Inclusive carbon neutral nautical experiences for all people without excuses or discrimination
No one stays on the ground. By not being able to enjoy accessible and affordable activities, we design realities for all people, reconnecting with the place where they/we are living, with its rivers and surrounded by the sea. Taking care for water is caring for the planet to which we belong, designing accessible experiences, real sailing in zero emission electric boats, and virtual using virtual reality technology, open up many opportunities to reduce inequalities.
Regional
Spain
Mariñas Coruñesas and Tierras del Mandeo Biosphere Reserve, Eume Natural Park (Province of La Coruña - Galicia)
Mainly rural
It refers to other types of transformations (soft investment)
No
No
Yes
2022-12-31
As a representative of an organisation
Name of the organisation(s): Praxxis Inclusion Cooperativa Sin Ánimo de Lucro Type of organisation: Non-profit organisation First name of representative: Gemma de la Montaña Last name of representative: Garrido Gender: Female Nationality: Spain Function: Director Address (country of permanent residence for individuals or address of the organisation)<br/>Street and number: Lugar Curmá Town: Redes Postal code: 15623 Country: Spain Direct Tel:+34 637 59 06 60 E-mail:a-02velas@a-02velas.eu Website:https://a-02velas.eu/
Let no one, no one, stays on the ground. It is is our promise, our purpose. The nautical sector offers experiences for people to enjoy unforgettable moments, in the sea, rivers, lagoons, accessing beautiful places. But by definition, many of those places are not accessible, and neither is transportation.
It's the first thing we started working on 5 years ago. Boats in which anyone, regardless of their ability or capability, in the most natural and comfortable way possible, can enjoy beautiful surroundings, learning about the flora and fauna that inhabit them. Many of the people who sail with us say nothing or have their peculiar way of expressing themselves, but their faces say it all. Others do not stop, sight, listening, feeling, perceive, discern, dreaming...
The result in that first phase was to have safe and agile boats to enter those hidden paradises, where everyone can get on and off without difficulty. Quiet, stable boats, no vibrations, no smell, for total well-being. Convinced that our boats could not use fossil fuels and discharge into the sea or emit gases, we opted for electric boats, of course fully accessible.
This comfort inherent in boats that do not use combustion engines, as in the case of our sailboats, but with the limitation of not being able to navigate shallow waters or rivers, opting for electric propulsion catamarans.
And we loosen the moorings. It is difficult to describe that sensation until it has been experienced.
When we say that everyone can enjoy, it means everyone. To date, the age range goes from 4 months to 97 years old. The profiles, people with reduced mobility, cerebral palsy, autism, cognitive deficit, students from the smallest to university, groups of scientists, photographers looking for that unique photo of a dolphin, an eagle, or a sunset behind the marshes.
Our activities touch many SDGs, but there are 4 SDGs present in any, and if they were not present in the design phase, we redesign them: 3, 10, 13 and 14.
Diversity & Inclusion
Circular Nautical
Universal accessibility
Responsible design
Experiences for all
For us, sustainability is such a broad concept that we have always wanted to ground it within a coherent model that seeks sustainability of the environment in which we operate, with our ecological balance that we constantly review, social sustainability in terms of the well-being of our collaborators and users ( the vast majority people with different abilities), economic sustainability, especially with regard to investments and their return in the 3 areas, in accordance with our 3 balance sheets: social, ecological and economic.
There are many examples but let's try to put 1: When we sail with our electric boats, we are zero emissions, but we must recharge the batteries, since enough solar panels to compensate for the recharges and for not investing in expensive batteries. We develop a control system (with other factors such as speed, sea currents...) that we turn into trees that we plant in partner farms. The users of our services can plant their trees themselves or show them the ones we plant to offset their footprint. The social impact is very high due to the users' awareness that their own footprint can be directly compensated. In turn, the ecological farms with which we collaborate provide us with products that we can taste on board or be bought in the mixed activities that we organize by sea and land. A circular economy model in our own way, real and that helps to raise awareness. This example is widely used with the schools, children live a complete experience, fun but full of lessons.
