Van for Inclusive Surfing Scotland

Aim

Help us make surfing accessible to everyone! We are raising money to purchase a van to deliver adaptive surfing sessions in Scotland.

Who are Inclusive Surfing Scotland

Inclusive Surfing Scotland is a newly established charity, whose purpose is to offer fully adaptive surfing sessions to surfers with disabilities that would otherwise limit their access to the waves. The charity caters to both children and adults with a wide range of needs. Inclusive Surfing Scotland will offer different types of sessions ranging from seated tandem sessions which require a ratio of 4:1 (coaches/volunteers:surfer) right through to small group sessions with a ratio of 1:5 (coach:surfers).

The charity will serve the central belt of Scotland, where in spite of being home to 70% of the population and having a thriving surf community, has no specialist provision for adaptive surfers. 

Our organisation is run day to day by Iain Donaldson, under a Board of Trustees. Iain, a primary school teacher with a background of working with children with autism, is an experienced surf coach. He previously ran surf sessions for children's mental health charity The Wave Project, delivered adaptive surf sessions with Longline Surf School and is one of only three coaches in Scotland with the ISA Adaptive Surfing certificate.

Why we are crowdfunding

To date Inclusive Surfing Scotland have been supported by an amazing range of organisations including: The Weir Charitable Trust; Bruce Wake Charitable Trust; The Robertson Trust; The Russell Trust; Cash4Clubs; Finisterre Foundation; Alpkit Foundation; Baillie Gifford and Leslie Corporate Finance, in addition to some private donations. This support has allowed us to purchase: a bespoke 12ft seated tandem surfboard for surfers with complex needs, specialist prone surfboards, 5x soft-top surfboards, warm wetsuits, boots, gloves, hoods, rashvests, buoyancy aids, everything in short that we need to deliver adaptive surfing experiences in the chilly North Sea. 

In order to deliver our adaptive surfing sessions, Inclusive Surfing Scotland needs to be able to transport our equipment to and from the different surf beaches on Scotland's East Coast. A long-wheelbase van is vital due to the size of the equipment needed to offer fully inclusive sessions, in particular to transport our 12ft seated tandem board. 

It is not financially viable for a new charity to purchase or rent premises on the beach to deliver sessions from. Additionally, being mobile will allow us to find the best conditions to meet the needs of each surfer and also to deliver sessions from different locations up and down the coast.  

How we'll spend the money raised

Money raised will contribute towards the purchase of a long-wheelbase van for Inclusive Surfing Scotland. We plan to purchase a reliable, second hand vehicle that will be used to store and transport our equipment. Due to the size of the kit, the van must be a long-wheelbase.

Inclusive Surfing Scotland has already received some funding towards the purchase and have additional grant applications under consideration.

*please note the above images of the van is a mockup and not necessarily what our final van will look like. 

This project successfully funded on 20th March 2024