The Disabled Surfers Association was established in 1986 by Gary Blaschke to provide a disabled persons support group specifically related to the surf. DSA is a total voluntary organisation, which sets world’s best practice for Disabled Surfers. We have taken thousands of disabled participants for a safe surfing experience who may otherwise have never had the opportunity to do so. The degree of disability that we cater for is literally unlimited from mild disability to a full quadriplegia requiring breathing assistance through a tracheotomy. The secret to our success in running a safe and happy surfing experience is the result of many years of refinement and ongoing evaluation of our activities. Apart from being well trained, the DSA utilizes a unique colour coding system for all participants, carers and helpers to ensure event organisers know who is helping who at any one time in the water. We have a very high helper to participant ratio, from a minimum of 6 to 1 up to as high as 30 to 1 with challenging participants eg. Quadriplegia. We only surf in broken waves, in waist depth water.