Located in Sacramento California, S2S Teepee at the International Rescue Committee's Karma Farm.

Mission/Vision

OUR MISSION AND VISION

MISSION:

Our mission is to save retired elite, maxi and Grand Prix sails from landfill by transforming them into industrial-sized shade and shelter solutions for humanitarian crises around the world. 

VISION:

Sail to Shelter collects and transforms elite sails into shade and shelter for humanitarian aid organizations around the world.

Modern racing sails are highly customized, meticulously tuned pieces of specialized equipment that until now, have not had obvious and easy reuse options that would maximize their scale and durability.

Sails are donated and registered through a global network of lofts, manufacturers, and yacht clubs. Our goal is to locate the material as close to the area in need as possible. For example, we are shipping sails and rigging from Spain and Europe into Poland for crossing into Ukraine, and sails from San Diego and Miami for solutions at the US/Mexico border.

Ours is a three-pronged approach:

  1. Elite, maxi and Grand Prix retired sails currently have no meaningful second life. They are custom-made and used a handful of times. This project will keep millions of square meters of high-performance sail material out of landfill and oceans.
  2. We aim to maximize the world-wide sailing community to support local and nearby communities, camps, or disaster areas WHERE the material is being stored. This will save on the environmental impacts of moving things around the world.
  3. Through humanitarian aid organizations around the world, we will help millions of people desperate for basic human needs.

Our multidisciplinary approach to solving the problem allows everyone to bring their specialized discipline to the problem, allowing us to find the most robust solution. Included in the design and development process are; the customer, architects, structural and industrial engineers, master sailmakers, sailors, and textile engineers. We are building a global system that works for local communities using materials, supplies, and human resource to construct industrial solutions in areas that would otherwise have to wait weeks or even months and sometimes would never receive aid.