450 nautical miles and the largest crew in the history of Sails of the Spirit: how the 17th stage of the International Inclusive Expedition went

Representatives from Russia, Turkey, Latvia, Sweden, Germany, Ukraine in two weeks traveled from Fethiye through Antalya to Tashuja and back to Fethiye. From September 25 to October 9, the expedition members organized three inclusive regattas in stop-over cities, held inclusive master classes, landscaping campaigns, environmental campaigns, and inclusive concerts. Each event ended with an international round dance consisting of Russian and Turkish folk dance movements.

In Antalya, the first city of the expedition’s stop, the team held a landscaping campaign and an opening ceremony at the Unlimited Cafe. The next day, an inclusive regatta took place, in parallel with which inclusive trainings were held on a large yacht with the participation of local residents, representatives of the Russian society of Antalya.

In the second city, where the expedition came – Tashuju, the big opening of the International Days of Inclusion took place, which took place within the framework of “Sails of the Spirit 2021” in the city of Silifke from October 1 to 5. The international inclusive crew on board the yacht was met by the Mayor of Silifke Sadyk Altunok, the head of the construction department of Akkuyu Nuclear JSC (NPP under construction) Maxim Kucherenko, representatives of local disabled people’s societies.

In his speech, the Mayor of Silifke Sadik Altunok said: “The main goal of this project, which is being implemented by White Cane NGO, the Federation of Visually Impaired Turkey, and to which we are trying to contribute, is to unite people with disabilities from around the world. Such events will allow us to identify projects prepared for people with disabilities in different countries, to create new projects in this regard. As a municipality of Silifke, we continue to create modern and projects that will make life easier for people with disabilities living in the area through joint projects with our non-governmental organizations, and we continue to implement these projects”.

The opening and inclusive concert took place on the shore of the marina, where the yacht “Sails of the Spirit” was moored. The concert was attended by Turkish inclusive creative groups, singers, dancers, Vladimir Bush – a blind rock musician from Krasnoyarsk – performed with his songs. The event ended with a round dance.

The next day, in the same marina, the team organized an inclusive regatta, going out to sea on a large yacht with master classes, as well as an environmental campaign with the creation of an Art object from the collected garbage. The employees of Akkuyu Nuclear JSC took an active part in the ecological action, the freedivers club helped to raise the garbage from the bottom of the water area, Sergey Butskikh, Deputy General Director of Akkuyu Nuclear JSC, took part in the yacht races. The art object was created by Pavel Erlich, an artist from Hamburg.

From 1 to 5 October, the crew of the Sails of the Spirit took part in the International Days of Inclusion in Silifka. The organizers were Dursun Arslan, Metin Unel and Soner Demir (City Council of Disabled People of Akdeniz District). As part of the International Inclusion Days, panel discussions, master classes on drawing and walking in the Dark, self-massage, a greening campaign, and sports inclusive games were held. Lutfi Sarici, an expert of the regional communications department of the communications department of the Akkuyu NPP, one of the founders of the nuclear industry in Turkey, took part in the greening campaign and sports games.

The final point of the expedition was an inclusive regatta in Fethiye with the participation of a local community of disabled people, in parallel, inclusive master classes were also held on a large yacht. The captains of the yachts were Janis Elerts (Latvia) and Viktor Klokov (Russia) – the coordinator of the Sails of the Spirit 2021 project in the Sea of Azov.

“I am a lucky woman, I managed to visit two expeditions of the Sails of the Spirit this year. The first was on the Don, it was a real sailing expedition. This expedition was close to nature, I would say, I was glad to meet the people with whom we sailed together. The second trip to Turkey turned out to be completely different in mood, as I am very grateful to the organizers for it. I managed to meet incredible interesting people, exchange energies, feelings, plans with them. I was very glad to become a part of Sails of the Spirit twice, – said a visually impaired participant from Moscow, Elena Yakovleva.