Sailing the Blues Away article appeared in The Daily Breeze

Sailing the blues away
Program brings inner-city youths to the open sea, some
for the first time. Captain enjoys sharing feelings of
being strong and free and brave.
By Josh Grossberg
Daily Breeze

It's a short drive from Jordan High School to the
docks of San Pedro -- only 19 minutes from the gray
streets of Watts to the spumy blue of the wide-open
Pacific Ocean.

For kids like Javon Burnett, it could be a million
miles.

"Being around Watts is tough," said the 17-year-old
Jordan senior. "You got a lot of thugs around here.
But the sea, the sea is great."

Javon is president of Jordan's Sailing Club, a loose
collection of students who spend a few hours on the
water every Saturday. Started six years ago by school
librarian and San Pedro resident Steven Belton, the
club gives students from the tough neighborhood the
chance to experience a world beyond their daily lives.

Donning life jackets, they sail past the breakwater
and spend a few minutes in the open sea before heading
back to shore. It's a short jaunt, but for some of the
students it's the only time they've ever spent away
from land.

"A lot of them have never been to a dock," Belton
said. "They look at crabs and say, 'Look at that
spider.' "

Students in the club said Watts is a boring place with
few recreational opportunities. And many of them live
in homes with large families, so they have little
quiet time for themselves.

"I have nothing to do at home," said 15-year-old Luis
Garcia. "I thought I'd give it a shot. It's something
new for me. I want to try it out."

Once Belton discovered the joys of sailing while
living near San Francisco, he knew it was something he
wanted to share with students.

"In the water, there's no traffic," he said. "Sailing
makes me feel strong and free and brave. I want to
give them that feeling."

The club has its own boat -- a donated 23-foot sloop
named 5 Deer. Belton can fit up to nine kids on board,
but the size of the crew mostly depends on how many
cars can be lined up to drive them over. Excursions
are on a first-come basis, so students have to sign up
early to ensure a spot. On a recent Saturday,
life-skills teacher Danny Turco managed to squeeze
four young sailors into his small sedan.

"It gets them away from the hood," said Turco, who
often accompanies Belton for afternoon journeys.
"There are shootings there almost every weekend. There
are some scary realities. You see helicopters every
other day. If you get a kid onto this, they won't fall
through the cracks."

Ideally, only good students would be allowed to join
the club. But Belton has a soft heart and wants to
give anybody the chance to enjoy its benefits. He said
that while Jordan is among the lowest-performing
schools in the state, the students there are mostly
good; it's the neighborhood that's bad, and he wants
them to be able to spend as much time away from it as
possible.

"It gives them a glimpse of something else," he said.
"You're planting seeds as a teacher. You don't know
what will grow."

The school pays for some of the cost and the Boy
Scouts chip in for insurance. But the rest is up to
Belton, who pays for gas and any repairs that come up
-- as well as snacks for the sailors. And twice a
year, he dives under water to scrub the ship's hull.
The sail has seen better days and Belton would like to
buy a new one, but that's an expense he's putting off
for another time.

In addition to their time on the water, the students
meet weekly in the school's library. It's an informal
gathering. Belton clowns with the students, but he
also teaches them about wind conditions and how to
steer a sailboat through a harbor.

For some of the kids, the ocean is a scary place.
Ninth-grader Teresa Ortega could barely be coaxed to
let go of the railing at first. But once handed the
rudder, she quickly became the best pilot in the
bunch.

"It gives me something to do on the weekend," she
said. "I spend most of the time in the house."

Once the small boat passes Point Fermin Lighthouse,
the calm water turns choppy, but Belton isn't worried
about mishaps. The worst thing that can happen is
someone will fall in.

"They won't die," he said. "If they fall in, they'll
get wet and cold. If they drive and make a mistake,
they're dead. In a boat, it's no big deal."

Belton boasts that a recent member of the club is now
studying chemistry at University of California,
Berkeley. But he doesn't expect miracles. If he opens
someone's horizons, that would be great, but there's
something to be said about spending a few hours in the
fresh air.

"I can't say I turned anybody's life around," he said.
"I can't say I took a D student and made him an A
student. But if someone says it's fun, that's good
enough for me."

But there are those who say the club has made a
difference. Ahmad Hawkins has a 4.0 grade-point
average and plans to attend college. The 18-year-old
said sailing has helped him maintain his good grades.

"It gives me focus," he said. "It helps me from
worrying about problems in the community. It keeps me
focused on my schoolwork. It's beautiful. The whole
sea is beautiful."