The project FeeL the wind To fill the Sails - LETS addresses inclusion and equal opportunities by transferring the knowledge and experience of sailing courses for the blind or partially sighted from Italy to Slovenia with the aim of expanding access to this sport beyond regional and national borders. The main goal of the project is to improve the independence of blind and partially sighted people through sailing and to introduce them to sailing as a sport and as an opportunity to integrate into society. The courses will take place in the northern Adriatic region, partly in Italy and partly in Slovenia.
Sailing is a faboulous dynamic sport that evokes unique feelings and emotions. It involves all of our senses, but normally, sailors use mainly sight. And this is exactly why blind and partially sighted sailors are actually at an advantage, as they know how to feel and understand messages from their surroundings that the rest of us ignore. Therefore, the project we envisioned is not only the introduction of blind people into the world of sailing, but a project of mutual learning, as both blind people and sailing teachers will learn from each other. We decided to hold the sailing course for the blind and partially sighted on small sailing dinghies, which speak much more to the sailor during sailing than larger monohulls. A small boat tilts very easily, forcing the sailor to develop more sensitivity and balance. This type of boat is also easy to explore, as a blind sailor can capsize it and use the touch to explore every part of it, from the mast to the hull, the keel and the rudder.
We want to bring the basics of sailing closer to the blind and partially sighted and offer them the opportunity to continue their sporting journey in this field and expand their horizons in the future. In fact, sailing as a sport offers many possibilities of experience both from a sensory and emotional point of view. It also enables a new and different approach to the sea, which becomes not only an environment for recreation, but also a new world with its own characteristics that sailors need to know. Even the blind and partially sighted can get to know the sea, enjoy it and steer a vessel safely, as the environment provides them with many informations, such as the sound of water, the heat from the sun, the wind, the position of the rudder in relation to us and to the boat, etc. The experience we offer to the blind and partially sighted is a proper sailing course that allows participants to compare themselves with any sailor at the same level, to share their passion and experience with other sailors and to continue their sailing journey in the future if they wish so.
The project LETS has the following main objectives:
Sea You, Aniomap - Associazione Nazionale Istruttori Di Orientamento Mobilità e Autonomia Personale, Zveza društev slepih in slabovidnih Slovenije, Fair Play, Jadralna zveza Slovenije, Mornik
