Rainbow Group - Live Well with Sight Loss

Navigating Life with Sight Loss to Achieve World Champion Status - Lucy Hodges MBE,

• Antony Horner • Season 1 • Episode 1

Share episode

 This episode features Lucy Hodges, MBE, a world champion blind sailor and advocate for disability sports. Lucy shares her journey from being registered blind at a young age to becoming a leading figure in sailing. She emphasizes the crucial role of support from family and community, highlighting how this shaped her resilience and passion for sports. Lucy recounts her introduction to sailing, the power of teamwork, and the transformative impact of competition on personal growth. She discusses the importance of accessibility in sports, urging listeners to seek opportunities and embrace their challenges. Ultimately, Lucy's message inspires hope and empowerment, encouraging everyone to pursue their dreams despite obstacles. 

Transcript

[0:00] Music. 

[0:16] Hello and welcome to the Rainbow Group Live Well with Sight Loss podcast for April 2025. 

Introduction to Lucy Hodges

[0:24] A series of talks on living with sight loss to educate, inspire and entertain. In this first episode, we are joined by Lucy Hodges, MBE, World Champion Blind Sailor. Lucy is an award-winning world champion sailor, mentor and disability sports ambassador. She is one of the UK's most successful disabled sailors, being three times blind match racing world champion and two times world blind fleet racing champion. In December 1997, she was registered blind with Photophobia and Nystagmus, a condition which she has had since birth. All through her life, Lucy has used sport as her way of overcoming the barriers that come with her disability Morning everyone, hope you're all well.

Lucy's Journey Begins

[1:25] So if you've got a burning question at any time, do just shout I like things to be friendly, open You might not save that thought process until the end for Q&A So do just shout, I'm not worried, So I'm Lucy Hodges, officially MBE, and I have got world titles in two sports and records, and that will become clear as we talk.

[1:56] Like many of you that have been listening to, this sight loss affects everyone in different ways. It's the journeys that we go on that create us and the people around us. And hopefully I can share some thoughts into my life, what it's been like, what I hope the future looks like as well, looking forward to the future, and hopefully inspire you or inspire you to set some goals that you may have

Choices We Make

[2:25] been sort of like thinking about for a time. I do find with visually impaired people and some other disabled people, we can become very stagnant, we can become very segment and rely on our technology and the comforts that we have. So a little bit about me as I unfold. So this talk is about... The pathway that we can choose. So everyone in life, whether we're sighted, visually impaired, got some form of disability, hidden disability, we have choices. We have choices. We make choices. From the moment we're born, we're choosing to be a naughty child or a good child or a tester to test those parents. I was born with photophobia, nystagmus.

[3:17] And back in the day, um there was no technology so that's how old I'm getting now no technology no computers no internet nothing like this that we're doing today collaborating around the UK and bringing some um interesting content um so but mum and dad didn't feel isolated actually uh didn't feel isolated so um my granddad lived down in Cornwall and he came up to visit when I was born probably about two three months on um and uh so i said oh she's a bit bit strange um you know and the relationship and the bond between my mom and granddad isn't isn't that strong and uh she said he said her eyes just don't don't focus they're everywhere and mom said oh the doctor said you know that's just that's just as they're growing up they they learn to see and settle in anyway played on my mum's mind um and took me to the doctors the doctors referred us to the hospital and we went up to London and it was interesting it was only the other day literally the other day um I was talking about something with mum and mum said oh she said when I look back I left you in that hospital they said you'd be all right so they they took us up to London drove up to London left me in.

[4:42] The hospital for tests to find out and mum and dad left me for the night and when. 

[4:50] We came back I'd had when they came back the next morning they were told to be back at 11 I'd had all my tests done and and stuff like that you know didn't affect me I was only young I was only young but it's just those little bits that keep coming back to mum about um you know uh not leaving me but but being confident I was always in safe hands with the with the people that were helping us.

Early Years and Support

[5:11] So it wasn't long and I was under Southend Hospital and that became my support network. That's where we found out about different things, what I could see, what life might be like and the journey I might take. And at that age, it was up to mum and dad really. What would it be? What would it be? What would it be like? And I knew no different. They knew no different. They had no internet searches. So it was all suck it and see.

