Content about sailing

Get your sailing fix from home with these great films and books!

Summary Goes Here

To celebrate the first Winds of Joy sailing program for children with disability in Hobart, a major milestone in the history of the organisation, today Sailors with disABILITITES is launching a unique, digital archive of its first 21 years: 21 Years of SWD.

Successful Rally brings much needed funds for SWD's Programs

02 February 2018

Do you have a passion to mentor young people? Do you Love old timber boats?

19 January 2018

Youth 16 years and over are you brave & have a sense of adventure?

17 January 2018

SWD are excited to offer this fully funded youth opportunity for those seeking an alternate pathway to their future.

03 January 2018

Renee Smith has always been a land lover so her new found passion for sailing surprised her friends and family surprised.

Givers of Optimism.

Winds of Joy on Sydney Harbour 

New Sponsors Bring new exciting opportunities for Many!

New partners generous support will allow SWD to expand operations in four states

Smiles all round on Sydney Harbour 

Do you want to take the first step to a trade, a job and an adventure?

Hurry Register Now!

Sailors with disABILTITIES Creator of Optimism

Exciting Youth Opportunity!

Orara High School's Winds of Joy 

Nervous energy abound before the students of 
Orara High School participated in the 
Winds of Joy Program during the 
2017 Northern Campaign. 
Before finally proclaiming 'We LOVED it!'
Read More

When SWD caught up with students from Lake Illawarra High School's Winds of Change program, six months after it finished, we learned that it is making a significant difference in the lives of students from that cohort. 

This is most likely because Winds of Change creates a safe space for engagement and teamwork. Skye's story helps answer the question, Do SWD's Programs Really Make a Difference?

SWD spoke to teachers from schools across Melbourne in the past few weeks to learn about the students' experiences. Wendy, a teacher from Warringa Park School, said:

“I had a few scared students. They were scared that the boat was going to roll over! At the end of the experience, the scared ones were getting up and steering the boat and some went to the front of the boat and sat with the other students, something they would never do!"

Greg was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis a few days before Christmas, 2008. He soon lost his job and his marriage, experiencing some truly harrowing emotions and entering a bleak period in his life, marred with uncertainty.

“I was essentially sitting on the couch every day, not doing anything,” said Greg.

However, in 2014, Greg made a decision that would transform his life.

We are grateful to Women Who Sail Australia for choosing SWD as one of the charities for funds raised at the April Gathering on the Bay conference in Port Stephens.  We chatted to Women Who Sail Australia (WWSA) spokeswoman Caitlin Harris who said, "WWSA's mission is to connect women on the water. Our goal is to create communities, empower women, and encourage a love of sailing and respect for the ocean environment. Supporting SWD is part of our vision to create inclusive communities and make sailing accessible and welcoming to everyone."

SWD was featured in the Peninsula Living Magazine, supporting SWD's call out for volunteers. If you would like to volunteer, email alyson@sailorswithdisabilities.com. 

We encourage all our supporters to join us for a day of excitement on land with our four-legged friends!

The event, organised by the ASX Thomson Reuters Charity Foundation, will raise $0.5 million for the participating charities, including Sailors with disABILITIES.

A huge thank you to Women Who Sail Australia and all of their supporters for selecting SWD as one of the recipients of funds raised in the 2017 Gathering on the Bay conference held in Port Stephens last week. We would also like to thank Yoga for Yachties...

On the final day of our Hobart Outreach program in February, we welcomed Anglicare and Taroona High School on board. Winds of Joy lets students experience nature in a context from which they may often be excluded. Everyone on board gets to feel the wind on their face and the motion the boat rolling on the waves. For sensory positive students in particular, this is a special delight.

Thanks to Channel  7's The Daily Edition for hosting SWD on Wednesday April 5 so we can tell the world more about what SWD does and what we need--a major sponsor is top of our wish list!

We hope you enjoy the segment as much as we did!  Watch it here. 

'Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, Member for Wentworth, has congratulated all involved in the inaugural Sailors with disABILITIES (SWD) ‘Making Waves Regatta’.

Thank you for visiting our website. We are excited to share storiesof success about our volunteers and people with disabilities. 

Please DONATE HERE. 

Grace Kennedy was born with Spina Bifida and has been confined to a wheelchair all her life. In 2013, at the tender age of 19, she crewed in one of the world's toughest ocean races - the Rolex Sydney to Hobart. Here's Grace's story in her own words. Read about Grace's

We LOVED having Southern Support School in our Winds of Joy sailing program in Hobart. The photos say it all. Winds of Joy is a sailing program in which young people with disabilities experience sailing for 3 hours in a safe space. Students gain skills—knot tying, tacking, and steering the boat—and work as a team to sail and take responsibility. This gives students a chance to show their abilities and grow with their peers, creating increased confidence and self belief even after they get back home and school.

