I have been a sailor for as long as I can remember. Growing up on Cape Cod, I saw sailboats of all sizes glide across Cape Cod Bay, watched sea gulls soar effortlessly above the waters and developed a lifelong love for moving with the wind. My first sailboat was a Styrofoam “Sea Snark” that a relative won by collecting a certain number of “Kool” cigarette box tops. (Yes, I was a little kid who sailed around in a fragile, barely sea worthy boat emblazoned with a huge cigarette logo.) As I grew, I saved money and bought a sailboard, found friends with Sunfish and Lasers and did odd jobs for neighbors in exchange for unlimited use their Hobie Cat 20’s. By the time I got to college, I knew enough about sailing to command our Navy ROTC’s 41’ Morgan Out Island cruiser and navigate Boston Harbor without ramming Old Ironsides. After my injury, I was reintroduced to sailing through the Chuck Strange Foundation’s Sonar, a 23’ Paralympic Class boat popular with disabled sailors, and have raced in local and national regattas when I can find willing crew. I have also sailed a 2.4m, a Freedom Independence and would like to try the new SKUD 18. Pictured at left, I’m at the helm of “Twisted Steel with Sex Appeal,” John Ross Duggan’s Bronze Medal winning machine from Athens 2004. To learn more about disabled sailing, visit http://www.ussailing.org/swsn/ or watch this video.

Imagine lying in bed just weeks after breaking your neck, barely able to move, unable to sit up on your own and being told you could be a great wheelchair racer. That’s what racing pioneer, Bob Hall, told me in 1990 and that’s how I was introduced to the sport. Bob told me that when I was ready to learn, he had a four wheeled racer waiting for me. Several months later, after a visit to Bob's Boston shop and a few lessons on the MIT track, I pushed my first Hall’s racer two miles on the Cape Cod Rail Trail. I was hooked! I wanted to go longer and faster. And I wanted to qualify for the Boston Marathon and race alongside the sport’s greatest athletes. Wheelchair racing is a technical sport where athletes push specially designed, aerodynamic wheelchairs distances between 100 meters up to the full 26.2 mile marathon on the road and track. Racing isn’t an easy sport to learn and getting in and out of the racing chair (and seated properly) can be a battle in itself. It’s worth it though…there aren’t many other sports where you can go upwards of 35 mph downhill only inches above the pavement! Racing chairs are made by builders such as Top End and Eagle and special equipment like racing gloves by Harness or Sportaid are needed, as well. Pictured at left, I’m pushing an aluminum Top End Eliminator OSR with 700c Zipp disc rear wheels and a 20” Corima front wheel wearing a pair of Harness gloves. To learn more about wheelchair racing, click here.

Aaahhh, golf. Robin Williams said golf is a sport founded by drunken Scots where you knock a wee little ball in a gopher hole hundreds of yards away eighteen times. Sounds like fun, you say? Well, it is. Before my injury, I was a pretty decent golfer who always had a trick shot or two at the ready and a putter that never missed. After breaking my neck, I took a fourteen year hiatus from the game because I didn’t know it was still possible for me to play. At the National Veterans Wheelchair Games several years ago, I attended an adaptive golf clinic and learned that there were modified clubs, grips and carts available that let quads, paras and amputees get back on the course. Carts such as the Solorider, Paragolfer and others (like the EZGO Eagle --- can’t find a web link, sorry) are designed to go from tee to green and allow a golfer to swivel and elevate to hit a shot anywhere on the course. While adaptive clubs are also available, most disabled golfers use regular clubs (damn the sport can get expensive). I recently worked with Hanger Prosthetics to design and build a custom, carbon fiber grip that allows me (a quad with limited hand and finger function) to grasp a club and take a full swing. I’m again a frustrated golfer from the tee but I still haven’t missed a putt. Disabled Sports USA has an old article that discusses the game and has a few links to help you learn more about clubs, carts, grips, rules and other adaptive devices. Read it here.    

