But as the principal designer at Hansa Sailing Systems, Mitchell's hard work and dedication to the field of sailing can be witnessed through the over 2800 Hansa made sailing boats on the water in 35 different countries.

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When Mitchell was younger he built a 25ft cruising yacht and set sail for South East Asia, where he called home base for the next twenty years.

It was here, that the groundbreaking designs Mitchell is responsible for, first came to fruition. While living in Singapore and Indonesia, Mitchell came up with the blueprints for a smaller sailing boat to bring to the Asian market.

"We designed our first boats as the perfect small sailboats to introduce to the Asian market."

A few years later Mitchell found himself moving back to Australia at the same time as Sailability was just starting in the country.

Sailability, which is an international program that first arose in Australia in the 1990s, is a sailing program that helps offer additional support to assist people of all abilities to help get started in the sport.

The fantastic organisation helps sailing enthusiasts to reach their full potential, no matter the situation, through the utilisation of a progressive pathway with incremental levels of achievement.

Chris and his wife Jackie started the NSW chapter of Sailability, which now sports 23 different locations throughout the state.

"Sailability used to operate down at Callala Bay when we first moved to the Shoalhaven, we said this is crazy, we can operate this on the river," Mitchell said.

"These are keel boats, they are not off-the-beach boats, so it didn't make sense to have them sailing where you have to navigate waves."

"So we thought, let's move this to Nowra and see what we can slowly put together."

Mitchell then opened up his factory in South Nowra where he was able to continue his work designing and developing his craft.

"We use the factory to design and develop new products, produce our unique components and assemble stock."

When Mitchell brought his smaller boats to the Australian market, it was realised that the universal design of the boats meant anyone could sail them including individuals with disabilities.

'Universal Design' was developed on seven principals by a large, multi-disciplinary team at North Carolina State University.

Mitchell describes on Hansa Sailing's website that paying close attention to these principals will ensure inclusive sailing programs are established that will allow everyone to participate, regardless of their age, ability, gender and financial status.

"Once we got going in Australia, it became obvious that disabled people could sail these boats and so things took off in that direction," he said.

"But so called disabled sailing is not really what we do."

Mitchell said the ultimate goal has always been to design boats that anyone would be able to sail.

"The best thing you can do for disabled people is to include them in mainstream programs, so we have always tried to promote sailing for everyone as the goal,"

He has always believed that sailing is a sport that has open doors for everyone.

"We don't care about the nature of your mind or body, if you want to go sailing, we'll find a way to get you out there," Mitchell said.

"You can be competitive, you can beat anyone in these boats, even if you're a quadriplegic."

Mitchell's vision for Sailability in the region has never been that of a standalone disabled sailing operation, with him saying that it should be a part of a sailing club.

"The club should run a disability service but also multiple workshops for primary school kids and weekend sailing," he said.

The weekend racing and community sailing would be another way for the team at Hansa to get their world class boats out on the water.

"The great thing about our boats, is that everyone in those primary school classes will be on an even playing field, no matter their abilities."

"A disabled child may come in one of those classes, but he/she will get in one of our boats and be just as competitive. We want it to be an environment where everyone can succeed."

The team at Hansa Sailing and Saliability currently work with a student from Vincentia High School who has Spina Bifida.

However, this hasn't stopped the young man as he's taken to the sport and Mitchell is excited to see how far he can take it.

"He's very competitive and he absolutely loves sport but of course he can't participate in most of them, but sailing he can," he said.

"The objective is to move him into a Liberty S (a larger Hansa model) because this boat is used in global competitions, and if he remains really keen and dedicated he could work to be a world champion."

Mitchell said he hopes that universal design will one day be the mainstream you see in the sailing world, but to this day he says many in the industry still have no idea about the concept.

"Over the years we've really learnt the true meaning of inclusion and you get to the point, where you see that inclusion and universal design are two sides of the same coin," he said.

"It's all about levelling the playing field so that everyone is on equal ground."

Mitchell hopes that through their partnership with the Nowra Community Sailing Club, they will only continue to grow their operation and continue to develop their dream of inclusive sailing becoming the norm around the world.

He has in mind an annual event called the Shoalhaven River Challenge, which will be an inclusive sailing regatta, as well as planning to run a "have a go day" as part of this year's River Festival.

"Our ultimate goal is to help contribute to the colour and movement on the Shoalhaven river, and help turn Nowra around so that river becomes our front door instead of just its drain."

You can find out more about Sailability here and more about Hansa Sailing here