19:05.36N   58:18.77E

I am Katie Newitt, one of the crew members on Diablo and over the last 20 years I have gradually lost my sight due to Retinitis Pigmentosa. This is a  hereditary eye disease, which causes blindness in young people and although there is no  cure today, there is good genetic and stem cell research. This is a rare and life changing disease; in my case this started with night night blindness  and I was eventually diagnosed at 21 and given a prognosis that I would lose my sight in 5 to 10 years. My disease has slowly deteriorated and for the last 10 years I can only now see light and dark. 

I used to sail when I was younger and very much enjoyed Atlantic crossings working on sailing yachts in the Carribean and Mediterranean. Due to my sight loss I fairly quickly stopped working on boats and sailing in general when I finally couldn’t see the compass any more. 

In the past year I have restarted sailing and have taken the opportunity to do a big sailing trip from Dubai to Cyprus via the Red Sea Suez canal, a total distance of 3200nm. 

Today I helmed Diablo for several hours under our Genoa and Mainsail using the SARA app. This allows me to access the compass to steer to course. This was hugely enjoyable and to be able to do this again was fantastic. I have been practicing hard over the last year and it really came to fruition today. 

My message to others reading this is that what helped me was not giving up. I continuously find new ways to challenge myself and to keep on learning. Lots of avenues do close, but by pushing myself and focusing on learning I have been able to return to doing something I truly love. 

Please support Retina Uk by visiting my Just Giving page. Www..justgiving.com/katynewitt