Heroic sailor Keith Harris has Paralympics goal (From Bournemouth Echo)

Heroic sailor Keith Harris has Paralympics goal

3:00pm Sunday 17th April 2011 in News By Timothy John

A quadriplegic sailor from Bournemouth has his sights set firmly on competing in Dorset waters in the 2012 Paralympic Games.

Keith Harris, 36, who lost the use of his limbs after his nerves were damaged by a bout of adult flu when just six months old, has been competing in a specially designed boat whose rudder and sails he controls electronically with a mouth-operated joystick.

After convincing results in two regattas, Keith lies third in the UK series for the Skud 18 class and has been invited to join an elite squad run by the Royal Yachting Association.

“You have only one opportunity in a lifetime to sail in a Paralympics at your own club," said Keith.

“It’s so unique you just have to put your head down and go for it.

“I have always been very competitive. Many people in my place wouldn’t even consider doing this. But to me, the appeal is to be the best.”

Keith will compete alongside a disabled female athlete and hopes Jo Fir will partner him if she gains classification, although he is also interested in hearing from any disabled female athlete with good upper body strength.

But if he and his sailing partner are to make it to the 2012 Paralympics Games in the waters off Portland next September, Keith will need to raise about £90,000 this year and next to impress selectors in crucial qualifying events.

Further funds – needed to maintain the boat, and to finance the cost of Keith’s training and travel to events in Miami, Spain, and Australia, among others in 2012 – are desperately needed.

To back Keith and his efforts to get to the Paralympic Games next year, visit excalibur-sailing-team.com