Special Olympics sailing joins together with Chesapeake Region Accessible Boating (CRAB) for a first-time regatta held in Annapolis this weekend, Sept. 6-7.
It will also be the first Special Olympics sailing event held in Maryland’s capital since a program operating at the Naval Academy was shut down after the attacks of 9/11. Brigid Mullholland, CRAB’s manager for marketing and events, says it’s “something we’ve been wanting to do for a while, and we’re thrilled to have the opportunity.”
The event is expected to draw 20 teams of sailors from Special Olympics Maryland and Special Olympics Virginia who will sail aboard CRAB’s Beneteau First 22As, several O’Day daysailers on loan from the Severn Sailing Association, and 420s on loan from the Annapolis Yacht Club as well as Hobie Cats the Special Olympics folks are bringing with them.
The idea began percolating back in January, according to Lynn Flanigan, head of Maryland Special Olympics Sailing. She got a call from a grant writer at CRAB asking if the regatta might be something they wanted to do. “We immediately said, ‘YES!’,” Flanigan recalled.
Mulholland said CRAB then got a grant from the Bill Simpson Foundation, a nonprofit based in Indiana that according to its website “provides funding to innovative nonprofits driving solutions to complex challenges and creating a better, more sustainable world.” Simpson was a racecar driver who “loved the water,” and kept boats at their home on Lake Norman in North Carolina, according to grandson Dillon Simpson, a member of the organization’s board. “He did a lot of safety stuff in auto racing, but he loved the water as well.”
Simpson said the foundation, started in 2021, came across CRAB when one of its board members, who is a bilateral amputee, attended “one of those big boat shows you have in Annapolis, and we really liked what they were about.” CRAB became one of five organizations they decided to support. Most recently, the foundation was a sponsor of the CRAB Cup, the organization’s annual fund raiser, which was sailed Aug. 16.
With the money in hand, CRAB began putting together the event. It starts with a practice session on Friday and demonstration races on Saturday and Sunday. Flanigan said they recruit their sailors from other Special Olympics teams, especially swimmers “because they’re not afraid of the water.” The only problem with that, she adds, is that some of them would rather be in the water than on it.
They organize the sailors in teams ranging in size from two to five people, “depending on the size of the (boat).” Flanigan explained. Special Olympics Sailing divides the athletes into five levels, depending on their abilities. In level one, the athlete handles the sheets and sail trim while a “unified person” or caregiver handles the steering duties.
In level two, the unified person handles the sails while the athlete takes over at the helm. The athletes take over more of the sailing duties on the boats as the level numbers increase. For this regatta, there will only be level one and two sailors.
Flanigan said she hopes the regatta, which includes a reception after Saturday’s racing and an awards ceremony on Sunday, will kick off a lasting return of Special Olympics sailing to Annapolis and “with this, we hope to re-establish that program at CRAB.”
If you’d like to come out and watch the regatta, it will take place in the Severn River near the mouth of Back Creek, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., both Saturday and Sunday.