[5:41] So, so dad got me bikes like any normal child, you know, and hit lots of cars, lots of cars, hit lots of fences. And we lived in a lovely little village, lovely little village. And it sometimes hits home just how lucky I was to grow up in a lovely village where people knew, people knew who you were. Dad spoke to the local policeman and went, I really don't think she can ride on the road. So she'll be on the pavement and told explain why. And the policeman was like, oh, that's all right. Might injure a few more people, though. If you don't see the car, she won't see the person. And that was true. That was true.

School Life and Challenges

[6:24] But everyone around me never moaned at me, never, never moaned at me. I was so lucky in primary school That mum and dad would always be around Dad was working away a lot But dad would make me stuff We didn't have the online RNIB shop Didn't have that Couldn't go online and buy a cup that spoke to you when it was full Like a little tool You couldn't go online and buy a ruler.

[6:53] You wasn't seen as much out in the community so dad made me things dad made me a ruler with centimeters that I could feel um dad made me circles and triangles that I could quite handily draw around um dad's mate would blow up different bits and pieces that would become more helpful and mum would lend a hand in the classes and I made up a lot of things so I thought reading you know I thought I can get around this, I'll look at the picture and make up the story Very quickly learned I wasn't going to pass my reading grade The Roger Red Hats, the Yellow Red Hats and stuff like that, So mum would read the books into a recorder So I always had them And then we started to buy cassette tapes with stories on But mum really worked hard to create.

[7:48] Black writing on yellow paper she found Long before anyone else told us that I could read that better So she would spend time trying to help me to spell, trying to help me to read. There was nothing they let, they stopped me from doing, nothing.

[8:04] A&E became a home. A&E became, I put my head through a glass window. But I look back, was that sight or was that just being a child? Being a child. So I decided to create a slide out the stairs and sit on a board and shoot down the staircase. and my mind hadn't equated how close the window pane was at the bottom of the staircase. So I very quickly shot through that. There was things that were sight related, not seeing things were open, not seeing little steps and little fences and falling over and getting injured. But it was brilliant. Bandaged up, put back out again. Always put back out again. My first recollection of what life could be like when I look back. So going to mainstream school, being in primary school, I could fit in quite easily. Um sport at school that because it was just you were young there was no sort of like I'm better than you back in those days it was all about winning and losing which I thought was brilliant um not so much nowadays there's not so much winning and losing in schools but I used to give it my everything and the teachers would talk to me and the kids would talk to me.

Discovering Sports

[9:19] Um swimming mum found swimming for us she always wanted us to to be safe around water so we joined the local club.

[9:29] At first your eyesight is not that much of a relevance. I kind of already had that awareness of safety around the edges of the pools and through going swimming with mum and dad and the teachers were always on hand when you was learning. It was when I moved up into the bigger pool I suddenly realised there wasn't an end of the pool to me. That was like a mystery. How far away was it? You know how far did I have to swim to find that end of the pool they kept talking about a clock on the wall that they were following you got to do 100 meters off of 130 and stuff like that and I thought wow this is all a mystery to me so I can remember my first lesson in the big pool coming out and saying to mum they keep talking about a clock we got to follow where's that clock where's that clock on the wall and it hit home to her that maybe maybe we need to talk to the coaches and find different ways different ways and that's the first sort of real recollection at sort of seven years old that actually I could still do things but I needed a bit of help and I needed to change some things I absolutely loved sport I loved being outside I was the type of kid that would get up at 5 30 and I'd go outside get on my bike ride around the field that we live next to the man next door used to be mending cars and I used to sit and chat to him. I just loved being outdoors. I loved feeling free.

[10:54] Feeling free is an interesting word as I grew up. So swimming became my thing, swam six times a week and at that stage there wasn't big push for Paralympic stuff. It started to grow sort of as I got a bit older. Some would say too late but I don't look at that as being too late. I just look at it back and being I was given amazing opportunities, I moved to senior school. This is where the path could have changed and I may not be as strong as I am today, but I might have been stronger. We don't know. So dad was adamant that I would never go to a special school. He was absolutely adamant. I didn't. We tried, we looked, he didn't like it. That wasn't for me.

Secondary School Struggles

[11:44] That wasn't what he saw his child doing. 

