10:37Sous-titrage Société Radio-Canada
11:07Raising awareness in the sport of sailing and accessibility, it's an inspiring story and one we should all support
11:16Had a bit of an itch during Covid and bought a boat which was a bit of a crazy splurge
11:22Being based in Charleston, South Carolina, we've sort of found a good amount of people that just really want to
11:28enjoy sailing
11:29We've got a lot of Navy guys that are on some merchant ships that are around
11:34So some good navigators, some people that trust emphatically but we've built the team over the last five years
11:45As a young kid I was watching the Volvo Ocean Race and things like that and always had my sights
11:50on big ocean races
11:51And I was like well this is the pinnacle of like ocean racing and just had that ambition and goal
11:58And I think I was more determined since I've been in a wheelchair right because there's not many people doing
12:03these things
12:03And I wanted to give a perspective of what's possible
12:06A boy's little dream coming true whilst doing something else to inspire other people as well
12:13Unfortunately I was injured three years ago
12:16It's been a challenge and for day one you should have seen how I got on the boat versus how
12:21I got on the boat now
12:22They hoisted me on the boat, they like put me in a sling and like dropped me on like a
12:26crane using the halyards
12:28But since then I've got stronger, got more agile
12:31The crew are amazing, like they help me out and they pick up my legs
12:35I'm like a, use my arms, sort of move around
12:38But there's an additional seat at the back of the boat really
12:41And then an additional couple of handholds below
12:43But other than that it's fairly the same
12:46I just want to show people what's possible
12:48So doing things like this, hopefully might show people what is available and what is possible
12:55Just having the right people around you, no matter what, where you are in life is so important
12:59But when you're out in the ocean and you're against the elements
13:02Like that is the most pivotal point of having the right people that you can trust around you to keep
13:07the boat safe
13:08Keep you safe
13:09Success for us on the C600 this year is just to make sure we get around safely
13:14Have some fun, make some amazing memories
13:16If we do well, we do well, but you know, the main thing is to complete it and enjoy it
13:32The multi-hole line on this battle is quite clearly going to be between the Mod 70s
13:36We've got Argo and Final Final on Zulu
13:40Argo coming clean off their victory in the Royal Transatlantic race
13:43And Final Final on Zulu, a new team with John Desmond will be really interesting to see how they get
13:49on
14:05The Antigua 360 was awesome for our team, you know, we're still doing a lot of training, still learning, you
14:10know, a lot of the previous days we've been out
14:12Just some real slow maneuvers learning the boat, so this was our first opportunity to really do a bunch of
14:16race maneuvers
14:17The Argo was out there and there were a couple other big cats, so it was fun to get off
14:21the line with all of them
14:22Yeah, a lot of adrenaline starts pumping, you know, especially when you start cracking off on those reaches
14:26We think we started hitting low 30s, maybe top speed about 36 knots, but they're stiff, they're safe, you know,
14:34felt and controlled all the times
14:35But wow, you know, you get the big gennaker out and you're really starting to get the heart pumping
14:45It's awesome racing these down in the Caribbean because there's a lot of water coming through these nets
14:48And especially when you're driving it's coming coming right at you. I tried the sunglasses for a while, but those
14:53don't work for very long
14:54They got to start getting crusted up with the with the salt, but yeah, it's back back home
14:58And there's another 24 inches of snow coming this weekend, but here we are in Antigua and this is this
15:03is awesome
15:03This is one of the best places to be if you're gonna race one of these Caribbean waters perfect
15:07We'll do another training day tomorrow and try and refine some of this stuff, but
15:11We're all getting pretty excited for the 600 on Monday
15:18The Royal Caribbean 600 can't happen without Antigua and Barbuda and its volunteers all the help and support we get
15:27from the island
15:27It's it's phenomenal
15:30We we thank Antigua and Barbuda for everything they do for us
15:35And we thank our volunteers who turn up year after year and come and make this event so special
15:42This year is looking like another epic Caribbean 600 race
15:45The conditions look awesome. We wish every sailor a
15:51Fun fast safe race and we look forward to seeing you on the finish line
