Learn to Sail needs your support while we apply for grants
Seeking support from our community
The Learn to Sail program has trained generations of kids to sail. Over the years, many of the graduates of our programs have gone on to be recreational sailors, regatta champions 🏆 regionally and nationally 🇨🇦, and one alumnus is pursuing a career in the Coast Guard. More than that, the graduates of our programs feel comfortable and safe when at sea, which is so important for an island community.
Recently, with costs rising, the program has been struggling. To fix this, and to ensure a sustainable future for the program, the Learn to Sail Committee of the BIYC incorporated a new Bowen Island Learn to Sail Society (BILTSS) in January 2026 to execute a turnaround plan. At the heart of the turnaround plan is BILTSS as a new non-profit society that is laser focused on maximizing grant potential.
Applying for grants and establishing credibility with public donors is not a trivial undertaking. While we are seeking grant support, we are also delivering the program. We need extra help from the community to help get us to the position where we have stable and predictable funding from BC's Community Gaming Grant and Canada's Summer Job wage subsidy, amongst others.
The Society is community-benefit in its objectives and it is free for anyone to join as a member (holler at ahoy@bowensailing.ca). It is owned by YOU and it will be what we make it as a community. If we can't succeed, it will be very hard to recreate the program in the future.
Even if you can only donate a couple of bucks, every donation is crucial in helping us achieve our objective of a sustainable program that has stable funding to reduce the cost of our programs and reduce all barriers to entry. Broad-based community support is very helpful for our grant applications, so anything at all will help, more than you may think.
Thank you for your support! Donate here
Euan Sinclair, Commodore (chair), BILTSS