I’m no expert on disabled water skiing but know just enough to be dangerous, jump the wake and get wet. I was introduced to the sport about 10 years ago through the ASAP program at Carolinas Rehab. They run a weekly ski clinic on our local lake throughout the summer so there is always a chance to improve on the water. Most organizations like ASAP have all the gear, boats, jet skis and volunteers to get you going. For wheelchair users like me, we sit in a cage that’s mounted on a wider single ski. If you are more disabled, outriggers and/or a backrest can be added to increase stability and if you are more functional, smaller, narrower skis are available. The experience compares to snow skiing with two major exceptions…when you fall in the water, it doesn’t hurt as much and, oh, yeah, it’s usually a bit warmer in the summer. Since I can’t grasp the rope, I attach it to the ski’s starting block at takeoff then grab it with my wrists once I get going. I’m purely recreational but for those who want to compete, there is slalom, trick and jumping events in competitions around the world. USA Water Ski is a great place to learn more or you might look for a clinic run by Adaptive Adventures (cool video link on this page, too).

Handcycling is one of the newer and more easily learned sports for the disabled. If you know how to ride a bike, you can learn how to handcycle. While I have competed in time trials, criteriums and road races in the past, I’m more of a long distance cyclist who loves to get out and explore. I’ve cycled the length of the Outer Banks, hundreds of miles on Cape Cod, around Lake Tahoe and Squaw Valley USA, in Vietnam and all over the Southeast. It’s a sport that can be enjoyed with friends and family and if you want to compete, the Europeans are your targets! Handcycles come in all shapes and sizes for kids and adults. In the photo at left, I’m testing the Quickie Shark (and have modified the grips, shifters, seating and gearing to my disability level). In the graphic at the top of this site, I’m riding the Top End XLT Gold (a bike that was recently redesigned and renamed the Force). If you want to find a handcycle that’s right for you, get in touch with Bike-On or High Performance Mobility. There are even off road handcycles that work on everything from single track to high mountain passes. If you are in the neighborhood, we have a couple of these One-Off’s that we ride on North Carolina's first adaptive trail in Jetton Park. The US Handcycling Federation is the governing body of the sport in the USA and their web site stays up-to-date on races, clinics and events across the country.   

Sorry, I couldn’t resist. It wasn’t that long ago that the A-4 Skyhawk was my choice for buzzing around quickly…really quickly. As an ROTC Midshipman, the TA-4J was my first introduction to Naval Aviation. Do I look happy in the photo at left? Hell yeah. The Douglas A-4 Skyhawk is a carrier capable, ground attack, delta wing aircraft designed for the Navy and the Marines. It is powered by a single turbojet and it is light and maneuverable. If you ever saw Top Gun, it is the jet the instructors flew to give the Mavericks and Ice Men a test. I had my first hop in a TA-4J at NAS Miramar near San Diego, CA, in 1988. The A-4 was retired from active service before my time but it remains a choice aircraft for pilots and friends of the Skyhawk Association for years. I feel the need….

Speaking of Maverick and Ice Man, this is the F-14 and that dude standing in front of it is me. Not a bad way to roll, and a cool little $38 million toy to have in your arsenal, I must admit. The Grumman F-14 Tomcat is a supersonic, twin engine, two seat (arranged in tandem), variable sweep wing aircraft that was once the Navy’s primary maritime air superiority fighter. From 1974 – 2006, the Tomcat was a fleet air defense fighter that possessed inherent air superiority characteristics. It replaced the F-4 Phantom, filled the void left by the A-6 Intruder and served valiantly until the F/A-18 Super Hornet replaced it. The plane features variable geometry wings that swing automatically during flight. For high-speed intercept, they are swept back; they swing forward to allow the F-14 to turn sharply and dogfight. The pilot and radar intercept officer (RIO) sit in Martin-Baker GRU-7A rocket-propelled ejection seats and have a 360° view in a canopy. Only the pilot has flight controls. A close friend of mine from flight school, now a Commander, put 2,700 hours in the Tomcat and had 600 arrested landings as a NFO in the back seat. This was the plane I hoped to fly had I not been injured. While neither Jeff nor I are in this video, I thought you might enjoy it and give you a laugh. Roll on, friends!