Our Access All Areas correspondent Zoe Maclean returns to the high seas for this week's column, with the charity Able2Sail....

A number of weeks ago, a friend told me about the charity Able2Sail which provides sailing opportunities for both people who are able bodied, or people who have a variety of disabilities.

The charity's vision is to to enable as many people as possible to experience the thrills, often peace and solace, new environments and challenges which sailing a cruising yacht can provide. Able2Sail are based at Inverkip marina.

At present Able2Sail has a fleet of two sailing yachts. Firstly, Able2Sail has a Bavaria 46 sailing yacht. More recently the Jenny Rose was donated to the charity in 2013. Jenny Rose is a Grand Banks 42 luxury motor yacht. Both vessels have all the equipment needed to assist disabled people and their families to enjoy sailing. Equipment available includes a portable hoist to assist people in getting on and off the boat and also an Aquaback chair which is a waterproof seat with straps on it to assist anyone with poor sitting balance.

On Sunday 13 August I was lucky enough to have a day sailing on the yacht ‘Able2Sail’ alongside my mum Barbara, my brother Graeme, and our friend Jean. We were taken out for the day by our crew members who made us all feel very welcome and in safe hands. From Inverkip marina we made our way up the Kyles of Bute and over to Rothesay. I really enjoyed the different viewpoint that I had that I had on board the boat. We were lucky enough to spot a porpoise at a distance in the water. In the afternoon we anchored boat at Rothesay and had soup and sandwiches on board the boat, lunch was very kindly provided.

We very soon realised that we had a ringside seat for the Rothesay raft race which was taking place that afternoon. The rafts had all been built and constructed by teams of local people. It was fantastic to see them as one by one they crossed the finish line.

Able2Sail is a charity which is 100% run and organised by volunteers. They rely on donations from companies who sponsor the work of the charity. All the volunteers are fully trained in moving and assisting disabled people in using equipment such as the hoist. All the volunteers are given full disability awareness training.

We would all like to say a huge thank you to everyone involved with Able2Sail for all their hard work and effort. A special thank you also goes to our crew members on the day Peter Laws (skipper), Stephen Miller, Neil Stuart and Neil Robertson for a fantastic day trip.

For more details, please visit http://www.able2sail.org.uk/

Photos by Al Carmichael.