My family and I have always been outdoorsy-types, with my young childhood filled with walks and adventures of many kinds. I loved it, we all did. I adored being outside, and one of my favourite games when I was a kid was to race anything and anyone. As my family and I have grown, though, that’s changed somewhat.

My Mum ended up in a wheelchair, after years of health problems that began when she had a very large blood clot burst through her heart, and explode into many little blood clots in her lungs. She struggles to breathe, and loses energy quickly, which tends to slow her down. My sister (Cerys), has Crohn’s Disease, and tends to struggle with pain, fatigue, and is still healing from a major operation she had in February (2023).

As a result, we aren’t as active as we used to be. Plus, Mum being in a wheelchair brings in the added challenge of accessibility. Believe it or not, most outdoor areas (or at least the ones Mum is interested in), aren’t catered to people in wheelchairs. Which kinda sucks.

That all being said, we are still outdoor people. For the past few years, (especially during COVID isolation, which we did for about two years), not doing what we love has made us stir-crazy. We desperately needed to find an accessible way to get us outdoors.

Then, as if by magic (sarcasm; it wasn’t magic), we found a local charity called SEAS Sailability, whose entire purpose is to get disabled people, and their carers, friends, and family, out on the water. There is a variety of activities to choose from, and most were given a go. Only Mum and Cerys went the first time, and they went on a wheelie boat, a Canadian canoe, and Cerys went kayaking. Then they decided they wanted to go and give sailing a try.

Only to instantly fall in love with it. I’m not kidding, they came home that night, already having decided on buying a boat. I’m not the biggest fan of water, so we compromised, and they bought a boat.

Cut to several months of searching later: enter Firefly. She’s a Cobra 750, and when she was bought, she was in a pretty rough condition. She floated, which we were thrilled about, but all of her insides were stripped bare, and she had an obvious issue with her rudder (it didn’t work). We loved her, right from the second her name was uttered (Firefly is a brilliant show).

That is where that background sort of ends. It was decided that we were going to have to rebuild her, so why not document it all while we do it? Sure, it’d add the extra work of recording and editing, but as a family with our skill set, why shouldn’t we try and give it a go? Which is where ‘Baileys ‘Int Wild’ was born.

The aim of the channel is to document our return to the outdoors, as a family that deals with many issues. After Firefly is rebuilt, we have the full intention of sailing her to as many places as we dare, documenting every step of the way. We’re really excited about it, and I’m hoping that others are too. We have a small community there now, and it is incredible to see it grow.

Plus, I think I can speak for all three of us when I say how amazing it is to be outside again. Firefly has been the one to give my family a bit of hope.

Jacob

#autismisasuperpower