British sailor Lucy Hodges is a winner of multiple gold medals and Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) — she’s also blind, the BBC reported.
How does she do it? She said she uses all her other senses, and does it in magnificent fashion.
Although she was born with photophobia nystagmus — a condition affecting vision, she’s been sailing since she was 17 when her father presented her with her first sailboat, CNN reported.
And despite shifting winds competing with varying currents, she makes navigating her vessel from race buoy to race buoy look easy.
"When you drive a car you keep the wheel straight when you want to go straight" she told CNN, "but when you're driving a yacht there's lots of different elements that change the force."
And those changes can be perplexing to sighted sailors — not Lucy, who can neither clearly see the buoys (referred to as “marks” by competition sailors), nor even the coastline.
Sailing gives her both an outlet and freedom.
"They won't let me drive a car around the M25 by myself but they'll let me drive a boat by myself around a racetrack," she told the cable news giant.
"When you're on land everything is moving but when you're out on the boat, things are changing but it's changing with the wind and for natural reasons."
And to navigate her way around the course she relies on touch — the feel of the helm against the water flow — and sound.
"You find that people with visual impairment tend to take the natural senses that they use to compensate for not having sight. We naturally feel the breeze on our faces and we listen to how the boats are moving through the water and we feel the boat through our body."
And she thoroughly takes pleasure in the teamwork it takes to become a regatta champion.
"It's leaving your white stick and your dog on the shore and going out being part of a crew, being part of a team — you can literally compete alongside anyone."
Lucy was awarded an MBE in 2013 by Queen Elizabeth II for her services to blind sailing, the BBC reported at the time. She told CNN she wants to continue that work.
"It's what I want to do in life," she said. "It's my passion to take my life and spin it around and help those — especially who are just starting in school."
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