A Real Sea Change : Teens Leave Troubles on Shore in ‘Sail for Life’ Program

In their homes and neighborhoods temptations beckon. But on Saturday six young people who had served time in Orange County Juvenile Hall escaped their troubles and set sail aboard a schooner.

They eagerly took orders, working together as a crew to learn the ways of the wind and tides and how to have fun apart from the drugs and gangs that landed them in jail.

The teen-agers who set sail from Alamitos Bay Saturday morning were happy for a chance to get away.

“If I weren’t here, I would hang around the house being bored and watching my mother do drugs,” said Christopher, 17, who joined the outing despite a tendency to get seasick.

These teens are part of an innovative program for juvenile offenders called Sail for Life that was founded three years ago by Tom and Michelle Hancock of Huntington Beach.

When in short sleeves, Tom Hancock’s tattooed arms betray his own rebellious childhood. He concedes that he spent most of his time from age 11 to 21 behind bars for breaking the law. It started, he said, when he ran away from a foster home on a stolen horse and ended with a sentencing to San Quentin for armed robbery.

Hancock, 54, who now works as a construction foreman and runs an insurance agency with his wife, said a probation officer showed him another path that led to school and success. Working with the Orange County Probation Department, he hopes the sailing program will offer the same opportunity for other kids who got off to a bad start in life.

Michelle Hancock helps with the outings, giving rides to those who can’t otherwise get to the dock on Saturdays and listening with concern to their problems. Tom Hancock said there are about 200 young people now enrolled in Sail for Life, learning what it takes, from hoisting sails to navigating by the stars and sun, to become seasoned sailors.

Most join the program while confined at Orange County Juvenile Hall or Joplin Ranch, another county youth correctional facility. Some had never spent a day by the sea nor sunk a toe in the sand before, although they grew up in Southern California.

Along the way, probation workers say, the youths gain self-esteem, make friends and learn about a more wholesome lifestyle. Many keep with it after they are released and on probation. They are first hooked by the simple thrill of sailing.

“At least a dozen kids have said to me, ‘I didn’t know I could have so much fun without being loaded,’ ” said Norman Shattuck, assistant director at the county Juvenile Hall in Orange.

During Saturday’s sail off Long Beach, Jeanette Marie Deno, 18, passed a test culminating 13 weeks of nautical schooling and was promoted to chief boatswain, meaning she could give orders to the rest of the crew.

Deno, who now lives at home in Irvine with her parents, said she served 14 months in Juvenile Hall for crimes that included auto theft and assault and battery while she was under the influence of drugs. The Sail For Life program, she said, has given her hope of becoming a professional sailor on a cruise ship or yacht.

She acknowledges that at first she joined the program just for the chance to leave Juvenile Hall for a few hours. She didn’t expect she would enjoy sailing. “I never liked the ocean. It was deep and I’m afraid of heights,” she said.

To her surprise, she said, sailing introduced her to “a whole totally different world. It is so awesome. I love it.”

Several others on Saturday’s trip said that although they still are mystified about many of the technical aspects of sailing, they welcomed the diversion.

“I need this to take up my time until I feel strong enough to fight off the urge” for drugs, said Christopher, who said he was released last week from Juvenile Hall and is determined not to go back. He is planning to enroll this fall at Fullerton College.

Filemon, 16, said he goes sailing on Saturdays to avoid the gangs in his Anaheim neighborhood. “I realize now that these are really my true friends,” he said, nodding toward the others aboard.

Several of the Sail for Life members said they especially appreciated the commitment of the Hancocks to answer their calls any time if they need counseling to stay off drugs or alcohol. But sometimes, Tom Hancock said, the teen-agers wait too long.

Rich, 16, who was taking a turn at the helm, concentrating on keeping the schooner on course, said he had returned a second time to Juvenile Hall because he had again gotten high on drugs. He said that only two days after his release from the hall, he called Tom Hancock to confess.

The skipper said it was his duty to turn the youth over to authorities. “He knew I had to do it,” he said. “He was asking for help.”

On Saturday, Hancock gave lessons in seamanship with a mixture of discipline and humor. “Pull the halyards--faster, faster!” he coached as the schooner left the Explorer Sea Scout base at Alamitos Bay and headed toward the sea. “Amazing, but we’re under sail,” he said a few minutes later, grinning broadly.

The Hancocks volunteer their time and money to run Sail for Life, which has affiliated with the Sea Explorer Scouts, and they have enlisted other adult volunteers as well to serve as instructors, friends and role models. The seven boats used in the program are gifts to Sail for Life or have been made available on Saturdays by the owners.

The 64-foot teakwood schooner that set sail Saturday was donated for the day by Dave Spencer, who lives on the yacht. Spencer, a contract manager at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, joined the excursion, proudly sharing tidbits about the history of the craft, which was built in Vietnam. Hancock said he is striving to raise more money and attract more volunteers to expand the sailing program to other Sea Explorer Scout bases. He has his eye on a 114-foot yacht he would like to buy and turn into a floating school for high school dropouts.

“One kid last year didn’t know math, so I made him a navigator, and then he got straight A’s,” he said. “These kids just need to get motivated and pointed in the right direction.”