P.E.I. parasailing group hopes to make sport more accessible to Islanders

A new group is looking to bring parasailing to the Island, which would mean all four Atlantic provinces would have programs to make sailing accessible for all people.

Benjamin Keizer, founder of Able Sail P.E.I., said there are other similar groups across Canada, including in B.C. and Ontario.

"We're the only Atlantic province currently that doesn't have a parasailing program, and so we want to bring it over to P.E.I. so we can compete with the rest of them," he said.

Keizer said he isn't aware of there being any accessible boats on the Island, so he said they're looking for potential boats in other provinces that could be used on the Island.

He estimated an accessible boat would cost around $40,000.

Keizer said the boats could be used by people who have no mobility from the neck down.

"If you're blind, if you're deaf, if you have lower limb disability, upper limb disability, if you're unable to actually use your hands, you can use a straw system, so you can control the sails by sipping and puffing through straws," he said.

A demonstration event was held at the Charlottetown Yacht Club Saturday.

Cara Flanagan attended the demonstration. She said she hasn't been on a sailboat in nearly two decades.

With regular sailboats, she said she would need somebody else to help her board and get off, which she said isn't necessarily simple.

"I've never seen an accessible boat, where this one has a lift that will lift you up into the sailboat," she said.

Flanagan said she thinks this will be a successful program.

"I think it would be a major game changer, with just the amount of people that are here today, and there's a few other people I know that were not able to be here and would love to try this out," she said.

Keizer said this event was to see if people are interested in parasailing. He wants people to come to the next event on July 12.

"Just get the word out, to see if people would ... be interested in volunteering, or if they have someone in their community that has a disability, that they can come down and learn about the sailing opportunities," he said.