SARASOTA – It was a windy Sunday morning as Linda & James Mumford prepared to take to the water in the Sarasota Invitational at Nathan Benderson Park.
The couple suffers from retinitis pigmentosa an eye disease that rendered the couple blind. That however didn’t stop them from continuing their passion of rowing.
“Once you get rid of all the butterflies and the nerves of getting started, the big set up and the heavy wind, you forget about all that and just go,” said James.
With their Coach Bob Berry by their side, the Mumford’s competed against able-body athletes something Berry says takes guts.
“There’s a lot of things people don’t realize with them being blind, they don’t know if they’re neck to neck to someone in the lane, do they need to add more pressure they don’t know that,” said Berry. “They don’t know where they are.”
Though they faced a few setbacks at the beginning of the race, the Mumford’s finished strong with Berry following close behind steering them through a remote coxswain he invented, allowing him to steer. The coxswain moves side to side to steers the Mumford’s in the right direction, while Berry, from feet away, steers the boat just like you’d steer a remote controlled car.
“Our disadvantage is we never have any idea where we are in the race,” said Linda. “We can’t put on speed if we think we’re getting behind or slow down a little bit if we’re way ahead so we’re basically rowing against ourselves I guess you’d say.”
Though it wasn’t the outcome that they had hoped for James & Linda are simply ready for their next race.
“It only gets better, that’s the way I look at it,” said James.