Don Backe founded Chesapeake Region Accessible Boating (CRAB) in 1991 because he had a strong desire for everyone with a disability to have the opportunity and pleasure of sailing on the beautiful Chesapeake Bay. Don was an avid sailor most of his life and after he was paralyzed in a car accident in his 50’s he found the therapeutic value of sailing all the more important for his well-being.
Lyn Backe said her husband began sailing when he moved from California to Munich as a teenager. His father worked for the U.S. State Department on immigration issues after World War II. Lyn, who married Don in 1993, remarked, “He truly believed that people could find something in sailing that would free them to do many other things that they felt they couldn’t.”
An educator by profession, Backe also did volunteer work for the National Ocean Access Project (NOAP), which taught people with physical disabilities how to sail. When NOAP ceased operations, Don acquired their Freedom 20’s and started CRAB in 1991 with his friends and a lot of interested volunteers. Don was quoted as saying, “I realized that I could still sail, but I was going to need help. It restored a part of my life, just as CRAB helps those with other types of disabilities make their life more meaningful.”
According to National Sailing Hall of Fame sailor Gary Jobson of Annapolis, Don Backe was one of the people who made boating accessible for disabled people many years ago when it was not common. He is highly regarded for his efforts in this area. Jobson himself was inspired by seeing Backe’s work, and in February of 2012, Backe was honored with US Sailing’s Maritime Heroes Award.
One of CRAB’s longest-serving Board Presidents, Lance Hinrichs, said CRAB turned around Don’s life and his. Lance was paralyzed when he broke his neck while in college in 1982. “I was an avid sailor before the accident and when I got injured there were no disabled sailing programs around.” Hinrichs met Backe at a regatta for sailors with disabilities in Newport, R.I., in the early 1990s. When Hinrichs moved to Northern Virginia a few years later, he started sailing with CRAB and Backe invited him to become a Board Member.
“I think the thing that one would want to share about Don was his passion, and his devotion to the sport and his deep devotion to serving others,” Hinrichs said. “Don was an educator by trade and was one of the most selfless and self-effacing people you could have known.”
While numerous volunteers who worked with Don in CRAB’s early years eventually left for other places or occupations, Backe devoted the rest of his life to CRAB’s mission. “He was a persistent guy,” Jobson said. “He had his mission; he stuck it out a long time. There were always challenges, fundraising issues, donated boats, and volunteers. You’ve got to give him a lot of credit.”
All of Don’s close friends said it was his dream to have an adaptive boating center in Annapolis. On April 4, 2023 the CRAB Annapolis Adaptive Boating Center was opened. The building features The Don Backe Learning Center, a state of the art, area for instruction, meetings, and events fully capable of hosting anyone with a disability. The large mural painting of “A Day with CRAB,” features Don sailing alone at dusk back to the CRAB Adaptive Boating Center.
Don passed away on April 13, 2013. The CRAB Cup Regatta hosted by the Annapolis Yacht Club was renamed the Don Backe Memorial CRAB Regatta following his death. Fair winds and following seas to our friend and leader.