Our main objective, our leitmotiv, our purpose, we would not be able to say very well what it is: NOBODY, NOBODY STAYS ON GROUND.
Well that, no one stays on land, enjoying various activities, designed for each profile. Tasting of km0 products in collaboration with local ecological producers. Collection of those "ugly things" thrown on the beaches and convert them into musical instruments. Observation of the seabed with virtual reality glasses; these activities have 2 aspects: see how beautiful the background is while we navigate, or verify that not everything is beautiful specially when we carry out environmental awareness activities with schools. Awareness-raising actions and/or training actions on design and universal accessibility with tourism managers, public or private, to see that many of the accessibility solutions that we design are applicable to many more environments, spaces, activities. To name just a few activities.
To give an example. An older man saw us arrive at the port with a group of boys playing music on board. The man was in a wheelchair. He signaled to us and upon seeing the design of the boat, he asked us if it was possible to go directly on board without any kind of artifacts. We told him yes. We went sailing, comfortable and safe. The second day we invited him to take the helm, he couldn't believe it, he said that he had dreamed of sailing all his life and that he had never found a really accessible boat, but taking the helm! He took the boat. He came back several times. He cried several times... of joy. He would say: sorry, I'm so happy, like a kid with new shoes.
There are many stories that we could tell, there are no 2 alike. We often say that we could write a book. Let's see if we can find some time!
Inclusion? well! Any action or another is inclusive. It is the essence. When we design an experience, a boat, a service... with a sharp pencil, the first stroke is inclusion. We always say that for one reason or another, the day someone was excluded from our project (as a collaborator, user, provider) our project would not be this one, loosing its essence.
It's not polite, but I'll start by talking about myself. I was born and lived in a charming town, Redes, a traditional fishing port. The fishermen men, their women protagonists of an ancestral tradition "redeñas". Me... just a girl in love with the sea and her customs. At the age of 9, I was facing my first regatta, in the Optimist category, in front of 371 participants for the Galicia Cup. In 31st place, she was the winner along with a diabetes with which I was born, showing that nothing is impossible. On the same day as my 28th birthday, the diagnosis hardened and I lost sight in my left eye. The right, well... I usually in the sea he sees everything. After 18 years with low vision, I am still at the helm of a small fleet of 100% electric and 100% accessible boats.
We have too a 10 meter long sailboat that we rehabilitate in an integral way, soon our old friend will be 50 years old, it is our laboratory. Away from the noise, close to nature, with all the people who want, we ideate, dream, prototype, dive, with that feeling we have changed the world a little, with new ideas, proposals, opportunities and solutions. This is where we design most of the inclusive experiences that we carry out with the electric and accessible boats with different profiles, people with reduced mobility, people with low or no vision, with low or no hearing, people with cognitive deficits, people with spectrum disorders autistic, people with degenerative diseases... activities with music on board, craft activities recovering objects that wash up on the beaches, observation of fauna and flora, environmental education activities with virtual reality glasses, particularly with schools of the area, activities combined with other partners, such as visits to ecological producers, farms... all forming part of the Mariñas Coruñesas and Tierras del Mandeo Biosphere Reserve, more than 100 certified companies, including producers, restaurants and ecotourism companies cooperating. we are delighted.
We are also part of the Spanish Ecotourism Club, of the Galician Tourism Cluster, of different forums around inclusion and universal design, certified by the Spanish Ministry of Tourism for "tourism commitment", of the marine research center at Cabanas (CIMM), involved in various associations, at local, regional and national level, among others.
One of our dreams is that the model be replicated, that others learn from us (also from our mistakes) and we are achieving it, different initiatives of inclusive nautical experiences and respectful of our seas and rivers are being born.
Little by little we are achieving it, due to the number of inquiries we receive. When we are not at sea, there are not weeks that we have 2 or 3 meetings with partners or friendly organizations.
The design of our model obviously includes sustainability, aesthetics and inclusion, although not in a dissociated way. The 3 values "touch" themselves.
