Our summer is in full swing, as are our continued efforts to reinvent ourselves while doubling down on our founder's mission. A collaborative team made up of LAMI board members, volunteers, staff, and an awesome facilitator has yielded our next iteration of our mission statement. This refreshed mission statement was identified as a key element of what we coined in our last report to you as LAMI 2.0. As an organization matures and adjusts to the dynamics of the environment, it is important to step back and evaluate who we are, why we exist, and where we are going. Our simple two line mission statement does that and is expected to carry us forward for the next year or two.
 |
|
Garfield High School students learn how
to read a nautical map and chart a course...
at sea and for life!
|
The Los Angeles Maritime Institute serves to inspire youth to discover their greater potential through extraordinary at-sea experiences. We envision a thriving community where every child can look to the future with confidence.
Another key element of LAMI 2.0 was to effect a dramatic increase in the number of sails with our target youth. With the close of the LAUSD and POLA fiscal year two weeks ago, I'm ecstatic to report that we exceeded our performance over the last decade! During the course of the past ten years, we've done as few as ninety-one youth sails in a year and last year we did 121 sailing days. However, on June 30th we closed out this year with 156 youth sails. We know that without the hard work of LAMI volunteers, Youth Crew, standing crew, staff, leadership, board members and our partnership with the Port of Los Angeles, this would never have been possible. Way to go team LAMI! As I pen this note to you, we've got our best jump start on a new fiscal year with over eighty youth sails already on the calendar.
Recently, with support from educational consultant Russ Billings, LAMI has taken a lead agency role in an environmental education collaborative called the LA Harbor SEED Project (STEAM, Environmental Education Discovery). This project builds on the science-based components of our TopSail Youth Program that we have been delivering for more than two decades. TopSail founder, Jim Gladson, was a science teacher and pioneer of experiential learning, and while LAMI is proudly known as a youth development organization, Jim Gladson's educational approach and science learning methodology is being recognized as a pathway to STEAM careers. More details will be shared on this in the near future.
Throughout the non-profit, education, and tall ship market space, fundraising continues to be a significant challenge. Team LAMI has launched a number of new and, we believe, exciting opportunities for the greater community to embrace our work and help fund our transition to full utilization of our excellent teachers (crew) and tall ships.
First up is our new
Membership Drive. The community has responded by offering our members valuable discounts and options.
The organizer of the Tall Ships Festival LA 2014 is generously providing 500 tickets to the first 500 members to join. If you haven't joined yet, it is time to do so now. For those that have already joined, thank you! (In our next issue, we will acknowledge all our members and supporters in a special way.)
Second up is our first annual Build-A-Boat contest. We secured our title sponsor for this event and will be issuing a press release very shortly. This family-friendly event is perfect for the company that wants to support LAMI's award winning Topsail Youth Program, while providing a fantastic team building event for its employees and families. Each team will have four hours to build a two-person boat with supplies provided by LAMI. After lunch we will march these boats to the water's edge and perform "sea trials" and races to determine the winning team. This event will be held within the confines of the Tall Ships Festival 2014 on August 23rd. After the event you will be free to enjoy the ships, bands, food trucks, battle sails, Ferris wheel, Iowa, Lane Victory... and more! If you would like to encourage your company to sponsor a team, please call/email me at
 |
|
Irving Johnson docked at Monterey.
|
I would be remiss if I didn't include our June trip to Monterey on Irving Johnson in our update. For the first time in a very long time, LAMI "stretched our legs" and transited up to Monterey, passing around the notorious Point Conception. I can assure you that everyone that made the transit in both directions can attest that it is always better to have a following sea (and wind and current), as the transit back home was a phenomenal sail while the trip up was an interesting experience. The Monterey community opened its city and heart to us. During our brief stay we had the pleasure of taking 166 middle schoolers through dock side programs and over 500 visitors for public tours. We are very grateful to the Dan and Lily King Foundation and are hopeful that this was just the beginning to a deeper relationship with that awesome community.
Call to Action: You are receiving this newsletter because somewhere along the line you expressed interest in LAMI and the impact that we have on the youth we serve. On behalf of the Board of Directors, our staff, and myself, I want to thank you for your generosity of time, expertise, and treasure. As we approach the second half of the year, I can think of no better time to join us in our doubling down to move LAMI to the next level, including putting her on a sound financial footing to carry us well into the future. There are so many ways for you to get involved, and most of them are actually a lot of fun! In just the next three months we need your help to insure the success of our First Annual Build-A-Boat contest, the first Tall Ships Festival in our home port since 2008, our Annual Youth Awards, and of course sailing and maintaining our gorgeous tall ships, Exy Johnson, Irving Johnson, and, soon to be back in the water, the Swift of Ipswich.
 |
|
Did you know the Swift of Ipswich was once the personal yacht of actor James Cagney?
|
Swift of IpswichSeventy-six years ago when
Swift of Ipswich's keel first slipped into the water, the regulations for vessel stability and safety were not what they are now, and that is a good thing. For your team that is painstakingly and lovingly restoring
Swift, the modern regulations have forced us to address almost every element of the vessel. To insure proper righting moment and eliminate down flooding, we have shifted almost 12,000 pounds of her 36,000 pounds of ballast to her keel. We will be stripping off her 4" worm shoe and replacing it with 8 inches of lead (that is okay as worms don't eat lead!). We are keeping our fingers crossed that a local manufacturer will be able to pour the ballast keel for us.
A master craftsman is currently reconstructing new hollow spars that, when combined with served modern synthetic standing rigging, will substantially reduce weight aloft. We will also have to reduce sail slightly, but we are excited that the topsails will remain on the iconic vessel. The offset to starboard aft scuttle that provided access to the below decks is a major no-no for modern design. As painful as it was, the decision was taken to eliminate it from the vessel and replace it with an on center line main hold hatch. Two of the benefits from this design change were that it allowed us to create a proper engine room and the aft cabin is no longer a hall way to the main hold.
With each day's progress we get closer to our goal of having a vessel based in Wilmington at Banning's Landing. You are always welcome to come on down and check out our progress. You can also see an excellent photo record of our progress by clicking on the
