“Sailors for Kids”: this is how sailing really helps kids. Interview with Davide Besana

Cartoonist, author and sailor Davide Besana presents in Milan on Feb. 20 Sailors for Kids, a new project dedicated to young people and the sea, which stems from the experience of Sail the Children (in its fourth edition) and uses sailing and the culture of going to sea as a means of inclusion and growth for less fortunate children. He tells us about it in a passionate interview.

Sailing is an extraordinary means of exploring the outside world and especially ourselves. When we leave our moorings at the dock and head for the horizon our point of view changes, we immerse ourselves in another dimension that brings us closer to nature and its challenges, to the sea and its laws. One grows and becomes stronger and more aware of one’s abilities or weaknesses. Above all, one learns to live with others and what is around us. Everyone should learn to go boating and as early as possible as a child.

Davide Besana, a journalist, painter, cartoonist and above all a sailor who has been sailing far and wide with his boat “Midva” for years, is convinced of this. Recently Davide is the protagonist of a very special and innovative project aimed precisely at children and young people up to 18 years in collaboration with the famous association “Save the Children”. The goal of the initiative is to popularize sailing and sea culture with a series of meetings and sailings along the Italian coasts with many disadvantaged young people who are offered sailing lessons, boat outings and experiences related to art and creativity. The project is called “Sail the Children,” is now in its fourth edition and involves some of the most outstanding names in Italian sailing. Davide Besana himself tells us about it, to whom we asked a series of questions.

• Davide, how and when did the Sail the Children project come about?

“Three years ago I began to collaborate with the famous Save the Children association. They had invited me to spend a day with them at Punto Luce in Ostia, a former abandoned school that was later turned into a social center for disadvantaged children. I had never dealt with children in my life, however, that meeting went very well, between theoretical explanations about sailing and practical outings at sea. That same year I then left with my boat for a cruise along the Italian coast, and together with Save the Children leaders we decided to meet with their groups in the various ports of call along the way. That idea that was born so on the wave of enthusiasm then turned into a three-year project that we christened “Sail the Children” and has so far involved more than 500 kids.”

• How has the project been structured and evolved over the years?

“The initiative appealed to the Naval League, which, together with Save the Children, created a calendar of appointments always with the intention of involving children and young people who, due to social issues and environmental context, do not have access to the classic paths of sailing learning (schools, sailing clubs, yachts clubs, etc.). In addition, various professionals from different fields have joined them, for example Luca Negro, Luna Rossa’s cameramen, Martina Orsini, Ambrogio Beccaria’s photographer, Alberto Origone, Giovanni Soldini’s videomaker, Lele Panzeri, Creative Director and writer, and then again Luca Ferron, one of the world’s most talented modelers and sea illustrator. Each of them gives lectures to these kids, tells about going to sea from his point of view in a way that is always engaging and non-trivial.”

• Tell us about what one of these typical days is like with the kids….

“We arrive in the morning at the port of call chosen in cooperation with the Naval League where a fleet of boats awaits us. Crews are made and then we set sail for a sail along the coast. The satisfaction is to bring these young people to observe their area from a different point of view, the sea in fact, to which they are not accustomed, and to discover their surprise and enthusiasm. For many it is their first time on a sailing boat and they are immediately involved in the conducting, maneuvering, and team spirit that sailing requires. From this point of view, the winch on board is a great teacher of life, because one pulls and the other turns the crank. If you don’t work together, in perfect synchrony, it doesn’t work. In this way the idea of crew is created right away. Then after the lunch break, we do drawing class applied to boats, sailing, wind, marine life. Drawing today kids meet it in passing at school then lose it along the way replacing it with smartphones, selfies, social channels and the like. However, it remains in my opinion one of the most profound, concrete and universal means of expression.”

• On a human level, what has this kind of work brought you?

“A great satisfaction and also many emotions. To have brought on board, for example, the boys from Locride, one of the most violent areas in Europe, with those from San Luca and those from Locri, who by territorial culture are bitter enemies, who on the other hand lived together, collaborated and had fun as they had never done together. These things stay with you and make you realize how important they are, especially in today’s context that sees scenarios of war and generalized hatred everywhere. With drawing the same thing happens, the kids discover a world that is then their world which they express in a simple and creative way.”

The 2025 edition will be presented on February 20 in Milan

The 2025 edition of the “Sail the Children” project, “Sailors for Kids,” will be presented on Thursday, Feb. 20, at 6 p.m. in Milan, at the office of Giuseppe La Scala, a lawyer and great sailing enthusiast, with Davide Besana and his team telling the spirit, the route, and the encounters that will take place along the Italian coasts. In fact, with the sailing boat “Midva” Davide will sail from Genoa to Trieste, touching many ports: Liguria, Tuscany and Lazio in June, Calabria, Sicily and Puglia in July and the Adriatic coasts in August. Also with him will be famous sailors and navigators, including Alberto Riva, Alberto Bona, Mauro Pelaschier, Flavio Favini, Giulia Conti, Tommaso Chieffi, Checco and Gabriele Bruni.

The Milan event will also be an opportunity to raise funds to support the “Sailors for Kids” association, which over the past three years has seen the partnership of many public and private entities, including Harken, Osculati, Raymarine, Banks Sails, Gottifredi Maffioli, Fiv and Lega Navale.