. Then you arrive [at the finish line], and everybody gets out to celebrate and talk to other crews, and I sit there looking around thinking, ‘I have no idea what anyone’s saying.’

“I’m a social person. I really love being social, but I can’t be in a yachting environment because of my hearing.”

After that race, Gearing dropped out of the Hobart, but with repeated encouragement from her crew and offers for new ways of working around her hearing, she returned to training and will join the race next week.

Alyson Gearing during a training session a week before the Sydney to Hobart.Credit: Rhett Wyman

“I know there’s going to be some dark places, but I’m a lot more comfortable now with being in that environment with this crew because I look at Al, and I look at James, and I think, ‘God, how can they do it. They’re amazing’”.

Cheering on from home will be 62-year-old Paralympian Albert Lee, a double-leg amputee who sailed in the 1994 race and the 2003 circumnavigation.

“I’m proud of it; the opportunities that sailing gives to people with disabilities who think the world is a closed place. Being out there on the water is just the most amazing thing. Having the wind in your hair, racing along with other boats and participating with people who also may have some form of disability.

“It changes the way you look at yourself and your belief in what you can achieve.”

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