Press · The Seafolk
Press kit
Everything you need to write about The Seafolk: who we are, key facts, founders, logos, images and our own data. Free for editorial use.
Join freePress · The Seafolk
Everything you need to write about The Seafolk: who we are, key facts, founders, logos, images and our own data. Free for editorial use.
Join freeThe whole kit as a ZIP · 14.4 MB
The Seafolk is a club where boat owners swap boats with each other, HomeExchange-style: no rental and no money between members.
The Seafolk is a private club for boat owners that works like HomeExchange for the sea. Each member offers days aboard their boat and receives days aboard another member's boat on another coast. No money changes hands between members: they use Knots, credits earned when someone uses your boat and spent using theirs, which can't be bought or sold. Owners set their own rules and accept or decline every request. It was founded in 2026 by Ignacio López Martín and Soco Núñez de Cela, both lifelong sailors, and runs in seven languages for owners in Europe, the US, Canada and the Caribbean.
Co-founder
Ignacio has built his career at the intersection of entrepreneurship and the energy transition. After an international career in renewable energy, he set sail aboard his sailboat, Vida, with the dream of circumnavigating the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans, bringing renewable energy knowledge to remote island communities. He paused that dream to return to Spain and co-found Cable Energía, a fast-charging network operator for electric vehicles in Spain and Portugal, acquired by Shell three years later, Shell's first acquisition of a Spanish company in more than 60 years. He stayed on as CEO through the integration. Today, through Vida Sustainable Ventures, he backs and builds companies across energy, renewables, infrastructure, and software, and picks up that original dream again with The Seafolk.
Co-founder
Soco has built a reputation for cutting through with bravery and clarity, across global brands including Mitsui, Dolce Hotels & Resorts and Burger King, where she was Brand Director and CMO of Burger King UK. Today she is Global CMO of a tier-1 tech unicorn scaleup, which remains her main focus. She also chairs The Magenta Project, the collective born out of the Team SCA campaign in the 2014-2015 Volvo Ocean Race, dedicated to opening up opportunities for women in sailing. It was her question, about whether boats could work the way houses already do, that started The Seafolk.
We cross-referenced 123 recreational licences with the rules of 42 flag states. The ICC has confirmed official recognition under 28; national licences, around 9 or 10. Under one flag in five there's no published rule saying whether a foreign licence is valid at all.
A leisure boat spends most of the year at the dock while its owner keeps paying berth and upkeep. Owner-to-owner exchange puts it to use without turning it into a rental business.
Ignacio set off aboard his sailboat, Vida, meaning to circumnavigate; he parked that plan to found Cable Energía, later acquired by Shell. The Seafolk is how he picks it back up. The idea that boats could work the way houses do came from Soco, who chairs The Magenta Project.
Table of 20 licences against 42 flag states (15 m sailing yacht), with our checker's verdict. Indicative only: always confirm with the flag state's maritime authority.
Download the table (CSV) · Try the licence checker
Other languages: EspañolFrançaisDeutschItalianoPortuguêsΕλληνικά
Ignacio López Martín · 4:52.9 MB
Ignacio López Martín · 1:11.3 MB
Ignacio López Martín · 16:91.3 MB
Ignacio López Martín · B/N92 KB
Soco Núñez de Cela · 4:5351 KB
Soco Núñez de Cela · 1:1232 KB
Soco Núñez de Cela at the helm, racing292 KB
Logos, screenshots, brand images and founder photos are free for editorial use about The Seafolk. The ketch photo is by Kristel Hayes on Unsplash (Unsplash License): please credit the photographer.
Ignacio López Martín, co-founder. We reply in English, Spanish and French.
ilopez [at] theseafolk.com
