A PARALYSED man who discovered freedom on the water in Ringwood has received a boost to his quest for Paralympic glory thanks to new|backers.

Keith Harris, 36, has been disabled since he was six months old after he contracted a virulent strain of flu. He is now quadri-plegic and only able to reliably move his mouth and tongue, which he uses to sail solo via a tongue-operated joystick.

Mr Harris has been sailing on and off for the past 20 years but four years ago he discovered Sailability at the Spinnaker Sailing Club on Blashford Lakes, and “never looked back”.

Now he goes to the 2012 sailing waters at Weymouth & Portland National Sailing Academy “whenever the wind prevails” and has already been out several times this year in freezing conditions in his Skud-18 boat.

The hardy sailor’s campaign has now been boosted by Bob Elliott of Quality Time Training on Portland, who is providing free use of a safety boat for Harris’s coach Matt Grier, while Portland Marina bosses are donating the fuel.

Harris said: “Sailing is very expensive, especially when you get up to Paralympic level. It would have cost £100 a day to hire a boat so I was really happy when Bob said he had a boat I could use.

Mr Elliott said: “I met Keith at the Southampton Boat Show and was so impressed with his attitude that I offered him my safety boat to use.”

  • MORE than 200 young inspirational sailors will be competing for the trophy against each other in colourful Firefly dinghies at the Spinnaker club on April 6-8.