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Maritime Education and Sail Training for Young Peo.. (M.A.S.T.)
Maritime Education and Sail Training for Young People
(M.A.S.T.)
Start date: Oct 31, 2010,
End date: Apr 29, 2015
PROJECT
FINISHED
MAST project origins from the local initiative of City of Gdansk to restore the historical two-mast sailing vessel General Zaruski and dedicate it to non-commercial sailing with young people. Inspired by the international history of the boat, an idea came up to let mixed groups of young people from different countries participate in such sail vacation, get to know each other and learn something for their life. Sailing, besides the sportive and team-building aspects, is known for its character-building properties. Therefore, MAST offer is targeted especially on young people (between 15 and 25) from disadvantaged backgrounds: with insufficient education and poor job perspectives. MAST cruises will not only mean leisure, but also of a comprehensive theory & practice teaching programme (English, history, geography and politics of the South Baltic Sea region, marine ecology, crafts, elements of shipbuilding, sailing traditions etc.). Achievements: Therefore, MAST offer is targeted especially on young people (between 15 and 25) from isadvantaged backgrounds: with insufficient education and poor job perspectives. MAST cruises mean not only leisure, but also of a comprehensive theory & practice teaching programme (English, history, geography and politics of the Baltic Sea region, marine ecology, crafts, elements of shipbuilding, sailing traditions etc.). Moreover attractive and educative daytrips around all visited harbours were organised. In order to make the MAST offer attractive and accessible to everyone, all courses and events were free of charge for participants. In the first project phase, MAST partners carried out an active recruitment process to gather at least 300 participants from Poland, Lithuania, Sweden, Denmark and Germany. In parallel, instructors were trained on a special MAST training, which covered not only advanced sailing skills, but also pedagogy and the different elements of the maritime education. Around 1/3 of the trainers were recruited from former participants. In 2012 and 2013 around 15 test sail courses were conducted on the partner vessels: Sarpen, Brabander, Sniadecki, Røret and General Zaruski once its restored. All these vessels were needed to test as many constellations of instructors and participants from the different countries and backgrounds as possible. The experience of these test sailings were collected in the MAST Vademecum of Maritime Education and Sail Training for Young People, which will be a basis for further functioning of the readymade MAST Programme.The restored General Zaruski should, following the original purpose for which it was built in the 1930s, be dedicated primarily to non-commercial sail courses and maritime education for young people.