Sailors and counselors call Sam Zangrilli, 15, an inspiration. But the modest teenager from Naples doesn’t look at it that way. He just loves sailing and figures out the best way to excel in his favorite sport.
“I enjoy the wind, and I enjoy the water. I really like everything about it,” Sam exclaimed.
Sometimes he holds the sail with his foot. Sometimes he hooks his upper arm around the tiller. That’s because Sam was born without a right hand and lower arm. He began sailing in the Collier County Parks and Recreation’s adaptive sailing program four years ago.
“I remember when he came in, and his mom said he would like to try it and didn’t know if he could do it. He ended up liking it and stayed for the whole summer,” explained sailing coach Philip Markoff.
Sam later became a junior leader volunteer counselor with the program. Next summer, when Sam is 16, he will be eligible to be a paid counselor. This past summer Sam taught children and teenagers during summer sailing camp. During the school year he is an instructor for the adaptive sailing program. He teaches students how to rig the boats. Then he sits on the front of an Opti or a Hobie and gives step-by-step instructions to newcomers, while occasionally jumping in to help a sailor having trouble.
“He’s a great kid and very inspirational,” said Pat Rosen, who runs the sailing program for Collier County. “There was a kid with special needs who would not go on the boat. We put him in with Sam, and then he always wanted to sail with Sam.”
This summer Sam continued to inspire young campers.
“This summer a dad brought his two children, ages 7 and 9, and they were afraid,” Rosen described. “The dad talked with them about Sam. He told them, ‘If he can do it, and he doesn’t have two hands, then you can do it.’”
Soon Sam was instructing those two children on how to sail. But Rosen said Sam teaches more than sailing.
“I like the able-bodied kids to learn about diversity, and I want them to become comfortable with every type of disability,” she said.
Young sailors also can be inspired by Sam’s academic success. He is a junior at Mason Classical Academy, as he skipped a grade when he was younger. He plans to study psychiatry in college.
For now he’s just enjoying his time on the water and is looking forward to a paid counselor job next year. Markoff also is looking forward to having Sam on the paid staff.
“He’s really a great teacher,” Markoff said. “I have a wide range of options for him. He can sail in the Opti, O’pen Bic, Hobies. He’s really a great kid. He is able to rig almost all our boats. He uses all different ways. He found what works best for him. We have yet to find something he can’t do. I knew he was capable, but I didn’t know what he was fully capable of. I was amazed that he could do so much. He can be an inspiration for so many.”
Sam has a fondness for the 420 sailboat, because it was the one he used when learning to sail. Now his favorite is the O’pen Bic, because it is more challenging. “It’s fun, and capsizing isn’t a worry,” he explained.
It’s not a worry for Sam who easily flipped the boat upright after capsizing on a recent summer afternoon. Yet there are some challenges, Sam admits. He has to look for creative ways to rig the sails and attach the rudders to the boats. He’s strengthened his legs and feet by running, and more recently by taking up fencing. That’s helped give him extra dexterity and strength for sailing.
“All the campers have the mainsheet in one hand and the tiller in the other,” he described. “I use my foot to hold on to the mainsheet. It shows even if you can’t do things the conventional way, there are others ways to do it.”
His biggest challenge isn’t the rigging or the sailing. It’s the simple act of zipping his life jacket.
“It is a bit more difficult because I can’t hold it in one hand and use the other,” he explained. “The zippers on the life jacket, I can do it, but it takes longer. That is probably the biggest challenge.”