For centuries, cabin boys, who were often young children, would take to the sea to learn a trade as a way to escape from misery. Grumet Exit was the first project of the Fundación Laureus España, created in mid-2006 and chaired by Juan Antonio Samaranch Salisachs. Grumet Exit is open to students of both sexes in the third and fourth year of secondary school, most of whom are immigrants with academic problems, a tendency towards absenteeism or trouble fitting in socially who are given an extracurricular stimulus that has a favourable impact on their academic and personal lives.
Spanish Laureus Sport for Good Foundation learninng to navigate
Grumet Exit, the first project of the Funadación Laureus España
When Laureus celebrated its first annual awards event in Barcelona 2006, a relationship was established with the Catalán city and its leaders which grew into a desire to find new projects to be developed that focused on sport and youth. An agreement was reached with the El Far Consortium, which was already involved in sailing-related educational activities, and Laureus became the programme’s principal partner.
Andor Serra is the General Director of the El Far Consortium, which for fifteen years has been developing educational programmes focusing on navigation and employment options in the sector backed by the Generalitat and the City Council. He does not see the Grumet Exit programme sponsored by Laureus merely as sailing lessons but rather as a “way of preventing failure in the classroom” in which the selected students from different schools that participate in the programme “improve personally and become more sensitive to classes, more receptive and better able to progress in their education”.
Aboard the schooner Faro Barcelona, a Norwegian jakt from 1872, is where the young people participate in “basic activities and learn what sailing is all about as well as the values associated with it such as teamwork, respecting authority, the ability to assume responsibility and discover one’s own aptitudes”, according to Serra, who is pleased with the success of the first course held in 2006-2007, in which 197 students from 9 schools participated, more than 75% of whom passed all of the tests and received their diplomas from the five-time Tour winner, Miguel Induráin. He is equally optimistic this year about the participation of 200 adolescents from 11 schools (40% are girls) and hopes that “next year there will be 15 schools with even more participants”.
The idea is not to get out of conventional classes and spend the day playing pirates, although the schooner might, due to its appearance, seem like a good a place to do this. The students receive nine sessions of theoretical classes on navigation but they also learn how to protect the ship’s wooden hull with varnish or polish the portholes before setting sail. “We place them in a situation that is new to them and we adapt the navigation methodology to formulae that will help them out in their lives” comments Serra, who is convinced that the programme is also a social tool for steering adolescents who for different reasons may be considered difficult in the right direction.
“Above all, the object is for these kids to pass secondary school and I think that we are getting results” notes Nuria Jiménez, Director of the Grumet Exit, noting that the adolescents learn to plot courses and to use a compass and navigation charts and that they must use mathematics which enhances their academic performance”. For at least some of the students, this may also lead to professional opportunities in the future. According to Serra, “the nautical maintenance sector is growing considerably” and no method has been developed previously to ensure “qualified personnel”. The trade was formerly learned “from fishermen or by joining the merchant marine but times have changed and we now require a different method of learning”. And Grumet Exit is a “romantic” starting point, “thanks to the historical ship with its fine wood that needs to be pampered”.
The Barcelona Education Consortium is in charge of the pedagogical coordination of the course, although in practice the ones who act as the instructors of the young cabin boys (and girls) are the crew members and the Captain. “When you’re at sea, the one who knows is the one everyone respects”, says Serra. Students feel stimulated and they open up; they accept discipline because it is a form of security, as is working as a team when sailing. “All of the students work because the ones who don’t help out, the ones who slack off, look foolish. They become sponges, soaking up the knowledge that can then be applied in their lives”, President of El Far.
Sailing … a future profession?
Francisco, 17 years old, from Argentina, is an example of the goals that this programme can achieve. He has always liked the sea and dreamed of studying the art of navigation, although he had settled for being a lathe operator. After participating in the Grumet Exit programme he is now sure what he wants to do with his life. “Next year, a friend of mine and I are going to study ship maintenance which includes many things, including electronics.” He is so excited about the opportunity that he is even thinking about earning a nautical degree and “buying my own boat, but just a small one”. He and his classmates really enjoyed the programme and together they recorded most of the experience in a documentary type video which they’ve placed on their school’s website in Alsina.
Katherina, 15 years old, from Ecuador, is cheerful and nervous but shy underneath. She is Francisco’s classmate both at school and on the sailing adventure which is “totally new” to her because she had never had the opportunity to even step aboard a ship, mush less sail one. “It’s hard work but I like it because they teach us the theory and also the practice”. Unlike her classmate, she doesn’t view the sea as a professional opportunity, but she liked participating in the Laureus and El Far project so much that she signed up for the voluntary regatta. In this event, the students who showed the most interest in the course will spend a few days at sea along with their family members, putting all that they have learned into practice, from raising the sails to controlling water consumption. The adventure begins in Barcelona, with the first group setting sail on 18 June towards Alicante, with a stop in Ibiza, where a new group of students will take over and continue the journey to Cadiz.
Katherina learning the most important 'Bowline Knot'
In addition to increasing the number of participants in future editions, the President of El Far is also thinking of extending the experience to France, “because the Mediterranean is a cultural nexus” and Laureus is highly motivated to bring Mediterranean cities together and to offer its time and resources in that regard. “The members of Laureus, as athletes who have achieved greatness thanks to their personal efforts, are respectful and are trying to give something of what have received back to the world of sport.” He says. In the case of Grumet Exit, he concludes that “nearly 500 students have been able to avoid failure in school and to redirect their futures”. But he notes that “one should not think in terms of numbers but rather in terms of the quality and the ways in which the programme can be improved upon in the future”. In addition, he notes that the programme is also showing that “sailing is not an elitist sport”.
The kids on board the Faro Barcelona
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