Cascadia Sailing & Wild About Sailing receive Sailing for All Grant: 2SLGBTQIA+ Community Engagement!

Photo credit 📸: Thomas Hawer

 

We’re pleased to share that Cascadia Sailing and Wild About Sailing received a grant to provide subsidized introductory sailing days for members of the 2SLGBTQIA+ community on South Vancouver Island, the Lower Mainland, and beyond.

 

Please help us spread the word.

With Sail Canada’s support, we’re offering a full-day introduction to sailing aboard Westerly, Cascadia Sailing’s high-performance Melges 37. For $100 (or no cost for those who need accommodation), participants learn from members of Cascadia’s elite women’s team and from our Sail Canada keelboat instructors.

Details here: https://2slgbtqia.wildaboutsailing.com/

 

Why this matters to us: We’re introducing women’s sailing courses at Wild in 2026, but as parents of a non-binary individual, we found ourselves asking a bigger question. How do we create space that is welcoming to 2SLGBTQIA+ individuals, especially those who are gender-diverse? Co-captain Joy Dahlgren and her team are generously helping us explore that.

 

Victoria and Vancouver have some of the highest concentrations of transgender and non-binary individuals in Canada. We’re learning there are people in this community who learned to sail as kids and are ready to reconnect with our sport.

 

Many amateur keelboat competitions on the Salish Sea have no gender requirements that limit participation. As our fleets shrink and participation growth remains flat, this is an important time to build relationships with other sporting communities.

 

Please feel welcome to reach out with questions, and help us spread the word.

For more information email dave@wildaboutsailing.com