Bill, Lara, and Isobel aboard SV Sunrise

Before leaving for a long sail through the Caribbean on their boat Sunrise, Bill and Lara Calfee and their daughter Isobel agreed to carry sails collected by Sails for Sustenance to fishermen in Haiti. Sunrise docked briefly in Dinner Key Marina in Coconut Grove before the next leg of their voyage and took aboard 11 sails.

Mike Carcaise and Bill Calfee loading sails in Coconut Grove

From Miami they sailed around the Bahamas, and then to Haiti. They recently made the drop-off to Wagner Tanis of Friends of Ile a Vache who will distribute the sails to the local fishermen for use on their fishing boats.

Wagner Tanis (left) with sails

Click the thumbnails below for more photos taken by Bill and Lara while in Ile a Vache, Haiti. You can follow the adventures of Sunrise on their blog.

On Sunday the University of Miami Sailing Canes spent the afternoon preparing 76 sails for the next shipment to fishermen in Haiti. The ‘Canes sail out of Coconut Grove Sailing Club and are currently ranked among the Top 20 teams in the nation.

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On Saturday Chicago-based volunteers Allen Carter and Jeff Gockstetter were on their way to the regatta in Key West when they passed through Miami and dropped off a load of sails that they had collected since August. On Sunday nine South Florida volunteers gathered at SFS HQ to prepare the sails for shipment to Haiti.

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Read the article at The Miami Herald.

On Saturday Michael Laas and Michael Carcaise began packing another load of sails for Haiti. We need your help with our ongoing preparations of the next shipment. Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter for announcements of the next time we will be packing sails.

Here Mr. Chauvet is shown in his office in Port-au-Prince during a meeting with SFS reps, displaying a fresh catch he had made the day before.

Grand Sable lies on Ile-a-Vache, a rural island (12,000 acres) off the southwest peninsula of Haiti. It is said that the name Ile-a-Vache (Cow Island) was given by the French due to the great number of cattle left on the island by Spaniards.

Today the 15,000 residents of the island rely heavily on the local fishing industry for local food supply and for commerce with the mainland. There is no electrical power nor drinking water. All inhabitants and guests travel by mule or on foot.

Hope for Haiti was formed in October of 2005 by Brian House, a former Peace Corps volunteer who served in Haiti in 2003 and 2004. Hope for Haiti works in the communities of Chambellan and Ile-a-Vache coordinating education and agricultural training projects.

Michael Carcaise and Michael Laas of SFS pictured with the mayor of Abricots and Jean-Panel, the executive director of Paradis des Indiens. In addition to Abricots, Jean-Panel has distributed sails to the fishermen of Bon Bon, Dame Marie, and other surrounding communities on behalf of SFS.

Abricots is a fishing village of 1,000 inhabitants located in the county of Grande Anse on the SW peninsula. Sails are distributed to the fishermen of Abricots by Fondation Paradis des Indiens (FPDI)–which operates schools and programs to empower all people of Abricots to achieve financial independence and self-sufficiency through entrepreneurial development.

FPDI was founded by Mica de Verteuil, who retired to Abricots in 1975. Today the primary school in the Abricots town center counts 500 students and has craft and woodworking shops, a library, and a vegetable garden. In 1996 FPDI opened 10 small rural schools throughout the region that surrounds the village, which today serve 1400 students.

While their school system serves more than 2,000 students, FPDI has also established school-to-work programs that include embroidery, fruit drying, beekeeping, and woodworking. The programs employ over 400 people, mostly former students.