Kids go sailing with Boys & Girls Club

Members of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Conejo & Las Virgenes set sail recently from San Pedro aboard the Irving Johnson, a 110foot, squarerigged, two-masted brigantine.

Twenty-four boys and girls functioned as a working crew under the supervision of eight permanent, professional crew members.

Ryan Palmer, a seventhgrader at Los Cerritos Middle School, talked about the excitement of "being just like a sailor, out on the seas. We got to stand up on the crow's nest, and even though we were hooked in, it was still pretty scary because up there the boat shakes even more. You could see the whole boat and the islands in the distance and other boats."

In the ship's galley Ryan and his friends prepared ham and eggs for breakfast, sandwiches for lunch and spaghetti for dinner.

According to Becky Fleishman, one of three Boys & Girls Clubs staff members who accompanied club members on the two-day voyage, the youth cleaned their plates and utensils in buckets on the deck.

The young crew members anchored overnight in Long Beach beside the Queen Mary and the Black Pearl from "Pirates of the Caribbean" and participated in "man overboard" drills. For details, to volunteer or to make a donation, call (818) 880-8577 or visit the website at www.bgcconejo.org.