A catamaran makes an ideal platform for disabled sailing, being wheelchair friendly and providing a stable platform where it is easy to keep dry and warm. The Dazcat/Multimarine team has had a lot of experience with designing and building multihulls for disabled sailing. Dazcat designed and built a no-compromise trimaran in 1997 to be sailed single-handed for Alan Grace (see articles on Paradox in News and Stories). Since then our sister company Multimarine has built the technologically innovative Impossible Dream for the charity Sporting Activities for the Disabled.

We understand how sailing can offer a sense of freedom and physical independence it can sometimes be hard to find ashore if you're in a wheelchair.

This Dazcat SP 14 design was commissioned by a sailor with no mobility from the neck down. As a result it can be entirely controlled using Sip+Puff technology; by blowing down a tube switches can be turned on and off, as with a computer. A very distinctive vessel was wanted for raising awareness, and money, in the press, though long-time followers of Dazcat will recognise the influence of an earlier design, the Dazcat 34 CRC.

The design criterion was to build a boat a disabled sailor can complete the course on. We all have this idyllic view of sailing in the sunshine but the reality is more often it will be cold, wet and bumpy. Protection from the wind and waves is essential to achieve the dream.

Both hulls contain cabins for carers/crew forward with access to systems. A double cabin on the deck is accessible for someone in a wheelchair through a sliding door. There is also a shower and head on deck. Helm, nav station and communications are housed forward in the deck pod, with access from the deck cabin. Boarding is achieved via twin passerelles with detachable rails.

A slightly raised floor in the central pod enables a wheelchair-dependent sailor to see out forward, giving good vision for mooring the boat using the engine controls to manoeuvre (like a digger using throttle controls). There is also a plan for remote cameras for various views of the rig when sailing from the helm control pod, or of the boat and dock when mooring. It also has a handy night vision mode and surprisingly enough the set up is not that expensive. The windscreen is kept clear with wipers and washers.

Halyard systems are located in box on deck inside a nacelle. Electronic systems include a mast rotation angle and point of sail display and a record of wind and weather information to monitor speeds and angle changes. Also boat course and track information covering heading, speed, track, waypoints, charts and GPS on a wide screen. A radar chart overlay function will be useful at night and in poor visibility. Communications are voice activated for email via pre-set channels.

Sails and steering are controlled by hydraulics, including main sheet, main halyard, reef 1, reef 2, self-tacking jib sheet and jib sheet furler. Manual functions cover engine controls, the emergency tiller (useful for manoeuvring the boat from the aft deck), genoa halyard, main outhaul, reef 3, storm jib and trysail.

Back-up systems will be in place to cover remote engine controls, a triplicate autopilot system including gyros and rams, the twin 30HP engines, twin 6KVA generators with switching, twin independent GPS, single radar, lazy tail main sheet to emergency manual winch and remote manual switching Programmable Logic Controller system, remote Sip+Puff attached to wheelchair with monitor. There will also be a digital camera system to record the adventure.

A doorway forward in the pod on this design would not be an option. Electricity and water never mix well and we have built in structures we can not get over in the chair, so why should anyone else go up there to get in the way. The sailor will be able to overview the boat and sails from both stern ¾ positions, which will be drier and safer.

Another reason not to create any access forward is this enables us to dispense with nets, forward beams, rails and stanchions, reducing cost and making the boat look very stylish and different from any other boat out there.

This boat is in its conceptual form and can be made for all people of varying abilities. We really want to build it.