Ruta de la Sal | English - an overview | English - Ruta de la Sal

(español)

 

Joves Navegants was the brainchild of a group of English and Irish yachtsmen who wished to bring to Mallorca the long-established benefits of the youth sail training programmes of Northern Europe. In 1991 an association was formed with the aim of taking local underprivileged children to sea to give them a nautical education and inspire them to improve their lives. For 12 years the association struggled for funds, every peseta of which went on chartering yachts, such as the 14 metre Marcus Aurelius, which took children out on weekend trips.

 

In March 2003 Joves Navegants finally became a foundation after being given the 21 metre ketch, Galaxie. Having its own boat made a massive difference, not only was the foundation able to take more children out on the waves, but it could begin to generate some funds to finance this by offering corporate days out when the yacht was not needed by the children.

 

Although Joves Navegants remains in desperate need of consistent governmental financial input or a large corporate sponsor, once it had its own boat its future appeared brighter and more stable, and with the continued support of such things as the Pinmar Golf Tournament and entities such as Real Club Nautico Palma, Vela 2000, The Lions Club, The Rotary Club,  Sa Nostra bank and the Balearic Government Departments of Sport, Youth and Defence of the Minor, many more plans were able to be realised.

 

Galaxie

 

To understand the value of sail training it is first necessary to empathise with the young people who most benefit from it; Joves Navegants has worked with the blind and the deaf as well as those with other physical difficulties which have frequently greatly limited their ability to enjoy many of the recreations most of us take for granted.

 

Many of the youngsters taken out on Galaxie have lived their lives in the most underprivileged areas of the island or have had the misfortune to have been born to parents who are drug addicts, criminals or are in other ways incapable of providing an acceptable family unit; the children may have been bereaved or bullied; they may have had continual problems at school and been left with non-existent self-confidence – for all these young people, the freedom and peace of the sea can be a life-changing revelation.

 

To be placed in a microcosm where what you do directly affects you and the team you must work with, can show these youngsters a new and positive way to manage their lives. Once aboard, the young people learn navigation and seamanship skills. In the evenings Galaxie’s captain, Ramon Martinez, teaches them about the stars and the history of the constellations. They are told about the training opportunities and nautical-related career paths that are available on the island. They are taught not only to respect the sea and the environment but also to respect each other – Captain Ramon does not shy away from running a tight ship where manners are concerned and will not tolerate any member of his crew sta

rting to eat before all have been served, or attempting to leave the table before all have finished. Everybody has to help in the running of an orderly ship. Nobody escapes the cleaning rota, helping the cook or getting their hands dirty in the general maintenance of the yacht.

 

 

Captain Ramon

 

During the summer months, when many teenagers run an increased risk of getting into trouble as hard pressed parents work long hours in the tourist trade, Joves Navegants runs four-day programmes in conjunction with Ateneu Alcari’s ‘Escuela de Viva’. During these trips, which sail between Palma and Pollensa, young people help with beach cleaning, learn to sail, navigate and identify the stars; they go snorkelling and learn about local sea life and how it can be both aided and destroyed. They enjoy the ordered onboard life. As always aboard Galaxie, they are given a taste of a better future and information on how they could make this future their reality.

 

Beach cleaning and learning about our sea life.               

 

At the end of July Joves Navegants also funds half-day workshops. The foundation is currently looking at expanding its workshop programme by asking local yacht clubs and businesses to donate unwanted nautical equipment to it so that the young people can repair it and resell the items at regular nautical markets to provide much needed funding for the organisation. There is a huge amount of wastage in the island’s superyacht industry. An abundance of yacht equipment is changed annually and everything from soft furnishings to engines are disposed of when, instead, much of this could be recycled and provide valuable training for the island’s young people.

 

In the same vein, the foundation is also looking to approach yacht clubs and guardiennage companies about the possibility of finding the owners of abandoned yachts and asking them if they would like to donate the vessel to the foundation so that the young people can renovate it and either use it for further sail training or sell it to pay for other educational programmes Joves Navegants would like to implement.

 

Last year a group of young people were able to take part in the 10 day Regatta Mar de Alboran which is organised by the Fundacion Hispania and which is usually only open to classic yachts. However, to demonstrate the Fundacion´s support of the important work Joves Navegants undertakes, Galaxie was also given the 3000 euro sponsorship donated to all entrants and so enabled to sail in the regatta. The young crew, plus some students from Palma´s Nautical College, were able to voyage from Palma to Alicante, then on to Cartegena, across the strait to Melia and on to Malaga before returning to Mallorca – a great adventure for anyone.

 

This year Galaxie is taking part in a number of regattas including the Ruta de la Sal and Palma Vela. They are hoping to provide corporate days out during the Copa del Rey and the Conde de Barcelona regattas. During the regattas in which Galaxie is an active participant, she will be crewed by local youngsters from one of the many associations Joves Navegants works with. These associations include: Hogares del Temple, Centro Ocupacional Jovent, GREC, Asociacion de ninos sordos, AMITICA, Projecte Jove, Projecte Home, Fundacion Diagrama, Intress, Nazaret and Ateneu Alcari to name a few. On average Galaxie introduces 300 new young people to the sea and its possibilities every year.

 

Joves Navegants’ work is purely about educating young underprivileged people to the opportunities for change and improvement that are open to them. It is a foundation of hope for the future, of social stability on the island, and it trusts in the hedonistic view that, in fact, everybody wants what is best for them if only they have the opportunity to discover what that is. In the words of the ancient Chinese proverb:-

 

”If you’re looking one year ahead, plant seed.

If you’re looking ten years ahead, plant a tree.

If you’re looking 100 years ahead, educate people.”

 

With continued local support Joves Navegants aims to be educating and guiding our young people for many years into the future.