Our Story
Meet the Pirate Crew
We’re anarcho-pirates at heart
– with the looks of surfing hippies, but –
with the dedication of hardworking sailors!
Captain Tommaso
- from Trentino, Italy
- Sailboat captain licenses: capitán de yáte (Spain) and patente nautica senza limiti (Italy)
- Handyman and factotum on board
- Surfer – kitesurfer – snowboarder
- Used to live in my van, now I live on my sailboat
- Used to be kitesurf instructor and co-founder of a surf-yoga club in Spain
- Vegan since 2015 and I fucking love it
- I adore craft beer, artichokes, asparagus, and loud electric guitars
- I dream of creating a garden of Eden: a land full of fruittrees and veggies and animals!
- I speak: Italian, Spanish, and English
First mate Laura
- from Ghent, Belgium
- Project manager on board
- Background in social education/social work
- Yoga changed my life in 2015 (I know, so cliché) – Certified yoga teacher since 2021
- I love writing, storytelling, singing and learning new stuff
- Currently learning documentary filmmaking
- Became a handywoman, thanks to Tommaso and all the boatjobs
- Vegan since 2018 and I would never go back!
- I’m a strong-willed utopist who knows what she wants
- I speak: Dutch, English, Italian, Spanish and French (a little rusty at the moment)
Our Story
When our desire to sail the world interconnected
with our longing to promote change and activism,
Pirates for Planet was born.
We are Captain Tommaso and First Mate Laura, the Italian-Belgian couple behind Pirates for Planet that has fallen in love with the sea for so many reasons.
Our story begins in 2017, when the unimaginable happened: Tommaso’s long-desired dream of having a sailboat finally became reality.
Having been an avid surfer and kitesurfer for years, Tommaso felt ready for the next steps in his ocean-loving life. So he immersed himself completely into the world of sailing and with some great luck, he became Grazieba’s new captain at the end of 2017.
With the help of an experienced captain and the company of his friends, he sailed her all the way back from Sardinia to south Spain.
Finding a partner in crime
A couple of months later, Laura traveled to Spain, after just having graduated, to refresh her rusty Spanish and practice yoga. That’s where we met, at Tommaso’s yoga&surf club in Tarifa.
We immediately felt a connection because we shared the same life philosophy and worldview. But things got really exciting when we went sailing together with Tommaso’s sailboat Grazieba that week.
It was Laura’s first time sailing and it was just magical: the neverending blue everywhere, jumping dolphins around the boat, and all these interesting sailing manoeuvers.
We knew from that moment that we were going to live a different kind of life together: fix Grazieba, start sailing the world, and live up to our values and life principles.
Fixing and preparing and… more fixing!
So since 2018 we’ve been fixing and upgrading Grazieba for her full-time sailing journey. After having completed a huge list of repairs and improvements, we could finally set sail.
Our first 1000 miles together
In September 2020, we sailed our first crossing of 1000 miles together with two more crewmates, from Tarifa to Sicily. There we spent the winter months in the harbour of Trapani, doing the final restorations onboard and preparing for the next sailing season.
Finding a mission
However, we felt something was missing. We needed a mission, a project, a way of contributing to something beautiful on this fucked up planet.
We had big dreams of seeing places and we were so ready for the sailor’s life, but it somehow felt off to just set sail and leave all the mess behind. We urgently need big changes in this world.
As much as we love our oceans, we also need to realize that it’s us, humans, who are their biggest threat. Our bluewater world is facing huge ecological disasters, mainly because of human activities such us the fishing industry and (plastic) pollution.
Our oceans and nature are literally dying so if we don’t act, how are we supposed to enjoy our sailing lifestyle?
Pirates for Planet
That’s why in 2021, we founded Pirates for Planet.
Our mission is to help raise awareness of the ecological disasters happening right now. We aim to inspire action and promote lifestyle changes that anyone can take to help protect the planet.
This project somehow gives our life a little more meaning and direction and to commit to something that is bigger than ourselves.
And that amazing journey, is what we would love to share with as many like-minded Pirates for Planet as possible!