[11:47] So I went to secondary school. what a place that was had no clue where I was where I was going I was like a bit of a sheep trying to find friends trying to follow people um and mum was trying to get a statement in place to get a support worker there wasn't any support workers back in those days there was nothing nothing created like that never not even thought about so I started school within two weeks because of Nystagnus went totally blind because the stress was too much and I was taken to a little office by one of my friends from down the road who's slightly older and this would probably be classed as child abuse now but it's still how I teach my kids today and I don't care what anyone says to me they sat me on this man's lap who walked through the door and he was called the new boy he was the new boy and he picked me up sat me on his lap and he said tell me about you I'll tell me I'll tell you about me but one thing I want to make clear me and you are on a journey we'll choose our direction we'll support each other there'll be a few tears along the way but we're going to get our GCSEs that man was Mark Suckling he saved my life that day in school him and mum then worked hard to create an environment I could work in at school.

[13:15] They bought things, they made things until the statement went through. The statement took two and a half years back then to go through. By then, I was starting to, you know, look at the GCSEs, what it would be like. So I'd done a lot of schooling by then with no support, apart from Mark Suckling and his team helping out the teachers. But the one thing that helped those two and a half years was when I went to hospital, Dr. Watts and Dr. Rumbles, who are sadly not with us anymore from Southend Hospital, they went to mum, well, we're going to come and help. We're going to come and help. And we're going to write to the MPs too. They came and spent an evening with all the teachers and any children from my year or other years that wanted to learn about visual impairment.

[14:04] They spoke about visual impairment, not just me, but everybody, and how to look after your eyes, how to help each other, what what can affect you in later life especially for the teachers and stuff like that it was an amazing amazing evening we reflected the other day with mum that there was only one teacher that didn't want to participate he made my life hell and very quickly the school acted and removed me from any of his classes he wasn't allowed to have any involvement with me he saw me as weird he saw me as using my binocular to some reason take his clothes off and I was only 11 and a half years old at this stage when it all started he was dealt with and he was no longer part of my life and the strong network of teachers that had around me allowed me to be part of the class without the support network but in the background every day every challenge I faced at school it was then overcome with sport so all my emotions would let loose on the sports floor I would go swim and I started to compete for the club they'd found a way that.

[15:15] That they would help me onto the blocks and would count my strokes someone will always be at the end to tell me what to do what was happening and get me out the water it become my support network and helpers people learn to help and the kids learn to help me I never if I led a lane the second person would always tell me when to go or the coach would hold a little whistle and if I was in the pool we had a little whistle for me to go but if there was an emergency it would be a continuous whistle so we knew we'd be able to put things in place those little simple things sometimes nowadays people blow out a portion to let people into sport but those little simple things, meant I was part of a massive club.

[15:55] School carried on and I got a lovely lady called Pauline who came in and helped. She was one-to-one to me but she was the most amazing lady. She saw me for me, the help I needed, but she saw the whole class needing help. This changed my life. Because she helped everyone she touched in the class, no one saw her as me, the special person that needed help. She made everyone feel special in every class I attended. She was always there greeting person with a smile. She always made sure I had my work, I was happy, I could do everything. But everybody had Pauline time that needed it. She helped, she was there, she lent an ear, she always gave an extra bit if someone needed it at lunchtime, the school truly valued her. Slowly the school got another lady to do the bits that Pauline were doing and I think this was the start of what is now SEN in schools but quite diluted. I was lucky, I always had one-to-one.

[16:58] So I then started going through Mark, going to Worcester college and doing more sports and I was like wow sports just opens the door so although I've lost one sense I still got the other four I can still learn I can still adapt every sport they threw at me I found a way around it if I couldn't do it first time I'd sit there I think I'd process it might be overnight might I slept on it but I'd come back and go right I'm gonna try it this way or I'm going to do this and I'd achieve it. Absolutely loved it. Reading and writing I found really hard but still persevered, really persevered. Towards the end of the school I started sailing. So this was locally, this was with dad and my next door neighbour on the water but the one thing

Sailing Takes Off

[17:44] dad had been able to do was teach me everything in life. He'd been able to teach me how to use a ruler, he even taught me how to drive a car so I fully know how to drive a car work a car, help people out help people parallel park that was what he loved teaching me driving, I love learning driving, but sailing was another thing, he couldn't quite work it out and I think that's because he was learning at the time too.

