TopSail

TopSail is a youth sailing program based out of the Los Angeles Maritime Institute in San Pedro. The goal of the program is to provide the area's youth a place to challenge themselves and learn life skills while sailing tall ships. Students learn how to plan and execute sailing trips; sometimes these trips last a few hours, sometimes they are overnight. An example of the duties performed by the kids during a sail includes: raising and adjusting sails, standing lookout in the bow of a pitching, rolling ship, taking the helm and steering the set course and as well as climbing the rigging and balancing while furling sails. The program is open to kids ages 12-18, primarily from underserved populations but the main focus is on middle school students. LAMI believes the TopSail program fosters the ""relationships between individual rights, power and responsibility by providing real life experience in the workings of society.""