Losing his eyesight couldn't stop Michael Leydon from racing with Sailability Batemans Bay

They may make out his experienced sailors hands, as they have for 60 years, tightening and loosening ropes to harness the full power of the wind shooting him across the water.

To an onlooker, Mr Leydon would appear like all the other boats navigating the course at a celebratory race meet recognising 25 years of Sailability Canberra.

What they wouldn't see, and what makes the feat remarkable, is that Mr Leydon is almost blind.

A cancer diagnosis left Mr Leydon with only 25 per cent vision in his right eye, while his left eye is stitched closed, non-functional. The left side of his face is paralysed by a cancer in his neck.

After four weeks of necessary yet exhausting radiation therapy, Mr Leydon is often too tired for anything but lying on a bed.

However sailing gives him an energetic revival.

"If you put Michael near boats, he becomes incredibly rejuvenated," Mr Leydon's wife Tish Ennis said.

"He might be saying he's exhausted and can't do anything, but if he was near a boat, he would be magically rejuvenated.

"It's a wonderful escapism."

Mr Leydon's passion has always been sailing, and so when his disability prevented him from racing the fast boats he loved, he was delighted to find Sailability had Hansa 303's - "The perfect boat for me," he said.

"They aren't dependent on how physically able you are.

"Sailing has the beauty that it can cater from anyone from zero to 100, and you just find a boat that suits your ability."

Sailability is a not-for-profit organisation helping people with a disability sail.

In the almost 17 years Mr Leydon has been involved in Sailability, he has competed in competitions all around the world including European, World, British and Australian Championships.

Now Mr Leydon doesn't zip around the marker buoy's as competitively as he used to.

"I'm more interested in just getting around the course than being competitive now," he said.

He is known to wander off course, not because he can't see where to go, but because he loves the thrilling convulsions of the boat underneath him as the sail fills with wind and shoots across the water as fast as possible.

"It's me against nature," he said.

"The competition is moving with nature, getting the most out of your boat and really feeling the freedom and flow of the boat."

Anyone is invited to give sailing a try with Batemans Bay Sailability's group sailing days on December 5 and 19 leaving from Moruya Public Wharf.

For more information visit sailabilitybatemansbay.com or contact the secretary Tish Ennis on email - contact@sailabilitybatemensbay.com