The teacher explained that it’s difficult to find new and challenging experiences for their students, particularly when beforehand they have no idea what to expect. After the experience, the teaacher said, “Sailing is so inclusive, active and team oriented."

The sun shone on Melbourne on February 27 when students and teachers from Sunshine and Springvale Park Special Developmental Schools sailed in a Winds Of Joy Program in Melbourne. The students got stuck into winching and steering and gaining a whole lot of confidence from being part of a team sailing on a large yacht on the Yarra...

Across Melbourne, Hobart and Sydney on Feb 21, SWD volunteers ran 5 Winds of Joy programs, welcoming over 50 children with disabilities, their parents, teachers and carers on board three specially adapted yachts. This included St Ives High School in Sydney, Montagu Bay Primary in Hobart, Waringah Park School in Melbourne, Springvale Park SDS Mel, and Wairoa in Sydney. It was a spectacular success and, as you can see, the weather was kind across all three citiies, something of a miracle at this time of year. What has become clear is that students LOVE steering and grow in confidence when they do, taking on new challenges when they get back home and to school.

We celebrated the contribution of SWD's female volunteers for International Women's Day on March 8. In her own words, Julia explained why she volunteers with SWD: "Volunteering with SWD reminds me there is always a way. Never say, 'I can't.' SWD inspires us all to say, 'I can.' Everyone I meet through SWD inspires me, but my favourite thing is seeing the kids' faces light up when they realise they can too. It brings me joy."

Businesses, NGOs, community groups and volunteers from across Sydney gathered at the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia on Friday March 10 for the Sailors with disABILITIES inaugural #MakingWaves Regatta, the first regatta held by SWD in its 23 year history. Aiming to raise essential funds for children with disability and those who face adversity across Australia, the regatta included a dozen yachts donated by their owners and purchased by companies.

We wish to thank the Cruising Yacht Club Of Australia who partnered with SWD and allowed us to host the Regatta in the club at Rushcutters Bay on March 10. We wish to thank yacht owners who donated their boats to be hired by companies that raced on board on the day.

We launch our inaugural Making Waves Regatta on Friday, March 10, from the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia at New Beach Road, Darling Point.

The Regatta will raise essential funds for children with disability and those who face adversity across Australia, adding to the 44,000 children who have come on board SWD programs over the past 23 years.

Famous ocean racers and more than 200 professionals...

SWD was excited to host ABC News Tasmania on board WOT EVA on the 16th of February in Hobart. Thank you ABC News 24, ABC News Tasmania in Hobart for telling the story of these amazing children and volunteers sailing in the 2017 Winds of Joy Hobart Outreach Program. This program will run until 28 February and we will return next year to Hobart and run the program again.

SWD was excited to see people with disabilities (who happen to be sailors) and sailors (disabled and able-bodied both) making waves at the NSW Sports Awards. Congratulations to our own SWD Founder, David Pescud, for receiving the Distinguished Long Service Award for his 24-year contribution to Sailors with disABILITIES. Pescud was in great company for the evening's recognition of sporting achievements in NSW.

"Yesterday, we participated in the Sailors with disABILITIES Winds of Joy program in Melbourne. We were a group of 9 students and 5 staff from Yarrabah School. We would like to send a HUGE THANK YOU to our fantastic crew, Paul, Jeff, Simon, Cameron, Judi, Lisa and shore-based, Richard."

Launching today, ten schools and over 250 children with disabilities will take part in our annual Hobart Outreach Program. This is the second year it has been held, with WOT EVA carrying children in wheelchairs. All children have a chance to steer the boat, wind the winches, help lift and lower the sails. 

SWD founder David Pescud says this is often a once in a lifetime experience for these children.

In Melbourne, Winds of Joy, our sailing program for children with disabilities, kicked off our year with sailing sessions on Monday and Tuesday on board our specially adapted yacht, Ninety Seven.

School bags dusted off, uniforms aired, sunhats reshaped and it’s official—the 2017 school year has begun. SWD wasted no time in welcoming students, back at school for just a week, on sailing programs in Sydney and Melbourne.

SWD was invited to have a tent at the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia on Boxing Day for the start of the Rolex Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race.

