Mike Wood, MBE (born 3 November 1946) is an English sailor and Thomas Morley Trust founder from Redhill in Surrey, now based in South East Gosport. He is best known for building Verity K in 1996 the worlds first completely wheelchair accessible cruising yacht which was launched by the Princess Anne. The yacht provides sailing for 500 people per year. In 2000 Scott Bader the wheelchair accessible cruising catamaran was put into service providing another 1000 sailing places per year for disabled people.

In 1978 Mike Wood was severely injured in a road accident, where he damaged his spinal cord and was paralysed from the chest down and confined to a wheelchair.

He became National Archery champion in 1986, represented Great Britain in Shot, Discus, Javelin and Triathlon, winning many International Gold medals. Later he retired British Record holder of all events. Angling was next on his mind and the difficulties of getting to the water side got him involved in constructing Lakes with paths for disabled people and then sailing.

In 1989 he was introduced to cruising yachts, a weekend cruise in an unconverted yacht which changes his outlook on life forever. He decided to design and build a yacht that any disabled person could go on. It took two years to do the research and form a charity the Thomas Morley Trust and a further two years before Her Royal Highness, The Princess Royal honoured the charity by launching the first of the yachts. Then using all the experience gained over 6 years of providing real sailing for disabled people Thomas Morley Trust designed and built the amazing Ro-RoCat Spirit of Scott Bader.

Thomas Morley Trust also known as Disabled Sailors Association (DSA) is a registered charity number 1028993. It was set up in 1993 to provide ocean sailing for disabled people in its purpose designed and built cruising yachts and inland dinghy sailing in Martin 16 keel boats and WETA trimarans.

RoRo Sailing Project^[1]

Since 1995 RoRo has provided ocean sailing facilities for disabled people and is absolutely unique in the world, it raised the funds through Grant Making Trusts and designed and built two 11 meter completely wheelchair accessible ocean cruising yachts Spirit of Scott Bader and Verity K. Both yachts are based in Portsmouth and are available for disabled people to use.^[2]

Martin16 Sailing^[3]

Canadian designed and built dinghies are quite common in North America but were unknown in Europe until DSA started importing them. The Martin16 provides access to the inland waters for disabled and disadvantaged. They have been used for the British Paralympic team members to practice, and as a training boat for disabled engaged on ambitious long range sailing projects.^[4]

The WETA Trimaran^[5]

The WETA trimaran was launched in New Zealand market in 2007 and has rapidly expanded worldwide. The boat is lightweight, quick and easy to rig and packs up to be the size of a Laser for storage. The WETA trimaran class allows seats and alternative steering to be fitted and is ideally suited for sailing for mature, disabled or very young.^[6]

Wood 101 Dinghies

In 2011 Mike Wood has designed a range of Wood 101 dinghies for disabled and able-bodied people.

• [1]
• [2]
• [3]
• [4]
• [5]
• [6]