[18:11] So, luckily enough, sitting in his cab, Radio 4 come on in the In Touch programme, and they was interviewing a lovely man from Sailability, RYA Sailability, which was the seamanship foundation back then. And before I knew it, it was after a weekend of sailing, me and Dad. I was the youngest person they'd had, and I was quite shocked at that, because at this stage in life, life had ticked on. I'd got my GCSEs. Me and Mark Sucklin, he'd kept his promise. I'd come out with A's and B's and a couple of C's. We never fathomed without science and French, and I wasn't too bothered. So we didn't really focus on that. But they weren't U's. They were still D's. So we were quite happy.

[18:57] Mark kept his promise. He stayed. And as soon as I left, he went for his promotion. He went for headmaster. So, truly thankful there. But then these weekends come along and sailing. I jumped in a boat, a dinghy at first, then a yacht the next day. At the end of the weekend, they said to Dad, there's a blind championships in Limington next weekend. We'd love Lucy to come along and race with us. Dad's words were, she's only just done this once. How should she go to that? and they said it'll be a really good experience for her. I'd never travelled alone, I was young. People travel more these days now than I did as a youngster then but through

First Sailing Championship

[19:39] friends and family went up to Limington and I competed at that championships. We had a bit of bad luck, our boat broke quite badly but I really enjoyed meeting the people. So I'd gone from Worcester College being with children with visual impairment and learning together to then be surrounded by adults with visual impairment and be truly inspired that actually I could become a lawyer I could become a.

[20:06] Physiotherapist you know the the world was my oyster as long as I put the effort in and this is something that I always did from that weekend sailing became my passion I was off training every weekend and I look back now and every weekend I'd cry because they'd try to get me to go on the bus at first of all back to Southend from Southampton then I started to learn the train but I always found traveling an overwhelming situation but now I look back and I travel with ease the support network that is now there for you to travel opens up so many doors but we have to be patient with those people. Sometimes I watch people getting assistance and frustration rains because we want to be able to get that next train that's in five minutes, but they can't always do that. You know, they can't rush us down a staircase for their, you know, it's their job at the end of the day. So I always respect the people that support and help me.

[21:05] God, did I say that sailing would get me an MBE and eight world titles? It's possibly nine, my mate just said to me the other day. So maybe counting those medals and looking back is a thing. So I started sailing, went to America, won my first bronze medal. And it was truly an eye-opening situation. Being out on the water, using all those senses, teamwork, communication, everything that someone with a vision impairment needs to be able to live an everyday life that bit of support that bit of communication painting the picture that description that's what sailing gave to me I then took that into a work like working life and got a job with HMRC.

Transition to Working Life

[21:53] Boy there's some battles when you go to work there are battles about your IT your equipment but I still used the same ethos I battled at school used my sport now I battled at work and I still use my sport as my outlet but now I was older I saw the working day paying for all the activities that I wanted to do and be involved with so I then took on the charity running the charity I decided that they only used to train three times a year and I couldn't find any other a blind organisation sailing. There was none. So I very quickly started to think, right, we can build this. We can get centres trained. We can do this. So now today we train 10 to 11 times a year. We now do six weekends that are three-day weekends. Then I took it to the next level. I decided that I wanted to keep retaining the World Cup. And I didn't want to just send three teams. I wanted to send six teams out to every world championship. So I built the charity up, built it as to what it is today.

[23:00] It's a celebration of its own success and the sailors behind it but at work I still put the ethos in and try and explain to people if you can communicate to me you know help me paint the picture I can support you we've all got skill sets that we can pull upon so with my sailing I've got to go all over the world and meet the most amazing people every world championships we go to I've got to do the haka I've got to meet um the princesses of Japan and spend the day with them and take them sailing I've took celebrities sailing I work for large corporate companies taking them sailing and the message that I always do when I send home when I send them home at the end of the day after a day on the water or even an hour on the water that little bit of communication to anybody in anyone's daily life even when you're walking down the street saying hello to anyone it can change someone's day it can make someone feel better about themselves they might be having a down day today technology it either helps us or it hinders us that age old thing that i did the other day i went to get a train ticket and it was a large screen new large screen massive large screen. Really good, I thought, oh, this will have a bit of excessive technology. It had a button for the disabled person to press and it moved it down to the bottom of the screen.

