Sparkle was a substantial

catamaran A Formula 16 beachable catamaran Powered catamaran passenger ferry at Salem, Massachusetts, United States A catamaran () (informally, a "cat") is a multi-hulled watercraft featuring two parallel hulls of equal size. It is a geometry-stab ...

Angus Primrose Angus Primrose (missing at sea, 1980) was a designer and naval architect, whose best known designs for around the world races included Sir Francis Chichester's ''Gypsy Moth IV'' (with John Illingworth) and Galway Blazer II (1969) of Commander ...

, the designer of Gipsy Moth IV, to be sailed by an able bodied skipper and crewed by people of limited physical ability and mobility. It was based partially at

Ravens Ait Raven's Ait is an ait (island) in the Thames between Surbiton, Kingston and Hampton Court Park in the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames, London, England, in the reach of the river above Teddington Lock. Used as a boating training centre ...

on the Thames at

Surbiton Surbiton is a suburban neighbourhood in South West London, within the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames (RBK). It is next to the River Thames, southwest of Charing Cross. Surbiton was in the historic county of Surrey and since 1965 it has ...

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

. It was designed to allow physically handicapped people the chance to sail a boat themselves It featured a large open

cockpit A cockpit or flight deck is the area, usually near the front of an aircraft or spacecraft, from which a Pilot in command, pilot controls the aircraft. The cockpit of an aircraft contains flight instruments on an instrument panel, and the ...

suitable for wheelchair access, with tether points for the crew to use. It was almost certainly the first purpose built sailing boat for disabled sailors to use. Sparkle was a major project in the 1970s of the SPARKS Charity.

External links

* Charities for disabled people Individual catamarans {{UK-charity-stub