Chesapeake Region Accessible Boating (CRAB), which provides therapeutic sailing to people with disabilities will officially open its Annapolis Adaptive Boating Center on May 2. The effort was led by Paul Bollinger, president and chief executive officer, who proposed a sailing center in 2016 and raised the funds for the facility mainly through donations.
The focal point of the sailing center is the Arthur and Patricia Edwards Family Marina which boasts two floating docks, a 140-foot main dock and two electric Hoyer lifts to help disabled guests into boats.
The center uses Beneteau First 22A boats that have been equipped for people with disabilities.. The sailing center is at 7040 Bembe Beach Road, once home to the Port Williams Marina.
There were many roadblocks on the way to building the adaptive sailing center. “We constantly had to come up with a new strategy, a new angle or a new way of accomplishing this task,” Bollinger said. “We just never accepted no for an answer.”
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