Program
Hands-on Marine Skills
STEM you can put your hands on — and a line to real marine careers.
Program
STEM you can put your hands on — and a line to real marine careers.
Why it matters
Boats run on electrical, diesel, rigging and composite work, and the marine trades need people who can do it. Most people never get near that work: there’s no shop to learn in, no tools, and no one to show them how.
What participants do
How this program helps
Each session pairs demonstration with supervised practice and feedback, and skills are signed off as participants show they can do them. The aim is understanding, not just getting a job done.
This is education and job training: it builds practical capabilities and opens doors to family-sustaining marine careers. Projects are chosen for their teaching value, and any boat rebuilt through an Impact program is owned by a charity, not a private company.
Who it serves
Young people and adults who want to learn how boats work, with priority for those who face a barrier to getting started: cost, no tools or shop, or no connection to the trades. No experience needed.
Participants apply with a short form describing their interest. Under 18 needs a parent’s consent.
Looking ahead: for suitable courses Impact operates itself in the future, we’re exploring tuition-based enrollment alongside partially or fully funded places, based on program eligibility and available funding. Tuition-paying and funded participants would learn together within the same course.
Support this program
We’re building support for this program now. Join its founding supporters and we’ll be in touch as it takes shape.
You can also give today to the program already running, the Academy’s Keelboat & Offshore program.
This program isn’t accepting gifts yet. Gifts made today go only to the Keelboat & Offshore program’s restricted fund at Spectrum Sailing, a 501(c)(3), which supports free sailing education and training.
If you’re an individual, a charity, or a business that could help carry out this program — coaching, boats, facilities, instruction, or partnership — we’d like to talk. Reach out →
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Learn more →Impact’s mission
Impact Sailing Foundation identifies, funds, connects, and amplifies opportunities through sailing — for youth and adults across Annapolis and Baltimore, with priority for those who face barriers to the water: no boat, no club, no connection.
Sailing is an open sport on closed water. Age, gender, race, ability, or income shouldn’t decide who gets to sail, compete, and build a future on the water. Every program serves that same mission: a first sail, real skills, offshore experience, and the careers and confidence that come with them.
COURAGE · INTEGRITY · COMPASSION