The sense of sail
For Craig Kirk, creativity is blind ambition.
In 1996, art teacher Kirk began coaching blind children for Shake-A-Leg Miami, a city-wide sailing competition and camp. To him, sailing teaches self-expression to those who need it most. An artist since he was 7, Kirk also uses art in his teachings.
“They need to express themselves,” he says. “They have the same creative impulses as the rest of us.”
The biggest plus for the children is the newfound sense of freedom. He guides the mainsail, but the blind children steer the boat themselves with Kirk’s verbal instructions. And sensing the boat’s direction isn’t a problem for his pupils either. “They can feel the wind direction right on their faces.”
In 1999, Kirk began a massive art project, recruiting blind children to paint a sail. The blind children splashed the sail’s canvas with their imaginations. The “mushrooming” project garnered Kirk media attention and accolades. Shake-A-Leg now uses the sail as a decoration for special dinners.
Kirk remembers each child fondly. Kelly, a blind girl who couldn’t have surgery because of complications, painted the jig sail crimson alongside Kirk.
“She could feel the sun on her face, and she said, ‘I’m so happy,’” he remembers. “The look on her face was so rewarding.”
For Kirk, the greatest gift to the children is a feeling of accomplishment. “It fills a primal instinct that goes back to the painting on cave walls.”