Acce s s i bi l ity

Hope floats with new kayak

Cal Poly-designed kayak allows a quadriplegic man to glide about a mile in Morro Bay Harbor

By Nick Wilson

The last time San Luis Obispo resident Bryan Gingg paddled in the sea was 25 years ago.

But on Friday, the quadriplegic man who was paralyzed in a 1982 car accident maneuvered a kayak through the waters of Morro Bay Harbor on his own.

The kayak was designed and built by Cal Poly students and faculty with the help of a $10,780 grant awarded in 2003 by the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation.

Gingg, a 44-year-old Cal Poly graduate and San Luis Obispo County native, said it was “like Christmas” for him to get to spend about 30 minutes gliding through the water.

“It was wonderful,” Gingg said. “This is way more fun than the last time I did this.”

The kayak has a small electric motor and is operated through a plastic straw with electronic sensors. The kayaker sips or puffs on the straw, which sends signals to the kayak’s controls.

On Friday, Gingg was flanked by a team of Cal Poly students as he cruised through the waters near Tidelands Park.

After launching, he completed a right turn and went about a mile through the harbor.

But a sensor malfunction didn’t allow him to reverse course, and other kayakers towed him back to shore.

The designers will tinker with the sensor to make sure it’s functioning properly, said Lynne Slivovsky, a computer engineering instructor who has worked on the mechanism.

But the event’s overall success was exciting for the faculty and more than 40 students who have worked on the project during the past five years, said Kevin Taylor, a kinesiology professor and faculty adviser.

Taylor said he’d heard about a similar design of a Canadian sailboat for quadriplegics that used a straw with sensors and decided to pursue the idea when a former Cal Poly student named Dan Littlefield said he wanted a challenging senior project.

Taylor and Littlefield cowrote the grant application to the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation, and the project was born, Taylor said.

Cal Poly’s student project manager Zachary Thurow said the kayak would allow people with disabilities to gain a certain level of independence.

“It’s inspiring and empowering,” Thurow said. “It helps them to use their ability to the fullest.”

Cal Poly project coordinators say they hope a kayak manufacturer would use their prototype to mass produce them.

The high-tech kayak also includes a joystick feature for those with movement in their arms.

The Cal Poly craft will be used as part of the university’s Adapted Paddling Program, which helps people with disabilities participate in aquatic recreation.