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In June of 2001, while working as a delivery skipper in the Greek Isles, I sustained an eight-meter fall from a yacht in a boatyard onto concrete and broke my spine. I was airlifted by helicopter to a hospital in Athens where they operated, placing two steel rods in my back to secure the spine. I was told some time later that my spinal cord had been damaged and I was now a paraplegic.
I arrived one month later into the very good care of the Sir George Bedbrook spinal unit in Perth, Australia. It was a bleak period; however, two things inspired me. The first was news of Vinny Lauwer's record-setting journey in 2000 becoming the first paraplegic to circumnavigate the globe. The second was discovering the existence of Sailability WA, based out of Royal Perth Yacht Club on the Swan River. And one week after leaving hospital I was sailing again.
I was very fortunate to be sponsored by Sailability WA to enter the 2002 Fremantle to Darwin Splash Yacht Race. Almost twelve months to the day of the accident I found myself back at sea on a 50-foot yacht. We spent the next six weeks working our way from port to port doing the 2,400 sea miles to Darwin, raising money for charities in each town that we stopped in.
Whilst this was a privilege I was frustrated at having able-bodied crew doing most of the work that I was used to doing myself. Then one evening in a conversation with Mark Loader, who had become a good friend along the way and is one of the Splash's founders, we conceived the idea of a solo sail of my own.
My first windfall upon returning to Perth was a generous donation from the yachting community of Rhodes and a very good friend from Greece. It was just enough to buy a small yacht. So over the next year I hunted for a boat that was not only sea worthy enough but within my budget for the purpose of my solo sail.
During this period I decided to have the rods removed from my spine, due to risk of displacement on the voyage. This was completed in August 2003 and by October of the same year I had the very good fortune to find and buy Gypsy Rose. She is a 26-foot International Folk boat; a Swedish design built in Australia in 1980 with a well-proven long keel design that makes her very sea worthy.
With Mark Loader's continuing support, I found the final part of the puzzle and the catalyst I needed to do this trip: the Wheel Chairs For Kids charity.
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Epilogue This trip means a lot to me, not only is it a completion of the odyssey I began in Greece in 2001, but also it's a chance to give something back for what I have received. There is a saying- "Life is a storm. You bask in the sunlight one moment to be shattered on the rocks in the next. It's what you do when that storm comes." Best Regards, Michael Rowney (Mariner) |