Losing his sight at the age of 51 has not stopped Sherman Thompson.

A former carpenter at the King Edward VII Memorial Hospital, the 56-year-old celebrated his birthday on Sunday as he stepped foot on the tall ship he will sail from Antigua to Bermuda. Speaking to this paper before the tall ship, Tenacious, sailed from the Caribbean Island, he was excited about the adventure that may never have been.

Well, that is, without the help of Sean Pitcher who is on the board of the Bermuda Sailors' Home and is the Island's contact person for the Jubilee Sailing Trust (JST), which is based in Southampton, England.

Sending disabled Bermudians on the tall ships had tapered off for a number of years, until Mr. Pitcher said he decided to take the reins and bring it back.

He said: "It just sort of died off. I got other people involved in it. I decided I'm going to do this. From talking to the people who have ventured on the ship the sense of accomplishment it gives them, it's very rewarding."

The JST is a UK based charity that aims to promote the integration of able-bodied and physically disabled people through adventure tall ship sailing holidays.

It has two specially designed tall ships The Lord Nelson and Tenacious, which Mr. Thompson will be sailing in the next few days.

Each ship is able to take a voyage crew of 40, aged 16 years and over, who sail alongside the professional crew of ten.

The voyage crew is divided into 20 able-bodied voyagers and 20 disabled voyagers, including up to eight wheelchair users.

So far more than 28,000 people have gone to sea with the JST and more than 11,100 of them were disabled and over 4,280 of those have been wheelchair users.

The ships have been designed with many special features, ensuring that everyone on board is able to take a full and active part in the running of the vessel.

Mr. Thompson is no exception, as he took on 'mess duty' almost as soon as he settled into the boat. He has also had to help with the sails as high seas have forced the boat to move.

He said: "I have never sailed before. It's my first time sailing. The crew seems to be pretty safety conscious. Right now we are three days late because of the rough seas.

"Seas that are up to 20 feet high. The boat is only 15 feet above sea level, so hopefully those seas will drop to six feet by tomorrow (Friday) afternoon and we can set sail for Bermuda.

"Because of the high seas we have already had to go through a practice of raising the sails. I have climbed the mast up to the crow's nest."

Mr. Pitcher said he hoped that Tenacious would leave Antigua yesterday and that when the boat does arrive a tour by the Governor and students from the Dame Marjorie Bean Hope Academy will peak interest.

As the board member trying to revive the programme, Mr. Pitcher wants everyone to be able to experience this and thinks it will give the teenagers a chance to do things other teenagers do.

If anyone is interested they can contact Mr. Pitcher at 295-1624 or the Bermuda Sailing Home at 295-5598.