Technology and Accessibility

[24:25] And I was like, oh, that's really good for my friends in a wheelchair, which I've got lots of. Not very good to me. I could not find a plug socket or a way to make it speak to me. And the man said, oh, I don't think it has. You've got to go to the help point on Platform 9. And I said, well, where's Platform 9? He went, oh, you've got to down through there, back through there, back through there. Because I was at King's Cross. And I was just like, well, that's really good, isn't it? But he was a lovely man and he helped me. He helped me anyway. And I just thought life in technology is always changing and do I keep up with it? I love my scanner on my phone but again I come back to this feeling free on the water and sailing. How do I sail? What did that give me? So got five senses.

Sailing as a Metaphor

[25:10] So the four senses, feeling the wind on my face, feeling the boat underneath me. I can feel it go fast. I can feel it go flat.

[25:20] I can feel to my team. I can race with my mates that are fully sighted. We race at championships. We put the kite up. We put the kite down, which is a big sail at the front, massive, powerful kite. They're quite happy for me to be on the helm. And I feel secure and comfortable that we're racing a lot of money at high speed in close quarters within inches. But I know they're always going to be talking to me. And I know they know that I know my job well and what I need to do without panicking.

[25:50] So all of these things in sailing, we were racing as a team, two sighted, two VIs. All of a sudden they changed it. They took away the sighted guys for one of our world championships. And I was like, oh my God, that's like taking my blanket away, my security blanket. And they created blind match racing, which was done with acoustic sound. It was like lorries parking on you continuously. Beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep. And if you want to look at it, there's a fantastic YouTube channel video called Match Racing Explained. Blind Match Racing Explained. And it's a video done with us with a lady called Liz Bayliss.

[26:31] And it will show you just exactly how noisy it can be. I then had to become the communicator and I had to realize how good is my communication I'm always banging on about people painting the picture to me people helping my people am I going to be able to do this because you had to have a blind tell, so I then become the sighted guy doing all the sarts doing all the tactics, oh my god when I first started we had Sky TV following us out in Italy so I decided the best approach for me much my coaches disgust was in match racing you have to start through a box enter the line and then it's like um three and a half minutes till the start and you're supposed to sort of like score points against the other boat which is making a sound I decided I was a pretty good sailor if I went off hit in the corner come back at speed started went around the race course they'd never find me that was my approach on day three I'd had clean sweeps but the thing was I wasn't creating a story I was just creating a thing I used to finish a lap and a half ahead of them sorry a lap ahead of them and they everyone was getting annoyed and they said oh in match racing you've got to be ferocious a tiger you've got to compete and I said why I'm winning.

[27:50] That's the job I came here to do came here to win the first match racing world title and they were like but it's not in the spirit of the game and I was like okay so I had to work hard to become aggressive on the start line and win points and win penalty points. I still go back that I can win a race by speed. I suddenly learned how much we rely as a visually impaired person on that picture being painted to know where we are, what we're doing day to day. So sailing is just a massive outlet for me and has helped me gain confidence at work and keep going.

CrossFit Challenges

[28:24] If you've never tried sailing, I truly recommend it. We've started a project with the RYA Sailability called Sea Sailing Your Way. And there's lots of free initiatives and cost reduced initiatives for six to ten weeks taster sailing sessions to get qualified up and down the UK that just kicked off and there's still spaces. So if you're looking to try it, I highly recommend our Sea Sailing Your Way. And I hope that there's a centre near you. But if there's not a centre near you, then we'll find one. But I challenged myself Each and every day I choose what I wanted to do So I decided when I wanted to sell I wanted to become fitter and stronger.

[29:08] So I started going to the gym. The gym was, I don't know whether you guys have tried it. You can now get passports. I fought for years when I was younger to take my friend with me that didn't want to go to the gym. I just needed them to tell me what I was doing and where I was going. Trying to get a partner, they were like, no, they've got a full membership. Oh, then what about insurance? If they, oh God. And, you know, everyone leaving the weights everywhere. And, you know, and I was like, oh, blinking out, this is a battle. But I found CrossFit. A CrossFit gym opened up next to our company.

