INSPIRE: Paralympic sailor and record-breaker Jamie Dunross on gold medals, solo sails and world records

When Jamie Dunross lost his ability to walk in a mining accident, he thought his sporting days were over, but sailing saved his life and earned him a place in the history books. The Walpole resident said he lived a normal life until he became a quadriplegic in a mining accident in 1988, but had lost his hope of being able to lead a normal life after the incident. That is, until an old friend convinced him to skipper a 36-foot yacht in a Cockburn Sound regatta five years later. This would mark what Mr Dunross called one of the big turning points in his post-accident life, and would become the start of a record-breaking sailing career. “Before that weekend I would go to bed and dream I was walking, so going to sleep was more reality than being awake,” Mr Dunross said. “After that regatta, for the first time in five years I was in a wheelchair when I dreamed.” He said being in control of a relatively large boat with eight crewmen all looking to him for guidance as their skipper changed the way he viewed his own abilities. “Sailing brought me back to life,” he said. “I realised, why torture myself and just sit at home when there’s something I can do? “I love it and other people who feel uncomfortable about me being around will just have to get used to it. “I look back at it and was just so obvious to me waking up that morning after dreaming I was in a wheelchair and and it was like this big weight being lifted off my shoulders. “My life hadn’t really changed, but psychologically something had changed. “There was suddenly a belief that I could do something that I didn’t think I could do.” After that first regatta, Mr Dunross said he was out on the water every spare moment, borrowing boats to compete in local races, and building his confidence and skill. After a few short years Mr Dunross found himself sponsored by Yachting Australia and flying around the world to compete in world title races, then turning his ambition to the Paralympic Games. The Sydney 2000 Paralympics were the first Games to include sailing as a medal sport, and Mr Dunross was selected for the three-man Sonar crew alongside former America’s Cup skipper Noel Robins and Graeme Martin. The trio sailed straight into the history books, beating the German team of Jens Kroger, Peter Muenster and Peter Reich to claim gold. “Getting up on that podium in Sydney, and my parents were there which was awesome, that was just next level, and it’s still very hard to put into words,” Mr Dunross said. All three team members were awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia for their contributions to sport in 2001 and were inducted into the Australian Sailing Hall of Fame in 2020. After retiring from competitive sailing, Mr Dunross set himself the goal to sail solo and unassisted around Australia. In 2010, the goal became reality, and after a stormy start to the journey that saw Mr Dunross make an emergency stop in Albany not long after his departure from Rockingham, he was on his way in the Spirit of Rockingham. “Every part of that sail tested me,” he said. “Even the stretches that I thought were going to be easy like going past North Queensland, it pushed me to my absolute limit.” The journey took Mr Dunross 57 days, arriving back in Rockingham on July 25 to break the record for a quadriplegic sailor circumnavigating Australia solo and unassisted. “I still can’t believe I did it,” he said. “I have all the photos from when I got back and all the memories of the journey, but it still feels impossible. “People say to me ‘you’re so brave’ and I think, not really, I was just told it couldn’t be done and I’m just that stubborn that when someone tells me there’s something I can’t do, I have to prove them wrong.” Mr Dunross will be in Albany on July 24 to speak at the Albany Maritime Festival’s Maritime Exploration Evening alongside fellow decorated sailor and disability advocate Robert Cridge, at Six Degrees from 7pm.