Description
The Bay Area Association of Disabled Sailors (BAADS) seeks to make all aspects of sailing accessible. To fulfill this mission, we offer weekly dinghy sailing, keelboat sailing, and Veterans sailing out of South Beach Marina, adjacent to AT&T Park.
Our keelboat fleet includes five keelboats, each specially rigged and equipped with adaptive features to make sailing the San Francisco Bay possible for people with disabilities. Additionally, we have 23 Access Dinghies, ranging in size from 8 to 14 feet long. Some of these are equipped with servo motors so that people with severe physical disabilities can sail solo.
We serve approximately 50 participants each weekend. Our participants range in age from eight to 80 and include people with mental, physical, and developmental disabilities. Some participants have never sailed before and some have been sailing all their lives. Through our sailing programs, participants learn to sail by themselves in the dinghy program and as part of a crew in the keelboat program.
We run all our programs through volunteers. Our board has thirteen people, and our volunteer base supplies anywhere from 3 to 10 volunteers per weekend. Our volunteer base is our lifeline-our programs couldn’t function without dedicated people who are reliable and have at least some knowledge of sailing and equipment. We invest a significant amount of time and effort in recruiting, training, and retaining volunteers. Learn how to become a volunteer at our volunteer page at www.baads.org
