Footloose Sailing Association

Launched in 1991, Footloose Sailing Association (Footloose) is the Northwest’s premiere Sailing program for people of all disabilities, their friends, family, and caregivers. Footloose is dedicated to bringing independence on the water and competence in the sport of sailing to the physically and mentally disabled. Footloose is run entirely by volunteers and funded by memberships and donations.

Footloose operates a fleet of sailboats out of Leschi Marina on the west side of Lake Washington, in Seattle. We sail every second Saturday from May through September. Our Catalina 22 and Harbor 20 allow our experienced skippers and able-bodies to take out groups of sailors (participants) who can take part in controlling the boats or go along for the ride. In our four Access dinghies the sailor sits beside the skipper and can control the boat depending on their desire and ability. Our two Martin 16 dinghies can be equipped with electronic controls that allow a quadriplegic to control the steering and sails. A hoyer lift allows us to transfer wheel-chair bound sailers out of their chair and into a boat, if necessary.