Sentinel Ocean Alliance was formed to create ocean-based opportunities for the underprivileged youth of Hout Bay. This year may have been a tough one globally, but it has been a great learning for us and for our very own community here in Hout Bay. It taught us that in the hardest times we can all come together and strive for a better, stronger, healthier and more impactful future. In the past years, we learned how to bring the community together, teach kids how to become better adults and take care of their own surroundings. We taught children how to care for the oceans, with simple ways such as removing plastic from the seas and shores. We also taught them how to swim, surf, become lifesavers, be ocean aware and eliminate their fear of the ocean. Enter COVID-19, we became one team and provided work and food to people in need in the hardest times our community has ever seen.
We partnered with The Little Optimist Trust, an organization that inspires kids to look past their present circumstances and look to the future with hope and possibility. On Thursday, the 15th of October, SOA participated in The Little Optimist Global Challenge at Tintswalo Atlantic in Hout Bay, with the message that every dream you have, it starts with one small step. Just like the small optimist boat that every sailor learns how to sail on. We challenged to community and our friends to donate R1000 and sit in the Little Optimist boat for 30 minutes. What a fun event it was! A big thank you to Tintswalo Atlantic and The Little Optimist for allowing us to participate in your Global Challenge.
The Little Optimist dinghy is just the start of something bigger, as the Offshore sailor, Adrian Kuttel, will be crossing the Atlantic for the very first time during the Cap Martinique race, a transatlantic race from Brittany to Martinique starting 18th of April 2021 for solo and double-handed IRC yachts, where the sailors have chosen to support an organization. Adrian Kuttel, who grew up in the same neighborhood with Frank Solomon, has proudly chosen SOA and its initiatives as his association of societal support for the Cap-Martinique race! Adrian's boat will sail across the Atlantic proudly demonstrating SOA.
We cannot wait to show you the Cap Martinique | SOA boat in all its glory which we will be complete by the end of this year. Our very own Sentinel Ocean Explorer!