Wide-eyed and wind-swept, Officer Specialist School students took the helm of an ocean racing yacht in a program aimed to give young people with disabilities a nautical adventure.
“Some of them have never been on a boat before. They’ve only seen pictures of them,” said primary department leader Denise Jenkins.
Dylan takes his turn at the helm in a sailing adventure for students from Officer Specialist School. Credit: Wayne Taylor
“It’s a really special way … to expose them to something different.”
This isn’t just any yacht, it’s a 14-metre Farr modified for people with disabilities, and can fit up to four wheelchairs, thanks to the Making Waves Foundation.
For some of the seven students from Officer Specialist School, which teaches students with mild to severe intellectual and associated disabilities, this would be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
The Making Waves Foundation was launched by David Pescud in 1994 after he led the first crew of people with disabilities to complete the Sydney to Hobart race.
From there, the foundation aimed to make sailing accessible to people with disabilities or experiencing disadvantage and now operates in three states – Victoria, NSW and Queensland. In 2003, a crew of sailors with disabilities set the record for the fastest monohull circumnavigation of Australia.
In the 2024-25 financial year, more than 800 students from 18 school groups across Melbourne, including Melton Specialist School and Southern Autistic School, were given a taste of sailing.
The foundation runs a one-off session for schools called Winds of Joy, Winds of Change – a six-week sailing program for secondary students with disabilities that includes a mentorship and Wright of Passage, which is a boat building program.
From January next year, the Wright of Passage program will start at Chelsea Yacht Club for students aged between 15 and 18.
And for the first time, a previous participant of the Wright of Passage program in Geelong will be racing the Sydney to Hobart in the Winds of Inspiration program – aimed at giving Australians with disabilities or living with disadvantage a chance to gain a renewed sense of self.
Students at Officer Specialist School. A sailing program to help transform the lives of students from low-socio-economic backgrounds and refugee backgroudns who are living with a disability. Student Rob at the steering wheel.Credit: Wayne Taylor
Regional manager for Victoria Natasja McClay said the program aimed to get students thinking beyond the classroom.
“Especially for these young children, even though they have a disability, they can do anything they want to do. It’s giving them an opportunity to be out on the water and take control of a large yacht,” she said.
McClay said the Officer students who took to the water recently were not nervous at all.
“They loved [the Winds of Joy]. They were so excited. They were very high energy. All of the kids wanted to be at the helm,” she said.
And to the disappointment of volunteers, they loved doing doughnuts in the water, “it’s something everyone loves doing”, despite the crew getting nauseous.
“You often see when students are non-verbal, they feel the wind in their hair, they are laughing the whole time, or have tears in their eyes,” she said.
“We often get something back from the school saying ‘they loved it and they want to come back’ all the time.
“Being out in the community is really important for our students when we take them on excursions because we’re explicitly teaching the skills that we teach in the school environment, but working on it outside of school.”
McClay said her students went on excursions to places such as a local park or grocery store to build their capacity for excursions and being out in the community, but being adventurous was important too.
“Making it specific to children with disabilities is a huge thing, and there aren’t that many programs that are like that that make it a point to include everyone,” she said.
“This is seen as a high-risk activity. But just because it’s high-risk doesn’t mean that our students can’t participate in it too.
“So it’s something they will remember forever, and they will be talking about it non-stop.”
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