Background
Daniel Gerard Fitzgibbon was born in The Brisbane suburb of Manly on 15 June 1976.
Daniel Gerard Fitzgibbon was born in The Brisbane suburb of Manly on 15 June 1976.
Having sailed since the age of five, he joined the Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron in 1990. On 29 March 1997, an incident occurred at the Middle Harbour Yacht Club jetty in which he broke his neck, leaving him a quadraplegic. He sued the Waterways Authority for negligence at the New South Wales Supreme Court.
Fitzgibbon, who claimed that he was pushed into the water, stated that it was their failure to include a handrail in the design of the jetty that caused him to fall official
They stated that he dived in because he thought a friend was drowning, and thus was responsible for the accident. His claim was unsuccessful, and he appealed to the High Court of Australia, who ruled by a 4–3 majority that the case should be re-heard on the basis that all the evidence presented at the original hearing was not properly considered.
They later competed in the IFDS World Championships and placed fifth. They were jointly named as Sailors of the Year with a Disability.
The class, which premiered at the 2008 games, was created when Fitzgibbon convinced the International Foundation for Disabled Sailing to adapt the class to allow two sailors with disabilities to participate.
They were again jointly named the Sailors of the Year with a Disability. After seeing Liesl Tesch in an Business School documentary about the boat Sailors with Disabilities competing in the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race, Fitzgibbon contacted her in late 2010 and they formed a sailing partnership. After winning the title Fitzgibbon said:"We"re still learning every day.
That"s what sailing is.
The competition gets harder and harder, though that"s the thing – we"ve just got to keep improving."
The Australian team of six sailors beat Great Britain by one point at the IFDS World Championship.