A sail toward what truly matters.

Who we are

A sail toward what truly matters.

Ikigai Sailing is a non-profit amateur sports association, recognised by CONI and affiliated with the MSP Italia Sports Promotion Organisation.

A growing community of dreamers, sailors, freedivers, yogis, divers, kitesurfers and lovers of sport and adventure.

2022
Sailing since
20+
countries reached
10,000+
nautical miles

WHY IKIGAI EXISTS

The roots of the project

Ikigai was born from a life choice, but also from a deep awareness: when you understand that nothing is guaranteed, you start looking for what truly matters.

When you understand that nothing is guaranteed, you begin to celebrate life every day.

Want to know the full story?

Watch Luca’s interview →

This project was only possible thanks to a deep loss, and the personal-growth journey that naturally followed it — letting me change direction and free myself from false beliefs, fears and limits.

That is why personal growth, and all the practices that can support it, are an integral part of Ikigai.

When I truly realised that life can turn into suffering, loss or death at any moment — and that nothing is guaranteed — something inside me shifted, opening me to a new life, this time oriented towards the search for true well-being.

And it is precisely this attitude, this desire to celebrate life every day, that led me to seek the way of living we now share aboard Ikigai: a more natural, more essential life, closer to what truly matters.

For me that means meeting our primary, authentic needs in the best way possible: healthy food, movement, contact with nature, rest, presence, and harmonious human relationships built on trust, kindness and respect.

All of this naturally creates a more stable, more open, more receptive state of body and mind. A state that supports — and is in turn supported by — practices like yoga, freediving and meditation.

From there a virtuous circle is born: you eat better, you breathe better, you move better, you listen to yourself more. And the more you listen, the more natural it becomes to choose what makes you feel well.

Ikigai is born from this too: from the search for a life that nourishes body, mind and relationships, and from the wish to share this space with those who sense the need to start giving importance to what truly matters.

LLuca · co-founder
The crew aboard Ikigai, the Catana 47, sailing the coast at golden hour

Why Ikigai

A life practiced every day.

Yoga and breath at sunset on the deck of Ikigai, the sea beyond

Ikigai, for us, is not just the name of the boat.

It is the reason we wake up in the morning with enthusiasm: to care for body and mind, to move, to breathe, to enter the water, to cook with love, to share food, to progress in the disciplines we love, to contemplate the beauty of the sea and live each day closer to the elements.

It is also the desire to share this life with our guests.

Seeing someone regain trust in their body, move through a fear, touch a peace beyond the mind, or simply feel at home is one of the most precious parts of our project.

Ikigai Sailing was born from the meeting point between what we love, what we know how to do, what we feel is needed in the world and what can sustain the project over time.

We do not want to offer only a vacation.
We want to create a living, simple and authentic space where the sea, the breath, nature and sharing can leave something real.

For us, this is Ikigai.
Sail toward what matters.

The co-founders

The co-founders
A meeting that began in Thailand, a vision that took shape in Tunisia, a project that set sail from Italy.

A non-profit project

Ikigai Sailing is a non-profit sports association. Guest contributions aren’t designed to maximise profit, but to sustain what makes the project possible.

  • It supports the boat

    Maintenance, safety, moorings and everything that keeps Ikigai at sea.

  • It supports the crew

    Fairly paying the people who live and work aboard every day.

  • It supports the experiences aboard

    The activities, courses and shared life that make Ikigai what it is.

Luca Vitiello

Luca Vitiello

Co-founder · Skipper · Instructor · Operational lead of the project

Luca is the co-founder of Ikigai Sailing and the main hands-on presence aboard. After a life as an entrepreneur, he turned a radical shift in perspective into a project on the water, where sailing, the body, the breath and everyday life become tools for change.

An RYA Yachtmaster Offshore skipper and a sailing instructor recognised by CONI, Luca also brings years of practice and teaching in freediving, as an AIDA and Apnea Total instructor. His path later wove in yoga — he trained as a teacher with Yoga Alliance — and kitesurfing, through IKO International. The aquatic practice of Janzu rounds out the experiences offered aboard Ikigai.

Aboard he holds it all together: navigation, safety, freediving, movement, meditation, water practices and daily life. His role isn’t just to steer the boat, but to create the conditions for everyone who comes aboard to slow down, breathe, reconnect with their body and return to what matters.

Brano Gerzo

Brano Gerzo

Co-founder · Principal backer · Digital support of the project

Brano is the co-founder and principal backer of Ikigai Sailing. Luca met him in Thailand, at the dawn of his new life, when the old world was slowly making room for something new.

During the Tunisian chapter, Brano was among the friends invited to join the project. After the first attempt to buy a boat fell through, and the long legal saga that followed, his support made Ikigai’s leap in scale possible: from a project that would likely have started on a small monohull to an ocean-going floating home on a Catana 47.

Beyond his role as principal backer, Brano also contributes to the project’s digital backbone thanks to his background in IT, supporting in particular the technical side of the website and the online tools.

Brano remains part of Ikigai’s story and vision, and joins the boat for some chapters of the journey. Daily life aboard, meanwhile, is carried by the operational crew.

The crew you might meet aboard

Life aboard shifts with the seasons, the routes and the projects. Some people are part of Ikigai’s stable core; others join us at specific moments of the journey. Here are the faces you might meet during your experience.

Luca

Luca

Skipper · Instructor · Life aboard

Co-founder and skipper, Luca is the constant hands-on presence aboard: navigation, safety, freediving, movement and daily life. His full story is just above, among the co-founders.

Paola

Paola

Chef · Hostess · Life aboard

Paola brings warmth, care and attention to daily life aboard. With her simple, heartfelt cooking, she helps turn Ikigai from a catamaran into a home, making meals moments of sharing, presence and pleasure.

David

David

Local seasonal support

David is local seasonal support who helps us at certain times with logistics, work aboard and day-to-day running. His presence can vary with the season, the route and the needs of the project.

Credentials

Recognised & certified by

Guna Yala is the chapter we’re living now

Ikigai set sail from Italy in 2022 and has already crossed more than 20 countries and over 10,000 nautical miles. Today its main chapter is Guna Yala, in Panama: a place where the sea, the islands, the community and the water practices resonate deeply with the project.

But Ikigai wasn’t made to stay still. The course continues, with the Pacific on the horizon.

Guna Yala
the chapter we’re living now
Pacific
on the horizon
Follow the route →

Start the conversation

Most journeys aboard Ikigai begin with a simple message. Tell us what you’re looking for: a few days in Guna Yala, a freediving course, a retreat, a shared cabin or a longer chapter aboard.

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