SEA – Sailing Education for All

Duration: 01/12/2025 - 30/11/2027

Aim of the Project

Sailing is often perceived as an elitist and inaccessible sport, limited to individuals with financial means or prior connections to sailing communities. However, sailing has the potential to be a powerful tool for social inclusion, skill development, and personal empowerment.

The Sailing Education for All (SEA) project aims to bridge this accessibility gap by transforming sailing into an inclusive and socially-driven sport. The project focuses on breaking down economic, social, and physical barriers for marginalized groups – specifically youth from disadvantaged backgrounds, women, and people with disabilities, to engage in sailing as a grassroot recreational sport.

As part of the project, a consortium of four organisations from three countries will create an AI-powered educational platform with an interactive training programme to help beginners get started with sailing in a structured and comprehensive manner. The project also involves the development of an offline mentorship programme for enthusiasts and organising exciting sailing events in all three countries.

Activities

The project is structured around four key Work Packages (WPs) designed to deliver tangible results:

Work Package 1: Project Management and Coordination

• Coordination & Quality Assurance: Ensuring efficient financial management, risk mitigation, and smooth cooperation between all partners throughout the project lifecycle.
• Monitoring & Evaluation: Conducting mid-term and final evaluations to assess the project’s efficiency and impact, ensuring all activities meet Erasmus+ quality standards.

Work Package 2: Inclusive Digital Sailing Academy

• AI-Powered Platform: Development of a digital platform that allows users to learn about sailing with an AI assistant, acting as a virtual coach.
• Sailing Training Modules: Development of training modules from beginner to intermediate level, containing main concepts and rules in sailing, video tutorials and interactive lessons tailored for diverse learners.
• Piloting and Proving the Credibility of the Platform: Engaging experienced coaches and sailors to test out the platform and its training modules in order to prove its effectiveness and credibility.
• Conducting 1st digital training with coaches: Disseminating the platform among sailing communities in the three participating countries and beyond, providing coaches, trainers and sailors with the opportunity to use the AI-powered platform in their curricula with beginners.

Work Package 3: Grassroots Sailing for Social Change

• Structured training of sailing enthusiasts: Implementation of first digital sailing training sessions for marginalised youth, women, and individuals with disabilities.
• Offline Mentorship Program: Establishment of a mentorship framework pairing experienced professional sailors with trainees from underrepresented groups.
• Inclusive Sailing Events: Organization of inclusive sailing events in Bulgaria, Poland, and Italy to promote social inclusion, the benefits of sailing as a grassroot sport and to showcase adaptive sailing techniques.

Work Package 4: Impact, Dissemination, and Sustainability

• Communication Strategy: Execution of a comprehensive campaign to promote project results to policymakers, sports organizations, and the general public.
• Stakeholder Engagement: Building partnerships with national and EU-level sports bodies to advocate for the adoption of inclusive sailing policies.
• Sustainability & Knowledge Transfer: Ensuring the long-term availability of the digital platform and training resources, culminating in final public dissemination events.

Expected Results

The SEA project aims to achieve the following tangible outcomes:

• Expanded Access: Structured sailing education provided to 60 youth participants from disadvantaged backgrounds, with at least 40% female participation.
• Adaptive Opportunities: A specialized program enabling 20 individuals with disabilities to access sailing through adapted equipment and instruction.
• Digital Innovation: Engagement of 40+ coaches and sailors through the new AI-powered coaching platform.
• Mentorship Network: Creation of 20 mentorship pairs connecting aspiring sailors with experienced professionals.
• Community Impact: Organization of 4 major inclusive sailing events promoting community-building, physical and mental wellbeing, and social integration through sport.
• Strategic Partnerships: Establishment of new partnerships with external organizations to sustain the project's mission.

Partners

• Mundus Bulgaria (Bulgaria) – Project coordinator & expert in non-formal education
• ASD Sport Compass (Italy) – Expert in education through sport (ETS) & digital learning
• Horn Kraków Sailing Club (Poland) – Expert in inclusive & competitive sailing
• Bora Sailing (Bulgaria) – Technological lead for digital platform development and expert in sailing