Yachts giving back

As retirement loomed, the superyacht industry veteran channelled his passions into establishing a yachting charity in his adopted home of Mallorca.
When an 11-year-old Entwisle tried his hand at dinghy sailing for the first time on a family holiday in North Wales, he could have had no idea that he was laying the groundwork for what would become a life and career immersed in the boating world.

Despite embarking on a banking career in London, he was soon lulled into a totally different lifestyle, far removed from The City and indeed from Yorkshire, where he was born and raised.

“Somebody at work chartered a boat and invited me on a weekend away,” says Entwisle. “We did a trip across the Channel to Cherbourg and I really enjoyed it. So much so that I then started organising weekends away myself,” More sailing followed without any formal tuition – and then “there came a point where I was single with no commitments and I decided I wanted to sail full-time,” he recalls. He qualified at Britannia Sailing School on the UK South Coast, then stayed on to teach beginners and qualify as a Yachtmaster Instructor. He got his first superyacht job in his mid-thirties as a mate on a 100-foot ketch in Mallorca, the island which also became his home.

During his time at Pinmar, he had been heavily involved in the company’s annual golf tournament, helping to raise money from the industry for over 30 years, so he was no stranger to the charity world. “When it came to retirement, I knew I had to do something useful with my time – after all, I never did learn to play golf!” jokes Entwisle. “I had all of these contacts from my years at Pinmar and there was this idea in the back of my mind about collecting donations from superyachts that had food going spare,” he recalls. The seeds of Yachting Gives Back were being sown.

The idea quickly gathered steam, largely thanks to Entwisle’s superyachting contacts. Pinmar donated warehouse space along with flat pack boxes for donations – and with help from old industry friends a name and a logo were created. “The next thing I had to think about was – if I succeeded and got lots of donations – what exactly was I going to do with them?” Entwisle reached out to an old contact, Suzie Black, founder of local children’s education foundation Shambhala and together, they made a list of charities that were in need of support.

“The top two charities that we chose to help at the start were the food bank Mallorca Sense Fam and Tardor, a social dining room feeding 100 people a day. We still work with both of them today,” says Entwisle.

Many more beneficiaries have been added to that list since those early days – including Es Refugi, Can Gaza, and SOS Mamas, helping mothers and children in need.

The charity, even in its early days, quickly received an enthusiastic response from the industry. “A memorable moment early on was when an old friend who was a captain of a 96m yacht called Palladium sent me a message saying he’d got some bits and pieces for me,” says Entwisle. Those ‘bits and pieces’ turned out to be more than he could have hoped for. “It was a bit of British understatement!,” says Entwisle. “His crew formed a human chain down the passerelle which disappeared up into the sky. We got 26 great big bags full of food and other things.” The resulting post went viral on social media, further cementing the charity’s name in the minds of the superyachting community.

Physical donations come to a shipping container donated by the STP shipyard in Palma, which is manned three days a week by volunteers from all walks of yachting life. “The generous physical donations mean that – in addition to foodstuffs – we have people in shelters sleeping on superyacht quality bedding, or using nice fluffy towels.” says Entwisle. “We waste very little – even down to bedding that is too stained to be salvageable – some of that can go to the animal charities for example.”

That was 2019 – and nobody could have guessed what was around the corner. “I have such memories from Covid,” says Entwisle. “MSOS (Medical Support Off Shore) sold thousands of PCR kits during the pandemic. They treated it as a windfall and gave us huge donations.” Today, Yachting Gives Back benefits from financial donations from far and wide. “Several industry companies now have fundraising events for us. We’ve also had great support from the Superyacht Charities Foundation,” says Entwisle. “Those financial donations have been essential because the money enables us to fill the gaps in the other things that we get.”

Beyond donating food and materials, the charity found opportunities to contribute to improving the lives of people in need in various ways. The donations have even enabled Yachting Gives Back to fund a part-time psychologist at Es Refugi, a charity working with the people with addiction problems or the long-term unemployed. “We found out that almost all of the 30 residents there had got back into the workplace after a year,” says Entwisle. “We were very proud to have contributed to that.”

The need for Yachting Gives Back is as pressing as ever – with Poverty Watch España sharing in their latest report that nearly a quarter of the population in the Balearic Islands were at risk of poverty and exclusion in 2022.

The good news is that the charity’s future looks bright, with increased financial support enabling Yachting Gives Back to further respond to specific requests for things like washing machines, fridges and other equipment at shelters and food banks. “We are fortunate to make or have made our living from some of the wealthiest people on the planet,” says Entwisle. “Many of us are therefore in a position where we can easily give something back to this beautiful island community we call home,”

“I’ve always thought that a superyacht is the most effective way for a billionaire to redistribute their wealth,” Entwisle continues. “The shipyards, their staff, their contractors, their suppliers and so on. With Yachting Gives Back, we’ve added a little extra at the bottom of that pyramid that trickles down into local economies. I like to think that thanks to the amazing support we’ve had, we’ve been able to build a bridge between two communities.”

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