13 brilliant ways yachts are used for charity

In August 2016, the Ellen MacArthur Cancer Trust revealed that is has used a grant from the People’s Postcode Lottery to buy a new 13.94 metre Bénéteau Oceanis 45 sailing yacht.

The charity helps children with mobility issues caused by cancer to get on the water and the new yacht, based in the Scottish town of Largs, will be crucial in this as it features a lowering transom for ease of access. Frank Fletcher, chief executive of the Ellen MacArthur Cancer Trust, said, “This new yacht will allow us to provide a better experience for our young people with mobility issues from Northern England and Scotland.”

In July 2016, the former Barcelona and Spain footballer Xavi Hernández donated his yacht La Pelopina to the non-governmental organisation Proactivia Open Arms. The yacht will be auctioned off to raise funds for the organisation, which was set up to help save the lives of refugees attempting to cross the Mediterranean.

Spanish organisation Proactivia Open Arms is currently based on the Greek island of Lesbos, which received more than 55,000 refugees in the first six months of the year. The organisation has raised more than €500,000 since the beginning of 2016 to help tackle the Mediterranean refugee crisis.

The organisers of the 2015 Nord Stream Race, the Norddeutscher Regatta Verein and Saint Petersburg Yacht Club, invited the crews competing to do so for a good cause. Crews could participate in a Childhood Charity Race, of which proceeds would be donated to the World Childhood Foundation. All winners donated their prize money of €3,000 to the World Childhood Foundation, making the kids the real winners of this yacht race.

"We are very happy to be able to support the World Childhood Foundation in this way as they are doing tremendous work for the benefit of the children all over the globe. I know that the initiator of the foundation, Queen Sylvia of Sweden, is very interested in sailing and is appreciating the commitment of the sailors”, said Alexander Prinz zu Schleswig-Holstein, a representative of Norddeutscher Regatta Verein.