[29:41] We run a martial arts company and I love teaching kids on a daily basis. 

[29:46] It took me three attempts to get into that CrossFit gym. 

[29:49] At first he gave me a leaflet that I couldn't read. I had to scan in. He didn't even offer me a website and I thought is he turning me away because I've already said I'm visually impaired so I went back the next time he wasn't there someone else was there the same thing a leaflet so then I went back and I thought no do you know what CrossFit is supposed to be a place where you feel safe it's supposed to be for everyone so we went in I went in again and he said oh I've got a beginner's course coming up it's three sessions and I said look I'm really honest in life if it doesn't work for you and it doesn't work for me and it doesn't work for your customers one of those parties but I'm not I won't come back you know I'm not bothered I said it's got to be equal it's got to work for everyone everyone's got to feel comfortable and he was like fair enough so I went for my first lesson so I wasn't going for any disabled so I'd been I'd been swimming for ages but that was from a youngster and they learned with me sailing was for the blind I did disabled sailing at school they bought marble balls and stuff like that you know they the school really did find out what they could do once once they once they could research things and dad had made things this was a whole new ball game the owner adam slightly cruel didn't tell his now wife joe that i was registered blind um he decided that if she could cope and i could cope that.

[31:19] Was the test and i thought fair enough fair play it didn't overwhelm her she was quite happy. The thing that overwhelmed me was doing box step-ups, finding the box, finding equipment. But she ensured I had my own little lane and I always knew what I was doing.

[31:36] I went back for three sessions. We chatted, we chatted. I tried a class, a whole class. We chatted to the class and they were like, no, this gym is supposed to be for everyone. CrossFit is, it's supposed to be inclusive then CrossFit started to release their adaptive stuff and they are I would say now leading the way in in what is adaptive and what is a fit disabled person so, They allowed me to come in as a member. Not only did they let me become a member, he gave me a big discount because he then said, I've just read about you more. And he said, I should have read about you more and your achievements. And he said, if I could advertise that you're now Lucy Hodges, MBE, competing at my gym with me, he said, that'd be great. I'd love to tell the story. So I said, yeah, sure, we can do it. Our relationship grew, my relationship in the gym grew. But what became apparent, that only one other person in the gym had ever come across someone with visual impairment, never touched their lives before. So they were learning.

New Experiences in CrossFit

[32:42] So we were doing a competition and I felt so nervous going away with them for the night. They weren't my support network, only in the gym for an hour.

[32:53] They weren't my friends that have grown up with me. Used to me, if I make a mistake or they could spot a mistake or they could guide me. So we got in the car they are lovely they are my now today I trust them but back then we got out the car and it was dark and they was all hungry and they all ran off to the restaurant they left me in the middle of the car park and I was like bugger I don't even know where they've gone I don't even know what car park we stopped in not no clue so all of a sudden I was thinking I'll ring them and it was really funny we look back on this now and we laugh our heads off so Simon suddenly realised that he'd left me and I wouldn't have a clue where he'd gone and he rung back and he was like I'm so sorry so sorry but all the things they had to learn to help me because they'd never come across it they now look back and say do you know what it's touched their lives and helped them realise you know how lucky they are to have sight and how they should look after it and it was interesting so many of them never ever got their eyes checked now we all have a check-in as everyone had their uni checks because they all quite a lot of them are self-employed And it's still important even if you don't work on computers because our phones and our tablets are now our everyday use.

[34:05] So CrossFit. Sailing I found easy. CrossFit. So with my site, I've struggled with balance, coordination, and I always worked on it, but I always knew it was a bit of a downfall. I can honestly say now starting in a CrossFit gym and the functional fitness that it provides, my balance, my strength, my coordination has improved tenfold. Adam then found we can compete at this at world level so they started to do the adaptive Willward Games it's American base but because of online we started online it was amazing my first event I come second in the world and be competing against all these people jumping on boxes climbing ropes doing gymnastics lifting weights things I never thought were achievable before I always find jumping in a boat very natural to me and everyone around me will always say you know Lucy doesn't know how she does it but she jumps in no matter what conditions I'm comfortable and I can make my team feel comfortable CrossFit I have to work harder it's the first thing I have to go back to my ethos at school it might not work first time but I'll find a way we very quickly found that my sensation if I might touch things with my hands and then touch a new texture my brain would go oh, what's that? And I might not perform the same movement in the same way. So we've learned lots of different things along our journey.