We wish to thank everyone who donated to our appeal to fix Kayle's keel. All donations, large and small, contributed to an excellent outcome for SWD and will mean we can run programs for children again as soon as possible and, hopefully, join the Rolex Sydney to Hobart Race at the end of 2017.

This interaction [on Winds of Joy] with school support staff was very positive and allowed staff to continue to build a relationship based on trust, security and understanding that has continued all year. She has been at school every day since and has now become a valuable mentor to two other students with disability. Sailing allowed her to succeed and also to feel valued.

Sean has a pretty difficult home life and has traditionally had a lot of anger problems. He’s developed control and learned so much about himself since Winds of Change. He is walking away from situations that he would have taken on head on—confrontations...

Skye is a lot more confident in her school work and she opted to do Duke of Edinburgh as well. She never would have done that before Winds of Change.

This experience has been a wonderful for the kids from our school. Traditionally they’re very afraid to challenge themselves for fear of failure. I cannot believe how willing they’ve been to meet this challenge head on and it’s corresponding to different areas of their lives.

We need to raise $12,000 to fix the keel on our main program boat, Kayle, and we are hoping you may be willing to help us do that. Kayle runs Winds of Joy and Winds of Change programs in Sydney, northern NSW, Queensland and Hobart for over 2100 children each year.

Would you be willing to help SWD win $10k in cash and $15k in audio and video conferencing? The cash will help us run more programs for children with disabilities, and conferencing will help us communicate with schools and volunteers across NSW, Queensland, Victoria and Tasmania.

Postgraduate Physiotherapy students from the University of Melbourne, in partnership with SWD, this year completed a community health project conducting a health needs analysis (HNA) of SWD's “Winds Of Change” on-water program.

At 11:52:22 on 2 August, the SWD crew on WOT EVA finished the Land Rover Sydney Gold Coast Yacht Race in 22nd position overall and 8th on PHS. It was an achievement to finish.

VOLUNTEER CREW WANTED!

We need you! Sailors With disABILITIES will be back in Hobart in 2017 running Winds of Joy programs from 15th-28th February. This program offers children with disabilities and disadvantaged people an opportunity to enjoy the freedom, teamwork and adventure of sailing.

This year is the 31st running of the Land Rover Sydney Gold Coast Yacht Race.The race starts tomorrow, Saturday, 30 July, on Sydney Harbour at 1pm and Sailors with disABILITIES will be racing with a full crew of people with disabilities and able-bodied people on WOT EVA.

SWD launches its Northern Campaign on July 21, an outreach program for children with disabilities. This is an annual effort that takes the yacht, Kayle, and SWD volunteers who crew it from Sydney to Rosslyn Bay, Mackay, Southport and Coffs Harbour during the next 8 weeks. Called Winds of Joy, SWD runs this same program every year, as we have for over 18 years.

• Queensland dates for schools
• Cruising Yacht Club of Australia Partnership
• Launching SWD Melbourne at Docklands
• Winds of Joy Melbourne
• Letter from Vermont South Special School
• ​On-Water ​Volunteers Needed:​ Melbourne Queensland and Hobart​
• Xylem on Board in 2016
• ASX Thomson Reuters Foundation Charity
• A New Look at Impact​: Check our figures if you like!

"The Cruising Yacht Club of Australia (CYCA) is pleased to announce Sailors with disAbilities (SWD) has been officially endorsed as a preferred charity of the Club. While the CYCA and SWD have had an informal relationship of support for many years, the official partnership provides SWD with guaranteed resources and assistance which will give stronger foundations to its programs and planning."

SWD is excited to announce that we have a permanent office for the first time since the organisation was established 22 years ago, thanks to d’Alboras Marinas. The office, located at 1B New Beach Road, Rushcutters Bay, will be staffed most of the time throughout the week by SWD staff and volunteers. 

Latest News here:

• A Story of Impact from Hobart
• The Hobart National Outreach Program
• The Melbourne National Outreach Program
• AGM and Christmas Party
• Membership Fees changed
• #Ican Colour Scheme winner
• 21 Years of SWD commemorative website launched
• Women Who Sail Australia event
• Rolex Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race Round-up
• A Final Letter from a School in Sydney
• ASX Art Union Raffle
• Social media networks

To celebrate the first Winds of Joy sailing program for children with disability in Hobart, a major milestone in the history of the organisation, today Sailors with disABILITITES is launching a unique, digital archive of its first 21 years: 21 Years of SWD.

