David Noel Robins,

OAM OAM may refer to: *Oamaru Aerodrome, New Zealand * Object access method *Observatorio Astronómico de Mallorca, an observatory in Spain *U.S. Office of Alternative Medicine, whose duties have been taken over by the National Center for Complementary ...

(3 September 1935 – 22 May 2003) was an Australian sailor. He began sailing as a child, and became partially quadriplegic after receiving a spinal fracture from a car crash at the age of 21. He was the skipper of '' Australia'' in the

1977 America's Cup The 1977 America's Cup was held in September 1977 at Newport, Rhode Island. The US defender, '' Courageous'', skippered by Ted Turner, defeated the Australian challenger, ''Australia'', skippered by Noel Robins, in a four-race sweep. ''Courageous ...

, won the 1981 Admiral's Cup, and won a gold medal in sailing at the

2000 Sydney Paralympics The 2000 Summer Paralympic Games or the XI Summer Paralympics were held in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, between 18 and 29 October. The Sydney Paralympics was last time that the Summer Paralympics which were organized by two different ...

. He died on 22 May 2003, four weeks after being struck by a car.

Personal

Robins was born in

Perth Perth is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the Australian states and territories of Australia, state of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth most populous city in Aust ...

on 3 September 1935. He began sailing at the age of eleven. He graduated from Claremont Teachers College in 1955. At the age of 21, he was a passenger in a car crash on Mounts Bay Road, which left him with a broken neck and a fractured spine; as a result, he became a "walking quadriplegic", with reduced mobility and strength in all four limbs. He was married and had three children, two daughters and a son. He was known by his fellow sailors as "Stumbles".

Career

231000 - Sailing sonar Jamie Dunross Noel Robins Graeme Martin action 5 - 3b - 2000 Sydney race photo

231000 - Sailing Jamie Dunross Noel Robins Graeme Martin portrait - 3b - 2000 Sydney candid photo

Robins's first national sailing competition was the 14 ft Championship in 1958, and his first international competition was the Sydney Sailing World Championships in 1973. He won an international

Soling The Soling is an open keelboat that holds the World Sailing " International class" status. The class was used from the 1972 Olympics (Kiel) until the 2000 Olympics (Sydney) as " Open Three Person Keelboat". Besides the Olympic career of the So ...

Class, was selected by Alan Bond to be the skipper of '' Australia'', the Australian challenger at the

, and was part of its crew at the

1980 America's Cup The 1980 America's Cup was held in September 1980 at Newport, Rhode Island. The US defender, ''Freedom'', skippered by Dennis Conner, defeated the Australian challenger, ''Australia'', skippered by James Hardy, four races to one. This was the la ...

. In 1981 he skippered ''Hitchhiker II'', which won that year's Admiral's Cup in

Cowes Cowes () is an English seaport town and civil parish on the Isle of Wight. Cowes is located on the west bank of the estuary of the River Medina, facing the smaller town of East Cowes on the east bank. The two towns are linked by the Cowes ...

and the Two Ton World Championship in Porto Cervo,

Sardinia Sardinia ( ; it, Sardegna, label= Italian, Corsican and Tabarchino ; sc, Sardigna , sdc, Sardhigna; french: Sardaigne; sdn, Saldigna; ca, Sardenya, label= Algherese and Catalan) is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, af ...

. For the 1987 America's Cup, he was the executive director of the America's Cup Defence Committee of the Royal Perth Yacht Club. He worked in

real estate Real estate is property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this (also) an item of real property, (more genera ...

, was a commissioner of the Western Australian Waters and Rivers Commission, and was a board member of the Western Australian ParaQuad Association. He was also a member of the

Australian National Maritime Museum The Australian National Maritime Museum (ANMM) is a federally operated maritime museum in Darling Harbour, Sydney. After considering the idea of establishing a maritime museum, the federal government announced that a national maritime museum wou ...

's governing council from 1998, an executive director of the Duyfken 1606 Replica Foundation, and a long-time member and deputy chair of the Swan River Trust. In 2000, he won the North American championship for disabled persons in St. Petersburg, Florida with Jamie Dunross and

Graeme Martin Graeme Martin, OAM is an Australian Paralympic sailor. Biography Martin was born on 11 March 1949 in Perth, Western Australia. Formerly a firefighter, his left leg was amputated after an accident that occurred while he was fighting a fire c ...

, in preparation for the

2000 Sydney Games The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 (Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from 1 ...

. At the games, he won a gold medal with Dunrose and Martin in the Mixed Three Person

Sonar Sonar (sound navigation and ranging or sonic navigation and ranging) is a technique that uses sound propagation (usually underwater, as in submarine navigation) to navigate, measure distances ( ranging), communicate with or detect objects on ...

event, and became the oldest Australian to win a medal at the Paralympics. He retired from international competition after the games, but continued to compete in state and national championships, becoming the champion in the 14 ft

dinghy A dinghy is a type of small boat, often carried or towed by a larger vessel for use as a tender. Utility dinghies are usually rowboats or have an outboard motor. Some are rigged for sailing but they differ from sailing dinghies, which ...

class and state and national champion in the Diamond and Soling classes.

Death

On 23 April 2003, Robins was struck by a car while crossing Mends Street in South Perth. He died on 22 May after being in a

coma A coma is a deep state of prolonged unconsciousness in which a person cannot be awakened, fails to respond normally to painful stimuli, light, or sound, lacks a normal wake-sleep cycle and does not initiate voluntary actions. Coma patients exhi ...

for four weeks.

Recognition

Robins received an

Australian Sports Medal The Australian Sports Medal is an award given to recognise achievements in Australian sport to commemorate Australian participation in major sporting events. Original recipients of the award included competitors, coaches, sports scientists, offi ...

in 2000 and a

Centenary Medal The Centenary Medal is an award which was created by the Australian Government in 2001. It was established to commemorate the centenary of the Federation of Australia The Federation of Australia was the process by which the six separate ...

in 2001. He received a Medal of the Order of Australia in 2001 for his Paralympic gold medal. In 2013, he was posthumously inducted into the America's Cup Hall of Fame. in 2020, Robins along with Jamie Dunross and

were inducted into the Australian Sailing Hall of Fame.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Robins, Noel 1935 births 2003 deaths 1977 America's Cup sailors 1980 America's Cup sailors 1987 America's Cup Australian Champions Soling Australian male sailors (sport) Medalists at the 2000 Summer Paralympics Paralympic gold medalists for Australia Paralympic medalists in sailing Paralympic sailors of Australia Pedestrian road incident deaths People with tetraplegia Recipients of the Australian Sports Medal Recipients of the Centenary Medal Recipients of the Medal of the Order of Australia Road incident deaths in Western Australia Sailors at the 2000 Summer Paralympics Sportspeople from Perth, Western Australia Western Australian Institute of Sport alumni Wheelchair category Paralympic competitors