Calma Sailing has completed its program on Cortes Island, for which there was a great interest, from many more participants than Calma Sailing was able to accommodate. The program was designed for indigenous, low-income, and senior members of the Cortes Island community located in British Columbia within the Desolation Sound area, where the sailing school Calma Sailing is based. The school provided the Start Keelboat Sailing course free-of-charge to six individuals during the 2025 summer season. This included two days of sailing with instructions on their 40-foot sailing vessel, a Beneteau Oceanis 400, and the Basic Cruising Skills textbook which was a useful extra addition to the course.
This Program allowed low-income members of this community to experience the sport of sailing in an area of BC that is renowned for sailing, boating, and cruising, but is still a very ‘elite’ and almost surprisingly an inaccessible sport and experience for such individuals. Participants were very grateful to have had the opportunity to experience something that is not easily accessible to them, and they have expressed that they gained confidence in their abilities and an increased interest to pursue sailing in the future. With the large interest that Calma Sailing has received from the community, the school hope to be able to provide something similar next year.
Thanks to Sail Canada and the Government of Canada for their support.
