An Australian team has formed to compete in the first international sailing competition for deaf sailors. The 1st World Deaf Sailing Championships will be held in Puck, Poland from September 22-29 .

A fleet of three-person keelboats is being provided for the event, with 11 races scheduled to be conducted on the Bay of Gdańsk in the southern Baltic.

(L-R) Amy Bothma, Ronald Bothma an Mark Smith with David Hogg of Sailability Bayside. PHOTO: Sean Colson

The Australian crew is made up of Queenslanders Mark Smith (skipper), Ronald Bothma and Ronald’s daughter Amy Bothma.

Mark was born deaf in 1973 into a ‘family with boats’. His first sailing adventure at age three led to competition in Sabots, Minnows, Moths and Herons. He won the Queensland Heron Championship in 1999 and was 3rd at the Australian Heron Championship later that year.

Ronald started sailing with his dad at age 11 and has inherited his father’s love for sailing and boatbuilding. Having built a gaff rigged cruiser, he is now restoring a 1976 Red Jacket.

Amy, 19, is the next generation of Bothmas to catch the sailing bug and is regularly afloat with Ronald and now training for the championships in Poland.

Mark identified the Status 580 as the nearest design in Australia to the boats being supplied in Puck, so it was a quick trip south to Newcastle to purchase a used Status to help prepare for the event. Sailability Bayside volunteers led by Dr David Hogg have been providing training support.

L-R Ronald Bothma, Amy Bothma and Mark Smith. 

“This is what I’ve been waiting for all my sailing life,” Mark said.

“It is a dream to compete against international deaf sailors and a great opportunity to promote sailing as a sport among the deaf community in Australia.”

* To support Mark, Ronald & Amy’s campaign for the 1st World Deaf Sailing Championships, visit HERE

* Additional information: Dr David Hogg, Hearing mentor to the deaf team, hoggfam@optusnet.com.au

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