According to the Americans with Disabilities Act a person with a disability is one who has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities. In the United States, 61 million adults live with a disability. Consequently, parasports—sports designed to accommodate the limitations of the disabled—have increased in popularity in the US. Assistive devices for kayaking specifically benefit those that are unable to participate in traditional kayaking sports. The extra support helps compensate for their inability to handle a paddle. A previous design, the Gamut Hinged Mount by Angle Oar, allowed for users to handle a paddle by holding it in place by a static bar, however, this design has poor structural stability and a short life product life span. Considering these shortcomings, the team developed a new paddle holder that mimics the motions that a regular paddler would experience. The new device\u27s key characteristic includes a ball & socket within a 20° angled arched rail allowing for natural figure-8 motion profile. Additionally, the team focused on using lightweight and strong marine grade materials to increase the life expectancy of the paddle mount. After creating the adaptive device, in SolidWorks, a motion-path simulation was performed on the model. And after overlaying the motion-profile of a regular paddler over the simulation, the results showed that they were nearly identical. This is a step towards the team’s goal of creating a device that could help those with a mobility disability that want to kayak again
