From high atop the mast of a 90-foot tall sailboat, Malibu native Aaron Kagon is quite comfortable. The 20-year-old has so far spent nearly half his life sailing on tall ships, and this summer he’s not only fueling his passion about sailing, he’s helping disadvantaged kids learn about the hard work and joy of sailing, as well.
Kagon, a 2015 graduate of Malibu High School, is sailing tall ships with inner-city kids from the Los Angeles area through a program called TopSail. The program, run by the Los Angeles Maritime Institute, serves economically disadvantaged middle school students by taking them aboard magnificent, old-fashioned tall sail ships for trips that last up to five days. Even though most of the kids are from Southern California, Kagon said, “Some have never seen the water before. So it’s a real experience for them.”
As many as 30 kids can be accommodated per night on a tall ship that is roughly 110 feet in length. Both boys and girls can participate. Most kids who join the TopSail program find out about it through their schools and the five-day trips become an extended field trip with a whole class going. The tall ships operate out of San Pedro and generally sail around the Channel Islands.
Kagon, who’s been sailing for nine years, serves as a deck hand—often climbing high up the ship to work. He says he enjoys sailing because, “You are sort of in a different world.
“Once you get out to sea you don’t need to worry about many things you do on land, such as checking your social media,” he explained. The escape is probably a big part of why TopSail has been so successful with at-risk youth.
Explaining the work on board, Kagon added, “I help with everything from unfurling the sails up on the masts to engine checks. I also help with the small boat operations, where we go with the captain of the boat and the crew sometimes shuttling kids to and from the shore.” Kagon’s volunteer position trains the new kids on board showing them the ropes that can be “fun or challenging.”
“If I’m climbing up the mast just for fun, then of course it’s enjoyable; however, if I’m aloft trying to teach kids how to tie knots while the boat is moving back and forth, then it can be a challenge,” Kagon described. “The kids help sail the boat, clean and also cook food. We usually teach them everything on the first day and then supervise them as they go about helping us sail the boat and operate it, basically.”
They often sail to Catalina the first day, drop anchor and then have activities for the kids to do—sometimes ashore. Then they weigh anchor and usually sail to a different harbor or cove each day. On some of the trips they sail through the night.
Kagon, who attends Southampton Solent University in England studying yacht design, said he enjoys living in another country for school. But while home for the summer in Malibu and volunteering for TopSail, he called the experience “gratifying.”
“Personally, it’s helped me become more of a leader,” Kagon reflected. “It’s also helped me become a much better teacher, because we’re teaching kids basically how to do everything on a boat and it’s really nice to see the impact that my volunteer work has on the kids and that is they come on the boat not knowing exactly what to expect, but by the time they come off a lot of them are smiling and want to come back when they can.”
The Los Angeles Maritime Institute’s TopSail Youth Program has served 80,000 young people in its 25 years of operation. It’s funded by the Port of Los Angeles and money from grants and private donors.
“Aaron is a great example of what our program can do,” a spokesperson for TopSail, Marann Fengler, said of Kagon. “He’s grown and matured a lot since I first met him and has become a valuable member of our adult crew.”