We have designed a tool (essential for the entire team, including our partners and alliances, to understand each other's purpose, role, and responsibility) that we often use to visually position or reposition the dimensions of our project. There are 3 blocks, with 3 dimensions each, that is, 9 dimensions that we apply to the project as a whole or to each line or activity. The 9 dimensions are: users (users, customers...), us (that is, the team, including external collaborators), our alliances (private or public), our ecosystem (our environment, where we operate, as the Biosphere Reserve, some call it the market), the design (whether of products, services, experiences, organization...), the culture (both internal and that of the environment in which we work), the costs (its structure, fixed, variable...), the expected results (whether economic, social or any other kind of benefits, for instance the reduction of our footprint), and investments (tangible and intangible, materials, time, training...), calculating their return. It is not easy to explain how it works in a few words, just highlight that no dimension remains "dangling" and all "touching" or "connected" create a system from which decisions are made.
The 3 pillars, sustainability, aesthetics and inclusion, are transversal, in fact where they most influence, are for example in terms of Sustainability, in Design, Environment, Investments, Costs and Results; Aesthetic, particularly affects the users, the environment, the culture of the environment and the investments; In what Inclusion has the most weight, it is in the users, our team, both internal and external culture, design, investments and social benefits.
One of the result is the consolidation of Praxxis Inclusion, our non-profit Cooperative. Created in 2020, in the midst of the pandemic, turning around our model from years ago, focusing on 4 objectives, coinciding with the SDGs 3 + 10 + 13 + 14.
Making the balance in economic terms of the last 3 years must be mitigated, 2020 was appalling, 2021 very bad, 2022 good, having to compensate for the losses of 2020 and 2021, which stopped us from undertaking some investments. If we managed to launch the first 100% accessible + 100% electric boats in Europe, still in the prototyping phase, we could not launch the first accessible + electric + boat built with recycled materials from abandoned boats (except engines and navigation and security computer systems), a target by the end of 2023.
The most relevant impact in 2022 is having achieved that 472 people enjoyed inclusive nautical experiences. No one stayed on the ground.
In this year 2022 (the irregular activity of 2020 and 2021 did not allow to obtain reliable data), we fine-tuned our footprint calculation systems, involving all the people who came on board, with compensation for our activities in partner farm fields by replanting trees, some planted and cared for by the users themselves.
In a sector considered elitist and exclusive, we achieved what we were looking for, beyond accessing a boat in a natural way and affordable, beyond discovering areas inaccessible by land, beyond seeing cormorants or dolphins up close, beyond accessing the seabed in 360º, beyond seeing a sunset and each one "touching" their own horizon: all people, without exception, smile. The smile is undoubtedly our main KPI. That smile is a symbol of reconnection in every way, with oneself, with respect to others, of course with nature. The omnipresent smile, confirming our intuition, that the satisfaction of a "customer", at least ours, is not measured on a scale of 1 to 10, but in the "length" of the smile.
Every day when we wake up, we ask ourselves what innovation means to us, about our processes, products, services... Our approach is not based on innovating just for the sake of it. It comes out of the conviction to allow anyone who whishes to enjoy our environment; the conviction that accesibility is not expensive when designed with sense; the conviction that there are real alternatives to CO2 emissions; the conviction that ships cannot continue to be abandoned on the seabed and be recycled, building others boats or a lot of elements for common nautical uses.
An example: when we think to access to a boat with a harness lifting system, it's because we don't ask to the potential users. When we ask them if they would like to sail, the response is: I would like / a dream for me, but don't lift me up on a crane, I know what it is to get on a hospital bed or for a transfer, if I go with you it is to enjoy. Asking is also innovating.
When we see the underwater depths from the boat with 360º glasses, it is innovation to a certain extent, but above all it is allowing access to other worlds to people who could not dive, due to limitations, knowledge, license in protected areas such as for which we go, and affordable...
Faced with a need, a lack, a barrier, the first step is to ask people what they think, feel, want, wish, could do or not... From these insights, a map of possibilities is drawn up, associating roles and resources, and looking at laws and regulations in parallel. The ideation process begins, validating ideas to go on to prototyping and testing. This process, summarized here, apllies to any problem to be solved. In the case of universal accesibility, we are seeing that many actions that did not count on people from the beginning. Changes, patches, redesign have a high cost. Innovation starts at minute zero, and until people get off the boats after the experiences. Of course, the work day is not over, it remains to clean, review the security elements...
