Sunriser

We were very lucky to have Danish Anders Lehmann on board Wavester a few days as a neighbour in the port of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. Anders is paralyzed from the neck down and steers his self designed boat with his mouth. 7 people sail with him to care for him and do the tasks he can not do himself.

Around 24 years ago Anders fell of a bridge into the water. With a rock just under the water, he broke his neck on a very high place. It made him paralyzed from the neck down, he even can not breath by himself. After recovery he had to choose between living ‘like a carrot’ or discover a new life with his disabled body.

 Before the accident he had done some sailing courses, so as an engineer he designed his first boat for handicapped people. On this boat any person in a wheelchair could put his chair on a stabilized platform and steer the boat by turning the wheels of his or her wheelchair.

But then he told his friends he wanted to do something bigger. He wanted to cross an ocean on his own sailboat. At that time nobody believed this could be done (as this has never been done before), but Anders started drawing his boat.

The basis is an old racing boat, where he designed a new cabin on the back with sliding panels. In this cabin he designed a chair that can be tilted and turned so he can sleep there too. The steering system was completely redesigned with removing the one big wheel and replacing with 2 smaller ones and to make it possible to steer with his mouth.

Now in 2023, more than 7 years later, the boat was ready to go. But not without new hurdles to take.

On the trip, bad weather in Cuxhaven had them bound in the harbour for so long, that some of the (medical trained) crew had to leave. So replacement was found. Later he found out that a bump against his leg had resulted in a broken (and partly joined already) leg. On the trip to the Canary Islands he had the first taste of the trip ahead.

The last 10 days here as our neighbour we could see the crew still working very hard to prepare for the crossing to Martinique on the other side. Enough drinking water is one of the challenges as there are 8 people on board, all are sailors, but 5 are mostly needed for caring 24 hours a day for Anders, 2 people dedicated for sailing and Anders himself, while the (racing) boat has no water tanks and many other jobs to do.

We were happy to help them with the communication in Spanish for shops, handicapped transportation etc and getting croissants in the morning and lending some tools. They left on the day they had planned. The goodbye was emotional for everybody.

We wish them ‘fair winds and following seas”.

Their current position is here.

Update: They have to make an intermediate stop in Cape Verde (Mindelo) for a repair.