Sailors with disABILITIES is launching its first Winds of Joy program in Hobart tomorrow, Monday 15th of February. Running for two weeks until February 26, Winds of Joy Hobart will give young people with disability in Tasmania the opportunity to experience the joy of sailing in a session sailing on board Kayle, a yacht designed especially for people with disabilities, able to accommodate up to 5 wheelchairs at a time.

Sailors with disABILITIES 2014-2015 Annual Report is available for download.

The Sydney to Sydney Challenge was an event in which Sailors with disABILITIES set out to set a world record for the Sydney to Lord Howe Island passage with a crew of 10 in a mono-hull yacht, the TP-52 WOT EVA. 

In this newsletter you'll read about:

• NSW Volunteer Team of the Year Award
• Sydney to Hobart preparation
• Volunteer Interview
• Northern Campaign wrap up
• Testimonials: drawings by children in the Northern Campaign
• Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, SWD Patron

SWD is proud to announce a partnership with the ASX Thomson Reuters Charity Foundation. As part of this, SWD will be the recipient of funds raised in the Foundation's Art Union draw. You can buy tickets to win great prizes in the draw here: click the link to read more. 

The second in a series of interviews with Sailors with disABILITIES volunteers. In this interview you will meet Jay, a crew and on-water program volunteer with SWD. Click here if you're interested in volunteering with SWD.

Sailors with disABILITIES participated and completed the 2015 LandRover Sydney to Gold Coast Yacht Race with a crew of fifteen on board Kayle, a 52ft Lyons grand prix offshore racing yacht purpose built for disabled people. 

Dreamed of sailing in the Sydney to Hobart? Sailors with disABILITIES participates in the Sydney Hobart yacht race each year with a combined crew of people with disability and able-bodied crew members

Our very own Greg Pugh is sailing aboard the Oceans of Hope yacht on the America Samoa leg.

‘Oceans of Hope’ is a Danish initiative that sees a yacht, crewed by people with Multiple Sclerosis, circumnavigate the planet.

Early March, SWD travelled to Melbourne to engage and interact with some exciting new people and meet some new faces. Along with making some strong connections, the team has been running pilot programs aboard the yacht, Kayle, for Victoria’s many extraordinary children.  

The trip has been a long time coming, with many schools from Melbourne expressing interest in climbing aboard. This promptedSwd volunteers and crew to travel to Melbourne and run programs for three weeks, with the hope of establishing a permanent presence in our new base at Port Phillip.

The highly coveted Australian Wooden Boat Festival returned to Hobart on the 6th of February. The Wooden Boat Show helped us build relationships, partnerships, school connections and volunteers to help us bring the Hobart Outreach Program to reality after the Sydney to Hobart this year.  

As of today, our very first crowdfunding campaign, run through a partnership with Bendigo Bank's Let's Act initiative, has been successful! When we set out to fund a Try Sail Day to take a group of children out onto the harbour, we were hopeful that the generous support of our followers, fans and friends would be enough to reach our goal; we are thrilled that we exceeded that goal and have raised over 140% of our crowdfunding amount, meaning that we will recieve the pledged funds and we will have the chance to create new opportunities.

We wish to thank everyone who contributed, whether through making a donation or sharing information on our campaign. You are the true strength of SWD, and we can't overstate our appreciation!

After a hard campaign, we have almost reached our goal of raising $1500 through the Bendigo Bank's Let's Act initiative. 

We are currently sitting on $1094, just $406 away from getting over the line. We know that our supporters believe strongly in our mission, so we are asking that everyone show that support by sharing the link to our project, spreading the word with their friends, or even providing just a gold coin donation themselves by jumping onto the Let's Act website!...

With the 2014 Sydney Hobart Race behind us, we are starting to enjoy the amazing photos, videos and content created by our intrepid crew throughout the voyage! We'll be posting these more and more as soon as we get them, but for now the star of the show is crew member Brett Whiteley's Go Pro Camera, which captured some incredible visuals of the race and the people who got us out there!

Check them out after the jump, and as always we'd love to hear your thoughts!

"It was an interesting race, some really lovely champagne sailing mixed with very fierce downhill speed stuff, Mark Thompson hit the top speedy of 26.6 knots, followed by Mr George Johnstone 25 knots"

- David Pescud
we are so proud of our 2014 crew who have sailed into the finish of the 2014 Sydney Hobart race in position 20 line honours to finish out an incredible year for SWD! What a great feeling for the whole crew, we couldn't be happier. We will be releasing photos as soon as we have them!

We've got some great video content from one of our supporters who was on the ground on our launch day!

Check it out after the jump and you'll be able to see some of our crew and our boat on it's way into the race!

