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Thursday, 24 October, 2002, 18:33 GMT 19:33 UK
New boat for disabled sailors
Boat for disabled sailors
Judi Figgures was determined to get back on the water
A new boat designed for sailors with disabilities has been launched in Cambridgeshire.

The Grafham Odyssey was presented to members of Grafham Water Centre Sailability at Perry on Thursday.

The boat, which cost more than �6,000, has been paid for by the Diana Campbell Fund, a charity specifically to help people with disabilities take to the water.

When Judi Figgures could not walk anymore she was determined it would not stop her doing what she had always done - so she found a specially-adapted boat to get back on the water.

Marcia Carpenter
Marcia Carpenter of Sailability
She said: "It's a lovely feeling. It really is. I was just so elated.

"I just can't tell you, because I love sailing - and the wheelchair got stuck on the beach. What more can you ask in life?"

She asked for more of the same boats and now the latest - the Odyssey - has arrrived.

Marcia Carpenter, from the group Sailability, said it was extremely important that disabled people should have the same sporting opportunities as anyone else.

Now the sailors are trying to raise enough to pay for docking facilities, to make launching easier.

The Grafham group was founded in 1994, and its members have physical disabilities such as paraplegia and visual impairment.

The group is affiliated to the national Royal Yachting Association Sailability


Click here to go to Cambridgeshire
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23 Oct 02 | England
14 Oct 02 | Scotland
29 Dec 01 | England
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