ABSTRACT
Sailing is a popular activity worldwide, some people practice it as a sport others for pleasure and disabled people may often use it for their personal development. Unfortunately, conventional yachts are usually designed for the middle age male population, and are mostly of the times not even suitable for women, young and old people. This is the starting point of the present paper, based on the concept that all products and environments should be designed to consider the needs of the widest possible array of users. This is called Universal Design, which is a way of thinking about the design that considers human limitations not as a condition of few but as a common characteristic of all, since we all change physically and intellectually throughout our lives. If a design works well for people with severe limitations it is expected to work better for everyone. Therefore, the present work is focused on disabilities, which are considered to be the most severe type of human limitations, but the final result is expected to benefit a much wider population.