[35:33] So I came second in the world, absolutely loved it. I did find out CrossFit paid a lot of money and sailing never did. So I had a fantastic holiday off the back of competing and I needed it. I did need it. So then decided that I was going to compete a little bit longer. I found it a little bit too late in life and the competitions have only just opened up around the world so I'm slightly too old now but I will give it my go for the next two years, so then last year we had an amazing achievement this was the first time that CrossFit was going to hold an in-person world championships and you're competing for the fittest person on earth title.

[36:12] You have to be fit you have to be prepared to put your body on the line now this is something in sailing as I said sailing I find natural and everyone gets annoyed with me they're looking for the day that I retire but I always say to them if I retire I still want you to get better I still what I want that person to jump on the water and beat me I can hold a lane off the start line and squeeze everybody out in sailing in CrossFit I have to work hard so we were lucky enough to come in the top 10 and win our place out to America. And I was really, really lucky to be sponsored by Ocean Holidays and Ocean Florida Holidays. A company that if you're looking to go to America, I highly recommend. They provide, from the moment you decide you want to go somewhere, accessibility support. They help you with your journey through the airport, the flight, the hotel, help booking your travel in and around that area, any activities you want to do. And they look to build all of the hotels and find out what's accessible. So part of my journey was creating content for them about accessibility as a visually impaired person. They'd focused more, or not focused more, that's what their clientele was, autism, disabled and wheelchair-bound people.

[37:32] So we were all excited. This was going to be an interesting challenge for me. So with my site, it comes and goes. So through stress and tiredness, it can go and then it will come back again. And I'd learned a lot about that when I was a youngster. But I decided this new path was a challenge to me. Was I going to meet it? We were off to America. We had the money. We was all both paid. We had the hotel. We'd done the fitness. We knew we had it. They then released that we were going to be blindfolded for four events.

Competing Blindfolded

[38:07] We had two weeks to practice being blindfolded and Adam communicating to me. 

[38:12] And it's lovely. Ad is known, not for his big being cuddly and touchy. So he had to learn how to guide me. And it, you know, it was things he had to overcome in himself. But we already had a good bond. And it was like, oh, my God, they want me to rope climb totally blind with a blindfold on. They want me to go right up there and right back down. And the daunting look on Adam's face, right, I've got to communicate good here. She's going up high. She's coming down low. She's jumping on a bar. She's jumping off things. She's throwing things. But we had fantastic fun and we set the gym challenges. This was where we decided to open it up. We set gym challenges. So we suddenly realized that actually me being blindfolded took away all the different changes that I went through. So with my sight, if I started a workout, I'd lose a bit, then I'd gain sight back again. As I got tighter, it would fatigue more. But being blindfolded, I sort of relaxed into things, listened to him. And it was exactly like sailing. I was feeling what was around me. I wasn't trying to use my sight because with sailing, I can't see the boys. I can't determine that. So I turned CrossFit back into sailing, feeling, listening, and using all of the four senses. because the one sense that I tried to use a little bit but we suddenly realised I didn't really need to use I was happy, we were off.

[39:35] What I didn't expect. With sailing, I'm world known. I can walk anywhere and be known in a yacht club. It's lovely. I love it. I will go to a world championships. I'll open a world championships. I'm known. CrossFit, I'm an unknown. Even though you've got second in the world, it's the biggest platform. 16 categories of disabilities. It's big. It's huge. They have massive sponsors. They have TV cameras. They have DJs.

World Championship Experience

[40:01] So the first day was outside, which took the pressure off us there was it wasn't as loud it wasn't as noisy but it was 44 45 degrees of heat it was hot we had a fantastic first day and we were sitting in joint joint joint first at the start and then we slipped to second we did not expect it we'd gone out there at my age to hit six or seven for a world championships next day we were back in the arena inside you have all the sponsored kit on you really restricted by your contract what you have to wear so everyone looks the same oh my god well just as I'd swum you walk out and they say your name and you stand behind your blocks this was a whole new level you walked out you stood by your name and you had the cameras in front of you, you had the crowd. But what dawned on me that very first day, I had hundreds of people watching me through YouTube live on telly. Because when sailing back in the day was filmed, it was just literally an interview after and a bit of you sailing. They didn't have the top technology now they did to put the drones up.

