Hello everyone,

I am going to cycle as far as I can in 8 hours on Monday 6 June 2016 to raise money for Blind Sailing. This is a small charity that organises training weekends and coaches both the Great British Blind Sailing teams for the World Blind Match Racing Championships, America, September 2016 the World Blind Fleet Racing Championships 2017 and continues to train and coach blind sailors for National, International and World Championships.  

So why am I raising money for Blind Sailing? 
Blind Sailing helps blind and partially sighted sailors of all abilities, from giving people their first taste of sailing to coaching more advanced sailors to sail competitively in international fleet and match racing regattas.

Over the years through Blind Sailing I have had the great opportunity to compete at both world fleet and match racing championships from Weymouth, Miami, Rhode Island, Italy, Australia to Japan being part of the Great British Blind Sailing Team winning four fleet racing championships and winning one match racing championship.

Being part of this exhilarating sport has given me the opportunity to compete at all levels and race with and against other blind and partially sighted people like me who love and enjoy the sport of sailing. 

The training that we have done has not only helped to build our sailing skills but also has helped to build people’s confidence, communication skills and teamwork.
The Blind Sailing website can be found at www.blindsailing.net 

Funds raised go towards the purchase of equipment, cost of professional coaches for training weekends, volunteer coach expenses and subsidising the cost for students or those on lower incomes.  The cost of a training weekend for 12 sailors is about £5,000 including boat charter and coaches.  The charity obtains sponsorship for some of these costs and then the rest of the cost is divided between the sailors. 

The current priorities for fundraising are:

- Maintenance and acquisition of additional audio buoys and other equipment for match race training.
- Supporting costs for Great British Blind Sailing Team to attend Match Racing training camp as part of the Homerus Italian Blind Match Racing National Championships June 2016.
- Supporting the costs for two Great British Blind Sailing Teams plus Coaches to participate in the World Blind Match Racing Championships, America, September 2016.
- Supporting the costs for the Great British Blind Sailing Team to compete in the World Blind Fleet Racing Championships, America, Autumn 2017.

What I am going to do to raise money?

I am going to cycle as far as I can in 8 hours on Monday 6 June. As I am blind and it would be much too short notice to find a tandem and a sighted pilot I am going to cycle on an WAT exercise bike at my local gym in Chiswick. In 2012 I managed to cycle the distance from London to Brighton in just over three hours to raise money for Blind Sailing. So this time I am hoping to cycle at least the distance from London to Brighton and back again and maybe even further!


I know that many of you receive other requests for sponsorship, so thank you for taking the time to consider this one.

Kind regards,

Toby

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