David Noel Robins, OAM (3 September 1935 – 22 May 2003) was an Australian sailor. He began sailing as a child, and became partially

quadriplegic Tetraplegia, also known as quadriplegia, is defined as the dysfunction or loss of motor and/or sensory function in the cervical area of the spinal cord. A loss of motor function can present as either weakness or paralysis leading to partial or t ...

after receiving a spinal fracture from a car crash at the age of 21. He was the skipper of ''

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

'' in the 1977 America's Cup, won the 1981

Admiral's Cup The Admiral's Cup was an international yachting regatta. For many years it was known as the unofficial world championship of offshore racing. The Admiral's Cup regatta was started in 1957 and was normally a biennial event (occurring in odd-numbe ...

, and won a gold medal in sailing at the 2000 Sydney Paralympics. He died on 22 May 2003, four weeks after being struck by a car.

Personal

Robins was born in

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

on 3 September 1935. He began sailing at the age of eleven. He graduated from

Claremont Teachers College Claremont Teachers College was Western Australia’s first post-secondary teaching institution. It opened in 1902 and closed in 1981, when it became a College of Advanced Education and later a campus of Edith Cowan University. The building is on ...

in 1955. At the age of 21, he was a passenger in a car crash on

Mounts Bay Road Mounts Bay Road is a major road in Perth, Western Australia, extending southwest from the central business district along the north bank of the Swan River, at the base of Kings Park. Route description Mounts Bay Road runs between William Str ...

, which left him with a broken neck and a fractured spine; as a result, he became a "walking

", with reduced mobility and strength in all four limbs. He was married and had three children, two daughters and a son. He was known by his fellow sailors as "Stumbles".

Career

231000 - Sailing sonar Jamie Dunross Noel Robins Graeme Martin action 5 - 3b - 2000 Sydney race photo

231000 - Sailing Jamie Dunross Noel Robins Graeme Martin portrait - 3b - 2000 Sydney candid photo

Robins's first national sailing competition was the 14 ft Championship in 1958, and his first international competition was the Sydney Sailing World Championships in 1973. He won an international

Soling The Soling is an open keelboat that holds the World Sailing "International class" status. The class was used from the 1972 Olympics (Kiel) until the 2000 Olympics (Sydney) as " Open Three Person Keelboat". Besides the Olympic career of the Soli ...

Class, was selected by

Alan Bond Alan Bond (22 April 1938 – 5 June 2015) was an English-born Australian businessman noted for his high-profile and often corrupt business dealings. These included his central role in the WA Inc scandals of the 1980s, and what was at the time ...

to be the skipper of ''

'', the Australian challenger at the 1977 America's Cup, and was part of its crew at the 1980 America's Cup. In 1981 he skippered ''Hitchhiker II'', which won that year's

Cowes Cowes () is an English seaport town and civil parish on the Isle of Wight. Cowes is located on the west bank of the estuary of the River Medina, facing the smaller town of East Cowes on the east bank. The two towns are linked by the Cowes Floa ...

and the Two Ton World Championship in

Porto Cervo Porto Cervo (; ) is an Italian seaside resort in northern Sardinia. It is a ''frazione'' of the ''comune'' of Arzachena, in the province of Sassari. Created by Prince Karim Aga Khan and various other investors, Porto Cervo is the main centre of Co ...

Sardinia Sardinia ( ; it, Sardegna, label=Italian, Corsican and Tabarchino ; sc, Sardigna , sdc, Sardhigna; french: Sardaigne; sdn, Saldigna; ca, Sardenya, label=Algherese and Catalan) is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after ...

. For the 1987 America's Cup, he was the executive director of the America's Cup Defence Committee of the

Royal Perth Yacht Club The Royal Perth Yacht Club (RPYC) is a yacht club in Perth, Western Australia. It is the third oldest yacht club in Australia after the Royal Yacht Club of Victoria and the Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron.

. He worked in

real estate Real estate is property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this (also) an item of real property, (more general ...

