Keith eyes 2012 glory (From Dorset Echo)

Keith eyes 2012 glory

9:04am Friday 11th March 2011 in Afloat News By Laura Kitching

A PARALYSED man, who discovered freedom on the water, has received a boost to his quest for Paralympic glory thanks to two Portland businesses.

Keith Harris, 36, has been disabled since he was six months old when he contracted a virulent strain of flu, which gave him a temperature of 105 degrees for a week and damaged the nerves that control movement.

He is now quadriplegic and only able to reliably move his mouth and tongue, which he uses to sail solo via a tongue-operated joystick that enables him to control the rudder and sails using electric motors.

Harris lives in Bournemouth but travels to the Weymouth & Portland National Sailing Academy “whenever the wind prevails” and has already been out several times this year in freezing conditions in his Skud-18 boat.

The hardy sailor’s campaign has now been boosted by Bob Elliott of Quality Time Training, who is providing free use of a safety boat for Harris’ coach Matt Grier, while Portland Marina bosses are donating the fuel.

Harris said: “Sailing is very expensive, especially when you get up to Paralympic level.

“It would have cost £100 a day to hire a boat so I was really happy when Bob said he had a boat I could use.

“It’s a great help, especially because Portland Marina said they’d pay the fuel.”

Harris has been sailing on and off for the past 20 years but four years ago he discovered Sailability in Ringwood and “never looked back”.

He said: “The thing is, in the boat I can compete on the same level as able-bodied people.

“If you can imagine, if I wasn’t doing this I’d be stuck at home doing absolutely nothing.

“In 2009 I had a very good year and came second in the country in the Access 2.3 boat class.

“Then I met my coach Matt and he persuaded me to try the Skud boat and go to the next level.

“It’s my goal to compete in Rio 2016, we’re also going to try for 2012 – it’s very short notice in order to get there but we’ll give it a damn good go.”

Coach Grier added: “I think Keith could be one of the best helms out there, my biggest concern is that we need to find him a crew.”

Harris’ Excalibur team, which also consists of shore crew Peter Jones and Harris’ care support team, are now on the hunt to find him a female, disabled crew-mate, who is able to manipulate the sails.

Elliott said: “Keith’s got guts, what can you say? He’s totally quadriplegic, he lives in a wheelchair and sails a boat with his tongue.

“I met him at the Southampton Boat Show and was so impressed with his attitude that I offered him my safety boat to use.

“Dean & Reddyhoff have donated the fuel and he started using it for the first time this week.”

Next year, Excalibur needs to raise £90,000 to cover their costs, which include round-the-clock care for Harris and the team, and are also looking for volunteers to help manhandle the boat from the crane into the water.

Would-be crew, helpers or sponsors can contact Harris at excalibur-sailing-team.com