Our goal is to develop knowledge and tools that improve the human performance, health and wellness and social participation of groups who have been marginalized by traditional design practices in the nautical field. Our activities are based on methodologies and tools focused on inclusive design.
All our experiences are based on the same principle: people fully participate in the society in which they live and in economic, political and cultural life, being the environments, processes, products and services, as well as the instruments, tools and devices, understandable, usable and practicable by all people in conditions of safety and comfort and in the most autonomous and natural way possible.
When an idea, a proposal, an incident arises, we use our sailboat as a laboratory. We leave in the middle of the estuary, we drop anchor, away from all noise, interruptions or interferences. All the people involved, with post-its of all colors, we design priority matrices, map of actors, map of decisions, review of resources... and we devise, reiterate, prototype. We let a few days pass depending on the topic or urgency, and we return to the sea to contrast or filter what has been devised with different tools such as compliance with the SDGs, feasibility over time, or the PESTLE tool, assessing the Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Legal and Ecological, in terms of impacts, barriers or opportunities.
If it goes ahead, to test, and if ok, we validate.
Just 5 years ago, when we lowered the first accessible electric boat prototype into the water, many looked at us in disbelief, particularly players in the sector. In fact, when our webmaster, in an electric wheelchair (only moves his head a little, working with visual recognition tools), wanted to test the prototype, the maritime authorities said that we could not because they did not have sufficient material resources in case of an accident. We told Dani: We have a problem, they won't let us. He answered: let them get annoyed, it's my dream. We told him: come on, let's go sailing. Since then, the authorities in charge of maritime rescue sometimes consult us when they have doubts about the design of rescue material.
Today, the electrification of ships is the order of the day. Much remains to be done, but progress is being made, in fact there is little time left, in 2030, the European Directive will be applied, which will make it necessary to preside over fossil fuels. As for accessibility, there's a world left, but we know that a lot of ship designers are trying to. Each query, no matter how reticent they may be, is a victory for us. Before, it didn't even cross their minds. Regarding the use of recycled materials to make new boats, there is still a lot of resistance, but we know that when they resist, they are also thinking about it. It will come. When? We don't have the answer, but it will come. We prefer to be optimistic. When someone tells us that something is impossible, we are convinced that behind this (damn) word, there are many opportunities.
Over the last 3 years, we have received several recognitions, awards, articles in the press and references on television, which we are sure inspire others.
We are used to sailing against winds and tides, and the day always comes when the weather clears up, arriving at port happy and sure that we will all win.
Before launching our first electric and accesible boat, it was usual that how it be prevented to sail in special areas (as Natura 2000 Network) with combustion engines if there were no alternatives. In that sense, in 3 years, we change the rules and the authorities began to take measures.
We face the same in terms of accesibility in port facilities, It was common to hear that why make ports accessible if people with disabilities do not usually practice nautical activities.
A 94-year-old man, fisherman all his life in the small port of Redes, where we dock often, came aboard, asking us what kind of ship it was. Electric, we said. Impossible, all my life at sea, it doesn't exist, he answered. We sailed for a couple of hours. At the helm, the old man was happy, excited to sail quietly, safely, without smoke or vibration or smell. I love living the present, he asserted.
An elderly lady, with difficulty moving, sat in the boat's adapted chair, she did not stop talking during the entire voyage, grateful. She said: there, is the house where I live and where I was born, showing us with her hand where she lived, 85 years old that I see the sea every day and I had never boarded a boat out of fear, how good I feel! Really thank you very much!
Most of the children from the schools that participate in activities did not get on a boat either, they know the beaches, paths near the rivers, but they have never been to those places that we reached that are not accessible by land. They see their environment in a different way, they discover the seabed thanks to the virtual reality glasses that we carry on board, we teach them to recognize the fauna and flora of the places where we pass. We know that when the biodiversity of a place is known, respect for it and the need to care for it increase exponentially.
We believe that this global challenge of caring for people and the land they inhabit is not an impossible task.