, was a commissioner of the Western Australian Waters and Rivers Commission, and was a board member of the Western Australian ParaQuad Association. He was also a member of the

Australian National Maritime Museum The Australian National Maritime Museum (ANMM) is a Australian government, federally operated maritime museum in Darling Harbour, Sydney. After considering the idea of establishing a maritime museum, the federal government announced that a nation ...

's governing council from 1998, an executive director of the

Duyfken ''Duyfken'' (; Little Dove), also in the form ''Duifje'' or spelled ''Duifken'' or ''Duijfken'', was a small ship built in the Dutch Republic. She was a fast, lightly armed ship probably intended for shallow water, small valuable cargoes, bri ...

1606 Replica Foundation, and a long-time member and deputy chair of the

Swan River Trust The Swan River Trust was a Western Australian state government statutory authority defined by the Swan and Canning Rivers Management Act 2006. The Trust reported to the Minister for Environment. It was preceded by the Swan River Management A ...

. In 2000, he won the North American championship for disabled persons in

St. Petersburg, Florida St. Petersburg is a city in Pinellas County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 258,308, making it the fifth-most populous city in Florida and the second-largest city in the Tampa Bay Area, after Tampa. It is the ...

with

Jamie Dunross Jamie Barry Dunross, OAM (born 28 August 1965) is an Australian sailor who won a gold medal at the 2000 Sydney Paralympics. Personal Dunross was born in Melbourne on 28 August 1965. A former miner, he became a quadriplegic after an explosio ...

and Graeme Martin, in preparation for the 2000 Sydney Games. At the games, he won a gold medal with Dunrose and Martin in the Mixed Three Person

Sonar Sonar (sound navigation and ranging or sonic navigation and ranging) is a technique that uses sound propagation (usually underwater, as in submarine navigation) to navigation, navigate, measure distances (ranging), communicate with or detect o ...

event, and became the oldest Australian to win a medal at the Paralympics. He retired from international competition after the games, but continued to compete in state and national championships, becoming the champion in the 14 ft

dinghy A dinghy is a type of small boat, often carried or towed by a larger vessel for use as a tender. Utility dinghies are usually rowboats or have an outboard motor. Some are rigged for sailing but they differ from sailing dinghies, which ...

class and state and national champion in the Diamond and Soling classes.

Death

On 23 April 2003, Robins was struck by a car while crossing Mends Street in South Perth. He died on 22 May after being in a

coma A coma is a deep state of prolonged unconsciousness in which a person cannot be awakened, fails to respond normally to painful stimuli, light, or sound, lacks a normal wake-sleep cycle and does not initiate voluntary actions. Coma patients exhi ...

for four weeks.

Recognition

Robins received an

Australian Sports Medal The Australian Sports Medal is an award given to recognise achievements in Australian sport to commemorate Australian participation in major sporting events. Original recipients of the award included competitors, coaches, sports scientists, offi ...

in 2000 and a

Centenary Medal The Centenary Medal is an award which was created by the Australian Government in 2001. It was established to commemorate the centenary of the Federation of Australia and to recognise "people who made a contribution to Australian society or go ...

in 2001. He received a

Medal of the Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, on the advice of the Australian Gove ...

in 2001 for his Paralympic gold medal. In 2013, he was posthumously inducted into the

America's Cup Hall of Fame The America's Cup Hall of Fame, located at the Herreshoff Marine Museum of Bristol, Rhode Island, USA, honors individuals for outstanding achievement in the America's Cup sailing competition. Candidates eligible for consideration include skippers, ...

. in 2020, Robins along with

and Graeme Martin were inducted into the Australian Sailing Hall of Fame.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Robins, Noel 1935 births 2003 deaths 1977 America's Cup sailors 1980 America's Cup sailors 1987 America's Cup Australian Champions Soling Australian male sailors (sport) Medalists at the 2000 Summer Paralympics Paralympic gold medalists for Australia Paralympic medalists in sailing Paralympic sailors of Australia Pedestrian road incident deaths People with tetraplegia Recipients of the Australian Sports Medal Recipients of the Centenary Medal Recipients of the Medal of the Order of Australia Road incident deaths in Western Australia Sailors at the 2000 Summer Paralympics Sportspeople from Perth, Western Australia Western Australian Institute of Sport alumni Wheelchair category Paralympic competitors