SailFuture Brings New Life to Sailing

Michael Long, founder of SailFuture, aims to use sailing as an innovative resource to fix a juvenile justice system that fails more kids than it saves and to find alternatives to incarceration. Since 2012, the Florida-based SailFuture has worked with judges, public defenders, state attorneys, and advocacy groups to develop sailing-based intervention programs for at-risk youth.

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More than 100,000 juveniles are sent to prison on any given day, and 75 percent reoffend and return to jail within a year of their release. Long’s programs are not “about sailing,” he says. “This is about giving these young men a platform to prove that they are capable of change,” said Long, whose programs thus far have 100 percent success rate at keeping participants on a better path.

Following an application process, SailFuture has selected eight (now seven) out of 100 juvenile offenders to participate in its Sail for Justice program to set sail in the 2015 Atlantic Rally for Cruisers (ARC), a sailing rally/race that spans 2700 nautical miles from Spain to Grenada. The at-risk youth in the program hail from Los Angeles, Chicago, Boston, Arizona, and Florida. Before their recent three-week training session in Baltimore, none had sailed before.

Long chose Baltimore as a training ground because of the great water access and proximity to Washington, DC’s many advocacy groups, politicians, and legislators who work on juvenile justice reform. While in the city, participants had an opportunity to teach police officers to sail. Following a day on the water at the Downtown Sailing Center, they had a productive dialogue about power dynamics and law enforcement.
SFJ Team1

In late October, the young sailors headed to Spain to train for a month before departing for the ARC November 22 with Long and professional sailor Donald Lawson. In addition to seamanship skills, the team will complete a comprehensive, onshore program to become advocates for a better juvenile justice system and receive job training and placement. Training includes public speaking and writing workshops, along with learning the structures and socioeconomic factors that shape the juvenile justice system.

Many sailors have called a transatlantic crossing a transformative experience. This one may be particularly memorable. Stay tuned to SpinSheet for news about the trip and the documentary film made along the way.

Click to sailfuture.org or follow the team via Facebook.