The world seems to become smaller. Distances are playing a diminishing role in the networked 21st century and yet we lack to take a daily look at the bigger picture. Anyone who has ever made ​​a circumnavigation has become ​​aware of how quickly climate, people, mentalities but also life conditions are changing along the longitude and latitude of the planet.

For us it isn’t understandable what is going on in many places and which hurdles people should face everyday. Through the inspiring example of Wojtek Czyz and Elena Brambilla, it is becoming more and more clear how important it is to give always to ourselves a new perspective to fight and to take the hurdles of life with a full run-up. Prostheses allow amputation affected people these new perspectives and offer hope.

Pantaenius is pleased to support this unique project and applied for financial commitment. As a global company, and as water sports enthusiasts, we are thrilled behind the idea of sailing4handicaps to allow less privileged people in the world to get a better and equal life through the help of the prosthesis.

With over 40 years experience and more than 80,000 customers around the world, Pantaenius has far become the leading specialist for yacht insurance over the borders of Europe. Boats and yachts which are insured with Pantaenius have always been with a slab tax, which has set a new standard in the industry.

The team form Pantaenius wishes the best of the luck to the catamaran IMAGINE and to its crew.

It took long but finally we have put online the pics from the photographer Christophe Sorenti. We are so happy that Christophe is supporting us!

The quality of the pics talks by itself!

You can find the pics under the “Gallery” of sailing4handicaps

Afetr two and a half years of work, on the 21.07.2014, during the Travemünder Woche, the first prosthesis has been build up on board of the catamaran „Imagine“.

The team of sailing4handicaps had to invent a lot to be able to get to this point.

To make this project to become true, we had to build up a special working table, a big oven and find uncommon solutions.

It was really important to have, one year before the leaving, everything on board, in order to get familiar with the new characteristics of the boat.

Therefor it is important to pay attention to the weight of the boat. Only the additional equipment for the prostheses, infact, increases the weight by at least 300kg.

Finally we have been ready. In front of the media, of our partnerns and sponsors, it has been described step by step the procedure necessary to build up in the future prothesis using only the tolls that you can find on board. The team componentes, Elena Brambilla and Wojtek Czyz (Crew), Christoph Ganter (Orthopedic) and Dr.Kopy (Doctor of the club), have meet in order to realize the project. The focus has been the construction of the shaft. A plastic plate was heated at 200 ° in a convection oven and then placed over the gyps and shaped under vacuum.

The audience was amazed when they saw how the prothesis was formed. This one has then been wear by Wojtek Czyz himself.  For him it is important that the prosthesis has also an quality standars.

In addition, we could proudly announce that the total cost of a prosthesis will be of  200 €  and can be financed through donations.

Following pics from the day.

The night before  Christoph Ganter made the general test. Nothing should have been wrong on the monday. We have to thank his acrobatik work if everything worked during the presentation.

The next morning the tools have been hanged.

Imagine and the crew are ready for the event.

We have been really impressed about the interest rised from the project!

Wojtek Czyz himself weared the first prothese and showed the quality standards of it.

Suddenly after wearing it, he could walk around on the boat without any problem.

While Elena was presenting the new tools on board to the interested pubblic, Wojtek was introducing the new working table for the orthopedic.

Without all these new tools and c0nstructions, it would have never been possible to build up the prothese on board.

Christophe Sorenti will work side to side with sailing4handicaps during his mission.

Christophe has already begun to document the preparations phases of the travel and will be on our side also for  the upcoming tasks. His amazing pictures are constantly published online on his website: http://www.csorenti.com as well as on our: www.sailing4handicaps.de

The pictures published till now are marvelous!!!.

We are looking forward to work with Christophe. His professionalism and dedication are a great resource for our club.

Christophe Sorenti

http://www.csorenti.com/

Safety is a key word when it comes to perform a circumnavigation. For this reason, during the preparation phase of the catamaran Imagine, sailing4handicaps got in touch with Armare, an italian brand world leader in the production of ropes. The brand, through the active person of Marcello D’Agostini, has given direct support to the project.

