The superyachts, luxury villas and performance cars provide a stark contrast to an altogether different side of the Balearics, and that’s poverty. After 27 years helping to run the annual Pinmar Yachtsman’s Golf Tournament and channelling the proceeds to many local charities, GYG’s Nick Entwisle had became well aware of the crude reality of those facing the risk of social exclusion and poverty on our islands.
When retiring from GYG in May 2019, Nick was keen to stay involved in the yachting community and also to help those in need. He used his extensive industry contacts to enlist support for his Yachting Gives Back initiative, hoping to organise regular, seasonal drives to collect donations for several local charities. However, the yachting community embraced the initiative right from the beginning to such a degree that Nick and his team found themselves picking up donations almost on a daily basis.
Support from Pinmar Supply, who provided donation boxes and storage space in the early days, was invaluable. After the STP shipyard kindly provided a central point of collections in the form of a container, YGB´s activity is now focused around their “headquarters” at STP, open three mornings a week.
Yachting Gives Back now collects food, toiletries, cleaning materials, meals prepared by the yachts’ chefs, clothing, bedding and other useful items to deliver to various charitable organisations on the island. Financial support from companies and individuals allows YGB to respond to specific needs like washing machines, fridges and other equipment in the soup kitchens and homeless shelters.
“The yachting industry is surrounded by incredible luxury and it’s very easy to forget that people are struggling right on our doorstep,” says Nick. “Employment in the Balearic Islands can be seasonal and low-paid at the best of times let alone now, in the grip of the pandemic with the tourism sector on its knees.
The soup kitchens and food banks report that now even middle class families are joining the queues for food donations. Whether yacht crew or service businesses, we are fortunate to make our living from some of the wealthiest people on the planet and many, but by no means all, of us are therefore in a position where we can easily give something back to this beautiful island community we call home.”
The Team Commitment with a smile
The YGB Team comes from all walks of yachting life - we have worked as crew members, captains, chefs, yachting entrepreneurs, office all-rounders and high tech specialists, but at YGB we are, above all, volunteers. We bring our particular skill sets and personalities to the project, roll up our sleeves and get on with it. We share Nick’s desire to do something for our community and are committed to the task at hand. However, this doesn’t mean we take ourselves too seriously - like any yachties, we love having fun and enjoy lighthearted banter!
Please swing by the container to say hi even if you don’t have a bag of donations with you. We would love to see you!