We would really like to take this opportunity to thank the team at Xylem for their support, as well as all of our other sponsors, donors and backers who have made our work possible throughout the leadup to the Sydney Hobart.

We are thrilled with our Line Honours standing this morning, as Wot Eva has soared ahead through the night and is now sitting three places ahead of her position when we signed off yesterday! By now, the crew are roughly half way to Hobart, and spirits are high. The 2014 Race has been incredible so far, and the amazing messages of support that we've received over our Facebook have really spread good cheer!

As we move further into the trek, we'll start to see the pressure mount, with now around 8 Yachts having withdrawn from the Race. However, we are confident that the good ship Wot Eva will be sticking with it to the end, and we know our crew will keep working as hard as they can to bring her sailing into Hobart!

As the crews of the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race gear up for another gruelling contest this Boxing Day, there's one crew with an even more ambitious goal than just getting to Tasmania in good time.

What a great first day of the race! We've had some fine conditions through the night, and this morning has found Wot Eva sitting pretty in her standing at number 25! You can see the full stats here on the Rolex Sydney Hobart website!

The crew are powering on this morning, and we are anticipating a great day for sailing. We'll be posting some photos from the deck just as soon as we get them in, so stay tuned for those.

A massive THANK YOU to everyone who bought tickets and volunteered their time to make the Windcraft yacht raffle such a huge success.

David Pescud said he was very humbled by the support of the sailing community as he accepted the cheque for $174,550.73 on behalf of SWD from Peter Hrones of Windcraft.

SWD and faceboat news: come and see us at Sydney International Boat Show, Winds of Change sucess, Save up to $134 on Brokenwood wine and lots of good times on the water

Faceboat Third in Hobart

faceboat had a fabulous sail down to Hobart this year and came a very respectable third.

The crew loved having the sea of faces on the side of the boat willing them on during 4 days at sea.

Grace Kennedy shares her Kate Winslet moments with Today.  

Hobart Report by Crew Member David D'Annunzio

Congratulations Team, we are all very proud.

Check out all the photos of their final preps and departure.

faceboat Sailors with disABILITIES can now be viewed at its berth at the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia.

Always dreamed of racing in the Rolex Sydney to Hobart, jump on board www.faceboat.org.au

On Thursday 4 July the SWD Crew of Volunteers will commence their Northern Campaign journey for the 16th time.  Good luck crew. 

Read all the SWD news including CYCA Winter Series, Hobart 2013 , Northern Campaign 2013, Volunteer Positions Vacant, Name Me Competition and more.

Help SWD with our fundraising efforts, buy your 2013/2014 Entertainment Book from SWD today.

SWD began in 1994 when David Pescud heard a radio interview suggesting a disabled team enter the 50^th anniversary Sydney to Hobart Race that year. David’s yacht “Carpe Diem” was a 16.2m Adams-Radford design. Over the following years Carpe Diem was customised and optimised with the help of the Adams/Radford team to become one of the most competitive yachts on the East Coast of Australia.  RIP Joe Adams

Letter from David Leslie, President SWD, to all Members and Volunteers who participated in the Northern Campaign 2012 and KAYLE Working Bee.

All the fun and excitement of the 2020 Making Waves Regatta.

The Hon. Malcolm Turnbull, MP was onshore Saturday 3 December to celebrate International Day of People with Disability with the well-known organisation, Sailors with disAbilities (SWD).

Thanks to our friends at St George, SWD were the grateful recipients of a cheque for over $30,000 from the St George Foundation.  Check out their article around the Sydney Golf Classic in August on the St George Foundation's Facebook Page for more information and photos from this event.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing. It is the mechanism that allows us to look back at a set of circumstances and work out a better way of doing it. That is what this article attempts to build a better mouse trap.

Sailing is always magic for me, there is some mystique.  On some days, sometimes, some nights it’s extra special, for instance, when you‘ve got a nice light head breeze, with slightly cracked sheets on a darkened sea under a black velvet sky, highlighted by a thousand stars.  So it was in this year’s Sydney to Southport.  It was a beautiful race, beautiful conditions and Wot Eva performed very well.

Mim Kane, our Treasurer, travelled to the Gold Coast to collect an award  for Sailors with disAbilities from The Spinal Injuries Association of Qld. 

The award was for "The Best Sporting Facility".  This was in appreciation for the great days of sailing enjoyed by many of their members.  Spinal Injuries Association of Queensland cannot wait for the boat to return to Qld next year and they are all lining up for another sail.