After checking all the ropes on board, which are 10 years old, Marcello D’Agostini has decided to change all of them in order to allow Imagine to be able to sail in completely safety around the world and help in this way people in need.

Armare has given a concret, vaste and complete support, which goes over the simple donation of ropes, giving to the crew important suggestions regarding the praparation of the boat.

sailing4handicaps is proud to present this collaboration and to have on board high quality and unique ropes which make of Imagine a safer mean to complete its helping mission.

A look at the company

“Armare” means “to provide a ship with all it needs to navigate” or “to equip a sailing vessel”.
 So, we find the vision of the company in the meaning of the name, extended to what the company can now offer to its customers.

 In 2012 Armare celebrated 20 years of its foundation. It is the continuation of a long family tradition, whose knowledge has been handed on from father to son. Over two hundred years of history in the production of ropes, set Armare among the leading companies in the sector of nautical ropes, offering a comprehensive range of technologically advanced products.

 Armare designs, manufactures and tests its products in Italy, in San Giorgio di Nogaro (Udine) – 4,000 m2 of twisting, stranding, braiding, special treatments, splicing, testing and hand finishing. The high level of the development of human resources, in the areas of production, technical research, administration, marketing and sales, allows the company to offer a product that the market recognizes as a leader within the highest sectors. One of the hallmarks of Armare, is the ability to personalise the already wide range of products, with custom finishes .
Armare products are currently distributed in Italy by some 200 highly specialized shipchandlers, covering the entire national territory.

The vocation for internationality has led Armare to reach all the main European and overseas markets.
 Listening to the needs of its customers, and speaking to people who contact the company, allows Armare to meet expectations and demands, in the pursuit of constant improvement of the quality of the business. Growth is attained through respect of company values, identified in the way of being and acting, and is reflected in business relationships.

The wide range of Armare products includes technical solutions for both sailing and motor boats, but also cordage for any industrial application, sport, interior design or commercial fishing. According to the philosophy of Armare, ropes are, in addition to the technical function on vessels, also an integration to enrich them. Ropes play an important role for the safety of boats and of the people who use them. Aesthetics are also important, for the style, prestige and social position of the shipowner. Armare’s main goal is a continuous improvement that arises in the carrying out of its activities: growth occurs when new goals are placed. Armare gives particular attention to market tendencies, and is able to anticipate the preferences of its clients. Thanks to the know-how, the experience and the feedback from skippers and crews, Armare designs and studies new applications, as well as implementing the research on materials that are used to produce the ropes.

www.armare.it

We are really happy to present Yachticon as a great partner of sailing4handicaps.

It made ​​us very happy that Andreas Tegeler, sales manager of the company, hasn’t hesitated long to support us.

He himself has experience with amputees and has been moved from the same spirit which moves sailing4handicaps.

Yachticon will support the club specifically in the construction of osmosis protection, antifouling and with other important supply items which will be very important for the trip.

Yachticon was established in 1982 and is today a leading company internationally which develops and markets innovative products for the care of yachts and caravans.

At the time it started up the main product was initially a solution for disinfecting water – Aqua Clean. The innovative product closed a genuine gap in the market and was the start of our success. Today we at Yachticon are the strong partner when it comes to care in water sports and the caravan market.

With more than 1000 products in our current catalogue we offer an answer to (almost) every challenge with regard to care. At our production site in Germany we develop and market products which are simple to use and highly effective. From anti-yellowing to decorative-strip polishing paste – we are, with our products, a reliable onboard partner and are one of the largest companies in the trade internationally.

In Germany our products are to be found in almost every specialist shop and Yachticon products are also being successfully marketed and used in more than 50 countries in Europe and overseas. At the same time the close contact that we have with our customers is very important to us – at the five major water sports trade fairs and on the telephone we are willing to talk to yacht owners and caravanners at any time.

