Sailing on Three Seas

The "S3S - Sailing on Three Seas" Project has given an opportunity for young sportsmen of three sailing clubs across Europe to exchange knowledge and practice in their fields of sport, to experience the culture, to compare the environment and sailing conditions of three European seas - Black Sea, Aegean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. All planned activities were fully accomplished as per project proposal and some goals were over performed - increased number of participating children and coaches, more sailing clinics, thanks to the attracted top athletes and experts. The project was very well received by the targeted group, the clubs and the communities. Some summarized data: - 6 TPM, equally divided between the partners (2 meetings per partnering country) and trough the year: 2 administrative meetings - Opening meeting, 23-26 January (Varna, Bulgaria)and Closing meeting, 25-29 November (Tenerife, Spain), and 4 sport camps for young sailors in between: 5-9 March (Tenerife, Spain), 28 May - 1 June (Syros, Greece), 7-13 July (Varna, Bulgaria), 11-15 October (Syros, Greece).- large number of people took part in all TPMs - instead of 54 people according project proposal, 57 have travelled: 39 athletes, 11 coaches (5/ANT, 3/SNC, 3/YCPV), 7 persons project team staff (3 Clubs' Presidents, 1 Project Manager, 3 Project Coordinators). They have travelled 88 times during all six TPMs. Also, additionally 106 other athletes, 117 volunteers, 12 experts and 30 authority representatives from the project countries have joined the activities. All together 322 people have being involved.- equal access to the sport was achieved, disregarding the social barriers, through the increased participation in international sport experience. Many of the 39 traveling young athletes had their first trip abroad, and their first flight. They felt equally integrated in this European experience and exchange and into the sport. Additionally, 106 participating young athletes, coming from the hosting clubs and locally have benefited by some camp activities.- gender balance in the TPM sailing camps: out of 39 travelling athletes 18 were girls (as per project proposal) and 21 boys (exceeding the proposal by 3). Per country: 16 athletes from Bulgaria (7 girls/9 boys), 12 athletes from Greece (6 girls/6 boys), 11 athletes from Tenerife (5 girls/6 boys). - training in 2 sailing classes was accomplished (Laser 4.7 and Optimist)- diverse and broad-based methodology of the sail training was developed and provided to the athletes: daily physical exercises; 4 clinics on sailing theory and skills, maritime terminology, racing rules and motivation, led by professional athletes and judges; sail training and training races and two open regattas for both classes in the last 2 camps, as a climax of the sport program.- significantly increased experience in different weather conditions, improved language skills were reported by athletes, friendships were build.- professional exchange and career development opportunity for the sailing coaches and exchange of sport practices. - raised capacity of the partnering clubs: administrative, regarding international project work and training camps organization, and also in terms of the latest requirement amendments of World Sailing, regarding the racing rules.- reinforcement of the voluntary capacity of the clubs was achieved by involving parents, adult sailors and community members in the organization of the TPMs. 117 volunteers have being reported to have joined forces, facilitating the sport program, social and cultural events, logistic, administration and publicity.- Open day events in every partner country, S3S website, 6 press conferences on sailing sport, E+Sport Programme and S3S Project have resulted in hundred publications.- strong partnership trough the project activities with the local authorities (municipalities), educational institutions and other NGOs - 30 representatives of the local authorities wer