International legal practice Norton Rose is working in partnership with the Jubilee Sailing Trust to sponsor the tall ship Lord Nelson as she embarks on a two-year voyage, the Norton Rose Sail the World Challenge, taking crews of able-bodied and disabled sailors around the world. This has never been attempted before.

Over the next two years, Lord Nelson will sail four times across the Equator, covering 50,000 miles, seven continents and 30 countries. Lord Nelson is expected to arrive in Cape Town from Rio de Janeiro this weekend, at the end of the second transatlantic leg of this ground-breaking voyage.

Lord Nelson- built and operated by the Jubilee Sailing Trust - is one of only two tall ships in the world equipped to sail with a mixed crew of disabled and able-bodied sailors. At each stage of the Norton Rose Sail the World Challenge, Lord Nelson will pick up new crew and will run week-long in-country voyages and day sails.

Norton Rose supports a number of charitable organisations through its corporate responsibility and diversity programmes and is enabling people with physical disabilities to join the crew on different stages of this epic voyage. In South Africa, a member of the QuadPara Association of South Africa (QASA) network will join the crew to experience the life-changing opportunity of a seven-day coastal voyage, departing from Cape Town on 6 February.

Rob Otty, Managing director at Norton Rose in South Africa, commented:
"We are proud to support such a ground-breaking international project, which promotes integration, and we welcome the opportunity to raise awareness throughout Norton Rose and the communities in which we work. Through the adventure and challenge of tall-ship sailing, the Jubilee Sailing Trust is changing lives by allowing men and women of all physical abilities to sail side by side."

David Kapelus, senior litigation director at Norton Rose in SA participating in the seven day sail said:
"I'm expecting the voyage to be physically challenging and a test of my strength and abilities but I am looking forward to the exciting tasks and the opportunity to do something entirely different and way out of my comfort zone."

Kapelus is disabled and has used a wheelchair for the last 30 years after a diving accident when he was 18 years old. He will be joined by two able-bodied staff members from Norton Rose's South Africa offices.

Another South African equally delighted to take part in the seven-day sail is 56 year old Russell Vollmer who uses a wheelchair and is an active campaigner for access issues affecting people living with disabilities. Vollmer is a QASA network member sponsored by Norton Rose.

Lord Nelson will return to Cape Town to pick up new crew for a nine-day sail around the Cape of Good Hope and up the eastern coast of South Africa to Durban before going on to sail eight more ocean legs – across the Indian Ocean to the port of Kochi; from India to Singapore; down under to Australia and the Tall Ships Race to New Zealand; from the Bay of Islands to the Southern Pacific and around Cape Horn to Argentina; north again to Buenos Aires; then sweeping northward on the trade winds to Recife; from Brazil, via the Caribbean, to Halifax; across the North Atlantic to Iceland and then homeward to Southampton in late 2014.

Lord Nelson is a square-rigged three-masted 55-metre barque. She was built and is operated by the Jubilee Sailing Trust in Southampton and can accommodate an integrated crew of all physical abilities. Her equipment includes hoists to enable wheelchairs to be lifted up the rigging. She is regularly crewed by people with cerebral palsy, people who are blind and people who have suffered amputations and spinal injuries.

The Jubilee Sailing Trust is experienced in showing all crew members the full extent of what they are capable of on board the ship, requiring and enabling the crew to bond and work as an integrated team for the life of each voyage. Everyone on board plays a role in sailing the tall ship.

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