Blind Surfing feel the wave - Holman Prize application 2018 HD

Surfing is the only sport that I know of where blind or visually impaired people can go full speed and control their steering. Waterskiing or horse riding could be other options but in both instances the horse r the boat pulling you control your steering. As a blind person you need to be making calculations any time you move, even walking down the footpath, you have to feel the ground with your feet to avoid rolling your ankle on a crack or ledge you did not see or feel with your cane. The surf is the one place you can be truly independent and ride with speed. If you fall off, it’s jus the same as if a sighted person falls off, you hit water and as long as you are a competent swimmer you wont get permanently injured. You will never hit a tree, a car, a pole or roll your ankle on a crack. I’ve been surfing for the last 35 years with almost no sight. I have learned how to use the non visual information in the ocean to navigate the ocean and to surf on a wave to an advance level. I want to share these skills with the greater blind and visually impaired community. Paddling out through the waves – When paddling out you can use sound to hear the foam of the broken waves rolling towards you and time your duck dive based on this information. Just before the wave hit’s you it sucks water towards it, you can also use this tactile information to know when to duck dive the wave. Waiting for a wave – Waves have patterns and timing. If you tune into the timing of the waves you can feel when a set or bigger wave is coming as the period between going up and down over each wave gets longer. A larger wave also has a deeper troff so you can feel yourself dropping on a steeper angle. You can use this information to know when to paddle. Riding the wave – As you go across the wave you can feel with your feet the steepness of the angle under your board to know when to turn or make a manoeuvre. It would take Mae hours to explain this properly but I have the knowledge and experience to do this. I want to use the funding from the Holman prize to travel to multiple countries to run surf camps. I will get local surfers to volenteer and help me out with these camps. I will run them for free and have friends that are professional surfers that will also volunteer their time. The money will go towards travel to get to the locations and a small part will go towards making a movie of people learning and a audible tutorial blind people can use. As an extreme sports junky myself, I truly only feel free to be indiscriminately expressive in the surf. I want to share this feeling of freedom and safety in the ocean to the blind and visually impaired community.