Community Spotlight: Los Angeles Maritime Institute (LAMI)
In the more than 30 years since the Los Angeles Maritime Institute was founded, over 130,000 young people have had the opportunity to directly benefit from participation in empowering hands-on learning experiences that provide them with leadership, STEM, and maritime skills.
This is a sponsored post.

Community Spotlight: Los Angeles Maritime Institute (LAMI)
Tell us about Los Angeles Maritime Institute (LAMI).
At the Los Angeles Maritime Institute, or LAMI as many people call us, we empower local youth to discover their greatest potential through extraordinary at-sea experiences aboard educational sailing vessels built to train and equip young people with 21st century leadership skills, and inspire maritime and STEM career paths.
Two of our tall ships were built right here on the San Pedro waterfront with the help of hundreds of volunteers and crew, and in partnership with the Port of Los Angeles, while attracting thousands of spectators to watch the progress. Named the Official Tall Ships of the City of Los Angeles at their launch in 2002, these twin brigantines are traditionally rigged 110-foot wooden replicas of the merchant ships from the Age of Exploration and the Age of Sail.
They are named Irving Johnson and Exy Johnson after experiential learning pioneers who sailed around the world seven times with young crews in the 1930s and 1950s, and each brigantine has a capacity to hold 45 students and educators for day sails or multi-day voyages (they have bunks below deck, each with their own privacy curtain).
Since our founding in March of 1992, we have offered unique, hands-on learning experiences to upper elementary, middle and high school students through our TopSail Youth Program. Utilizing sail training, our crew guides the students through the various activities required to operate a complex, traditionally rigged sailing vessel, which helps the young participants develop team building, critical thinking, problem-solving, self-reliance and leadership skills.
It also gives real-life context to the subjects theyāre studying in school, especially math and science, and they learn about the environmental impacts to our oceans and local waters.
Both LAMI and our flagship TopSail Youth Program have grown and evolved to better address the needs of youth in our communities over the last 32 years. In addition to our flagship program, we now offer three Summer Camp options, Bilingual Educational Sails, Sunset Sails, and more! As a non-profit organization, we are proud to empower youth from under-resourced communities through sponsored sails thanks to the generous support of our community.
How did Los Angeles Maritime Institute (LAMI) get started?
The idea for our TopSail Youth Program was conceived in the late 1980ās by Captain Jim Gladson, a local science teacher and sailor who also co-developed LAUSDās Alternative Magnet Schools Program. Thatās when he started seeing how the sailing experience had a positive effect on even his most challenged alternative school students.
In 1992, Captain Gladson and a circle of passionate advocates founded the Los Angeles Maritime Institute as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization and formalized the educational experience as the TopSail Youth Program, embarking on a voyage that would deliver the program to thousands of students, many from under-resourced communities throughout the greater Los Angeles area.
Captain Gladson summarized what he witnessed best in āItās More Than Just a Boat Ride,ā which he wrote in coordination with LAMIās founding:
āThe sailing school vessel provides an educational venue, rich in potential for the development of knowledge, skills, and attitudes that are both necessary for the education of todayās youth, and difficult to teach in the classroom. The sailing school experience enriches, validates, and challenges the conventional school curricula. Science, mathematics, physics, biology, geography, history, literature, and even poetry suddenly come to life in this real-world classroom.”
What is one of your proudest moments?
Our proudest moments happen every day and on every sail, because just stepping onto the ship for the first time can be a nerve-wracking experience for someone who has never been on a boat… this is quite common for the students we serve, even though most of them live within 20 miles of the ocean. Then there are the participants who decide to bravely climb high up in the rigging (wearing a safety harness, of course) or out onto the bowsprit at the front of the boat.
We also feel immense pride when one of our young participants gives a sail-handling command louder than theyāve ever yelled, steps in to show a friend how to properly belay a line, successfully plots the shipās course, or shows emotions over the plastic in a birdās gut. These are among the many positive experiences that take place through our program, and we definitely consider it āmission accomplishedā if they ask when they can sail again and/or decide to pursue a STEM or maritime-focused career!
What can one expect when visiting Los Angeles Maritime Institute (LAMI)?
We welcome the community to join us at the LA Waterfront through one of our monthly Sunset Sails, our Bilingual Educational Sails called āExplore the Coast/Explora la Costa,ā or during our upcoming Festival of Sail at LA Fleet Week over Memorial Day Weekend. The four-day festival includes a variety of hands-on activities for kids and adults, in addition to four daily sails.
Our ships are located at W 6th Street and Harbor Boulevard in San Pedro, just south of the LA Maritime Museum, adjacent to the new West Harbor Promenade. Parking is limited next to the dock right now, so we have posted alternative parking options on our website (see the page for each of our public sails), and San Pedro has a free Trolley that travels a loop around these parking lots!
We are also proud to offer three Summer Camp options for youth between 7 and 17 through our Tall Ship Island Adventure Sea Camp. Explorer Day Camp for ages 7-10 takes place on Pine Avenue Pier at Rainbow Harbor in Long Beach, with three sessions that run Monday through Friday, including an optional overnight sail on Thursday.
There are also two sleepaway camp options ā 5-day Adventurer Camp for ages 10-17 and 12-day Voyager Camp for ages 12-17 ā where campers challenge themselves with exciting new opportunities while living aboard a tall ship. The sleepaway camp options are based on our TopSail Youth Program, so no sailing experience is necessary. We provide all that and more, including a variety of ocean-based recreational activities!
Tell us about your team.
Many of our team members live in the South Bay, and we are all very active in the local community. Our Executive Director, Captain Bruce Heyman, is currently Chair of the San Pedro Chamber of Commerce, and Alice Taylor, who is our Director of Sales and Marketing, is actively involved with the LA STEM Collective and other educational initiatives.
Our crew includes Captains, Mates and Deckhand/Educator Interns who live aboard the tall ships, and we are so lucky to have many amazing volunteers from all around the South Bay and beyond who help us on our sails, in our boat shop, at events, and in the office.
How can the community support the Los Angeles Maritime Institute (LAMI)?
We are always looking for volunteers to help out in whatever interests them the most! For teens and preteens who are interested in maritime-focused scouting, we have Sea Scouts/Youth Crew as well.
Truly the best way to experience what we do is to join us for one of our public sails. That way, you can experience a taste of our program, enjoy a sail around the harbor, and see if something sparks your interest! Our Sunset Sails make a great date night or a night of family fun for all ages. We encourage you to bring your own picnic, and you can either sit back and relax or help the crew set the sails while we cruise around the San Pedro harbor.
And of course, as a non-profit organization, we welcome your donations. They allow us to welcome more students aboard to explore, discover and learn about themselves and the world around them!
Anything else you’d like to include?
There is a beautiful new mural on the side of our boat shop, Building G. The project was spearheaded by the San Pedro Waterfront Arts District ā part of their Adventures in Public Art program ā and designed/painted by Revival Murals. The project also included two public painting days where members of the community had a chance to take part.
Our two buildings are on the edge of the construction for West Harbor, and you can see the mural from the walking path along Harbor Boulevard (search your map app for Los Angeles Maritime Institute to find it!). Itās just breathtaking, featuring a mix of both the history and present-day use of the area, as well as one of our tall ships!
Los Angeles Maritime Institute (LAMI)
lamitopsail.org
Facebook: facebook.com/lami.topsail
Instagram: @tallshipschool
YouTube: youtube.com/@lamitopsail