Mal Canning, Scott Finsten, Bob Garner, Peter Jacops, and Tim Vanhurck formed Disabled Sailing Thailand in
2015 after hearing the Paralympics had canceled sailing as asportingevent. There had never been an association promoting disabled sailing in Thailand, although there were in many other Southeast Asian nations.
But where would they get their boats?
There was nothing available in Thailand at the time, not evensecond-hand, and importing them was just too expensive.
Peter, ayachtsurveyor and CE inspectorby trade, had aboatbuildingschoolfor hearing disabled childrenin South Africa, so had someexperience in the field, but he needed someone to design the boat.
Not having much luck, he decided to reach out to his circle of friendsby putting a notice on Face- book asking for pro-bono help designingadisabled sailing boatfor Thailand.
Within minutes of the posting, Alex Simonis, a partner in the naval architectural and yachtdesign studio Simonis Voogd contacted Peter and said his company wanted to take up the challenge.
Peter was adamant that though the boats needed to be affordable, yet they also had to be mod- ern, competitive and sleek. “The problem with most

disabled sailing boats is they really look like disabled sailing boats,” he says.
The groupsoon met with Russell Vollmer at the Royal Cape Yacht Club, Vollmer a parasailer
with two Cape Town to Riocrossings under his belt, quickly signed on as an advisor.
The first boat was made out of marine ply and it went on display half-finished at the 2016 Ocean Marina Pattaya Boat Show. Royal Phuket Marina’s Gulu Lalvanisaw the boat and he agreed to pay to finish it. Ray Ringuetfrom Austhai Marine then built another boat using the same material giving it to HRHPrincess Sirindhorn who on her turn donatedit to Disabled Sailing Thailand.
Maarten Voogd of Simonis-Voogd had beenvisiting Fareast Yachts regularly when he mentioned the project to Demolar Du, the CEO of Fareast Yachts. She was immediatelyinterested
and wanted to becomeinvolved. Shecommitted to building the first 1,000 SV14s at asubsidized price for disabled sailors, with the standard model costing only cost US$3000 USD.
As with all models from Fareast Yachts, the S/V14 is a fullyvacuum-infusedconstruction in GRP/Foam Core. The rudders and lifting keel fin are made with carbon and the castironbulbis
encapsulatedinglass. The weight is the same as the