If your feet start itching when you’re staying on the land for too long, it’s time to set sail with Naleia Yachting.

Naleia Yachting’s values allow them to mix together a high level of environmental consciousness with the joy and adrenaline of sailing on pristine waters.


Who are you?

Hi, my name is Dominik Sarapata. Being of Polish nationality and working and living in the wonderful city of Vienna, Austria. I have a very international outlook, creating special sailing trip where one can “meet as strangers and leave as friends”.

Sailing is my passion, sometimes it is good to escape from routine, try something completely different that will challenge you to integrate into a team with new people, experience new places and learn new skills. Sailing tires the body but helps free the mind, it teaches you to take life as it comes!

I like honest people that love the beauty of nature and are open to new challenges!

 

Can you tell more about your activity ?

Naleia Yachting International was created in 2013, one year after I passed my sailing license. In our first season, we had five yachts full of people for two weeks of sailing! Steadily expanding each following year, we are today running sailing trips in many destinations. We are most active around Europe but also visit exotic destinations like Thailand, Seychelles and the Caribbean.

Typically, “Naleians” tend to be between 25 and 45 years old, although certainly not exclusively. It is the mental age that counts! The primary need is that people are open to new experiences and are comfortable with an active and participatory trip. A Pro-skipper has overall responsibility for the boat and will be happy to teach you basics if you wish to learn

On average, there are 50% solos, 25% couples and best friends and 25% small groups. Sailing is a unique sport that can be performed alone but is much more fun as part of a team!

Our sailing trips are special because we handcraft each and every of it. We are not organizing them week after week and get bored with the location we sail in. We are alternating the trips and visiting special places which are also fun to visit for us, the organizers. We are focusing on a community aspect of our trips and want to attract people of a certain mindset: with wide horizons, intelligence and social intelligence. We want to make friends with you and see you coming on the trips year after year.

We have created some very exciting new sailing routes for the 2019 season. How about sailing for a week in the incredible beauty of the Norwegian fjords, above the Arctic Circle (the “Midnight Sun” route)? Or if you prefer to concentrate on the French coast and soaking up Breton culture, how about joining the Brittany “Chasing Clouds” route?

Check out all the great routes on our website, we would love to welcome you on-board.

 

What is the local reality about waste and environmental protection in your location?

We sail on open seas and rivers, calling at locations en-route. The marine environment is a special eco-system that needs our protection. It is all our responsibilities to ensure this and we are pleased that the issue is finally getting more attention.

Plastic pollution is the most visible sign of pollution of the ocean and shoreline. It is distressing to see carelessly discarded packaging that is not only unsightly but harming wildlife. Less visible are the micro-plastics that come from a range of products, including some cosmetics.

Some coastal areas and popular sites are overwhelmed with visitors at peak times. We seek out remoter spots and try to visit popular sites out of peak times. Being a small operator, we are having a lesser impact than cruises disgorging vast numbers of people in one spot at the same time. However, we are aware of our responsibilities to protect the natural environment and offer guidance before and during each trip.

We are informing our participants before the trip about what is desired on board and what is not. We are suggesting to bring along only bio-degradable cosmetics to use on board as every water outflow of the small sailing yacht ends up in the sea. We are promoting use of re-usable shopping bags and we have banned use of any single-use plastic on board. We are also occasionally cleaning up the beaches we visit and bringing the rubbish to the nearest garbage bin.

Often the local communities are surprised to see us with large garbage bags. Often there are no garbage segregation containers and often the local community is contributing largely to the amount of trash around. We can only lead by example which is our aim.

 

How do you integrate tourism and sustainability at the same time?

Fundamental to our values are kindness, respect and care for others. This is mirrored in our respect for the natural world that we encounter on our travels.

We travel by the power of the wind and will only use engine assistance in case of real need. This leaves a much lower environmental footprint than with large cruise ships and we have less impact when we are ashore.

We are partnering with Water Rangers, a Canadian NGO, who provide us with kits to monitor the level of pollution in the sea. We take these along and take our measurements when possible.

We source products locally before we sail. Each participant is asked to join in the preparation of meals and this means we have healthy, freshly produced meals on board. Any packaging is stored and prepared for collection at the end of the trip.

We are recognized as offering “plastic free” holidays by Responsible Travel. Non bio-degradable cosmetics are not permitted on board, we ask clients to travel light and pack only essential toiletries for the journey.

We treat water as a precious commodity on board, bathrooms are shared and time spent in the shower kept to a minimum. Toilets are hand pumped which reduces the amount of water used.

By visiting remote and uninhabited bays as well as historic, inspiring cities, we want to show people the beauty of our planet. We want people to be inspired to stay out in nature and learn to appreciate and respect it. Once participants snorkel every day and see the clarity of the water and rubbish on the sea bottom, once they sail and feel the wind, hike and watch sunsets together and see the beauty of the surrounding area, see the clear night sky with thousands of stars…

Once participants do all these for a week, every day, they learn that our world is really unique and needs preservation.

 

Why do you partner with My Green Trip?

We have been organizing spontaneous beach and bay cleans on our sailing trips for a while and partnering with My Green Trip is a good opportunity to make this a regular feature and to spread awareness among our guests of this important topic.

Any last word?

In case you are wondering, Naleia, loosely translated means “the joy of living”.

 

How can we contact you?