[41:15] Oh my god, the feeling, the overwhelming. I did my first workout in tears. It was a shock. This was a dream come true, like winning my first world title for sailing back in Japan. We competed hard, we stayed in second and third all week long, two workouts a day, putting my body through sheer torture. Not just me, Adam beside me every step of the way, just like my sailing crew. The last event came we knew it wasn't going to be my event the last bit of it and that was the make or break I couldn't finish any worse off than four but there was a lot of money at stake, I had to get 10 Chester bars to be back in the top three so I went in in second.

[42:02] Oh my god did I try I tried for a long time to finish those 10 Chester bars but back at home we knew it was something it was still we were working on because sometimes technique when you're visually impaired and someone describing it and feeling someone's body you don't always grasp it it can take a little while to go but we finished fourth we were over the moon that was higher place than we thought we were over the moon a couple of points off a third just two more chest above and that would have been it I'd have been on the podium, but truly found faithful of the journey that I chose to take it was tough it was challenging But in that moment in life, I'd also decided to do two other

Balancing Multiple Competitions

[42:40] competitions back to back. So I went to the CrossFit World Games. But before that, I went out to France and competed for my country at Match Racing and did the Blind Match Racing World Championships. And then I chose to do the Mixed, Disabled, Adaptive, Inclusive World Championships as I flew back. I crashed and burned after that.

[43:01] My pathways I'd chosen, the routes I'd taken, they were positive. They were what I wanted to do. but doing three world championships back to back truly put my body under pressure. I crashed and burned but my company Inspiration In You which is about inspiring people, guest speaking, holding group sessions, I decided I'd been doing that a little bit too just here and there. I opened up my own gym in our company. The spare space that we never used became my gym. It's all got signage, I bought equipment and I spent those couple of weeks where I just needed to be by myself, not talking, not communicating, just chilling out, opening up my gym. And what I'll say to you, if you've got goals or aspirations, they don't have to be like me. Probably always setting the sights a bit too high. I probably, you know, try and always be at that world level in the top 10 in whatever I do. It's always been me, always has been in sports.

[43:57] I try it at work, but I really struggle at work. The technology just isn't there for me as a person. We're at the job that I do. Really struggle. And maybe the people around me providing that helps me struggle. But opening up my little company, I've got people coming through the door now that are inspired by my story, which always shocks me.

Inspiring Others Through Challenges

[44:17] I've got teenagers that are no longer going to school, but they'll come and see me. I've got people that don't speak anymore, 17-year-olds that have decided to go mute through stress they come and see me and through the different activities that we do that I've learned through CrossFit that I've learned through sailing creating games we're now working together for them to choose a better pathway not to become mute not to shut the door and I'm trying now to inspire everyone that I touch to open a door be it a door they've already opened but don't continuously open it they'll just say oh not this week but I'll go next week to create that pattern of going every week or to open a door that they've decided well that was going to be too hard for me I won't take that door just yet open it see what it brings turn that corner go down it you might not succeed the first time but I guarantee you you will be happy you've tried and you'll go back you'll look it and you'll try again and I guarantee you're a succeed in your own way.

[45:20] I hope I've helped you go out that door and I hope you've enjoyed my talk today. We do hope you enjoyed this episode. If you'd like to join us for our live recording of our podcast, you can do so via Zoom.

[45:36] Talks take place on the second Thursday of the month at 10am London time. The Zoom ID is 458-043-7872. That's 458-043-7872. 

Live Well is a series of talks aimed at helping people make the most of life with sight loss. Live Well is a collaborative project between six local independent sight societies. Sight Advice South South Lakes, Cumbria. My Sight Nott's, Nottingham. Sight Airedale, the Airedale area of North and West Yorkshire. Support for Sight Mid and West Essex Sutton Vision, the London Borough of Sutton And Outlookers, Huddersfield, West Yorkshire.

[46:42] Music. 

Podcasts we love

Check out these other fine podcasts recommended by us, not an algorithm.

My Macular and Me Artwork

My Macular and Me

Macular Society