The winter has been warm. Lots of owners have put their boats in the water earlier than usual, but not the club sailing4handicaps with his Imagine.

There are still things to do on the Lagoon 41, so that we will be ready to build up on board our first prothese on the 21st July during the Travemünder Woche. On the agenda we don’t have only the appointment with the building up of the prostetic, but also the preparetion steps to the circumnavigation are in progress. For example, this winter a new underwater structure was completely rebuilt.

Imagine will get also a new look…All this and much more you will shortly get to know…

In the cold time we haven’t been lazy and we found new partners and supporters who will be soon officially presented.

The boat has been preparred for the new osmosis painting. The grinding work took more or less one week.

Soon will follow the painting of the underwater. Therefore we have a great partner on our side: Yachticon. We will soon inform you also about this collaboration.

For the new painting we had to removel the net…

Here is the workingplace for the  Orthopedic: an individual construction expecially for our boat… we will soon be able to see how it really looks like!

Buchholz-fachinformationsdienst, shortly bfd, supports as a sponsor the international aid project “sailing4handicaps” of the Paralympic Champion Wojtek Czyz. The collaboration is designed for a period of 3 years.

As Wojtek Czyz, at the end of his sport career, brought to life together with his life partner Elena Brambilla “sailing4handicaps”, it was natural for bfd  to support Czyz also in this social action.

The initiative will give handicapped people the possibility to receve a supply of prosthetics and to open for them in this way new perspectives. The specialized crew will work on spot with amputees, build up prosthetics and show them how to apply and  kept these prosthetics in shape for future. On the sailing catamaran “Imagine” have been created all the necessary conditions to allow the crew to manufacture prostheses on board. The necessary funds are raised through donations and sponsorship.

“For us it was not a question to financially support sailing4handicaps”, asserts the company’s founder and current chairman of bfd, Dieter Buchholz.

On the 18th January from 13.30 till 14 o’clock and on the 25th January from 11 o’clock till 11.30 we will present the foundation sailing4handicaps on the “Multihall” stage in the Hall 15 of the BOOT 2014.

We are also going to present the project at the Stand of Fischer Panda on the 18th January and on the 25th January, both at 12 0’clock.

If you are gonna visit the BOOT on another day, please don’t esitate to contact us. We will be available all week for every question that you might have.

The BOOT Duesseldorf takes place from the 18th till the 26th January 2014, everyday from 10.00 o’clock till 18.00 0’clock. You can find further infos about the exhibition at the following web site:  www.boot.de

If you want to know more about sailing4handicaps, please visit our website: www.sailing4handicaps.de.

We wish you a safe and pleasant sailing 2014 season and we are looking forward to meet you at one of our events.

Best regards

Wojtek Czyz

President of the foundation

sailing4handicaps e.V.

Kaiserbergring 13
67657 Kaiserslautern

info(at)sailing4handicaps.de

On the occasion of the Nordic Combined World Cup in Schonach, Wiha, a leading manufacturer of hand tools, supported the club with a generous donation in the form of tools.

“This ensures that we can provide orthopedic technician on board with the best tools”, substains the President of the club.

We have been really happy to meet Mr. Willi Hahn and his wife and to be able to thank them personally for their great support.

This family run company from the Black Forest has offered its help immediately and with full entusiasm.

Thank’s Wiha!!!

The company profile:

Today Wiha is a dependable partner for users of precision tools worldwide and has been able to position itself in the market as a driving force for innovation. Active customer management, a corporate philosophy oriented to quality and above all the systematic support of employees are the foundation for the enduring success of the family enterprise.

In this respect Wiha takes advantage of close cooperation with its own manufacturing and sales dependencies and partners within the important economic zones of Europe, the United States and Asia.
The concentration of resources upon those product- and market segments that afford sufficient potential for continual growth make Wiha lastingly flexible with a high level of performance capacity.

www.wiha.com