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Tucked on the edge of Redwood Creek, the Peninsula Youth Sailing Foundation is working to introduce local students to the maritime trades, teach them about sustainability and waste management, as well as create a sailing program that is accessible to “all youth in the Bay Area.”
The nonprofit organization was founded around 2002, according to Executive Director John Vandemoer, and offers year-round programming. For Vandemoer, the foundation’s classes focus on both instilling tangible sailing skills and supporting each kid’s social-emotional development.
“Social emotional learning (is) something that comes through in everything we do, from our learn to sail programs to our racing programs to marine trades, even to our environmental or STEM piece as well,” Vandemoer said. “(The goal) is being able to help kids learn how to work together as a team, learn how to deal with their own frustrations, the uncontrollables in their life.”
A significant component of that work is preparing students for the workforce. The maritime trades program, which partners with Redwood High School, teaches students skills such as woodworking, rigging, painting and engine care — empowering them to explore a career path in boat restoration, construction and adjacent trades.
“(Redwood High School’s) woodworking workshop program is focused on boat building; (The students) just built a Whitehall 18 skiff, which is gorgeous,” Vandemoer said. “Taking some of those kids that want to do more, we have a 53-foot yawl here at the end of the harbor that’s a donation that the class then maintains. … The boat will go into the yard in November, and when it goes into the yard for major overhaul, the students get hired on as apprentices, and so they get hands-on, real-life experience through that, which is amazing.”
According to the United States Department of Labor, the maritime trades — like the construction industry and its shortage — may need 200,000 to 250,000 additional workers to meet demand over the next 10 years. Contributors to the gap include a high turnover rate, a lack of skilled workers and high competition for them, and an aging workforce, according to a 2026 article by consulting firm McKinsey & Company.
The hands-on nature of PYSF’s programs allows students to feel more connected to each other, the work and materials they encounter, according to Sarah Carmichael, director of development.
“I just want to make sure that there’s a safe space for kids to come out, play, learn, grow, fail, get up again and I hope the impact is just that,” Vandemoer said. “Our hope of an impact is that a kid will set up in a boardroom someday or in a garage, … and think, ‘Oh, there’s a problem that I can’t solve, but I can solve it, and I know that I can fail and get up and do it again.’”
Students as young as 6 can join PYSF, starting with a program that introduces them to sailing. From there, students can go on to compete at national and international levels with the racing teams.
In June, PYSF hosted the Ida Lewis Women’s Junior Doublehanded National Championship, not only bringing a national saling competition to the Bay Area, Carmichael said, but giving students the opportunity to learn under multiple female coaches from around the country.
Still, accessibility to its programming is a key focus for the team.
“We serve all the youth on the Peninsula, and we are very scholarship driven in terms of what we do,” Carmichael said. “There are more and more kids and families and organizations seeking this product or this experience, and … we are getting more kids out there and on the water than ever before. We have great relationships with Boys and Girls Club and (the Redwood City Pal Center), and we offer free programming to those organizations.”
For Liselle Yoo, a rising junior at Palo Alto High School, PYSF is like a family. Yoo first joined the summer camps in the fifth grade, going on to compete with the high school racing team and becoming a junior instructor for younger classes. Part of the draw for her is the venue and steady conditions of sailing with PYSF, and having access to coaches like Vandemoer, who coached at the collegiate level, and Molly Vandemoer, a 2012 Olympian.
“(Being an instructor is) like giving back to my community,” Yoo said. “In the world of sailing, we kind of have a bad rep for being hoity-toity. … But we also have communities and sailing like PYSF that allow sailing to be accessible for anybody who wants to join.”
Part of what allows PYSF to continue being that space for Bay Area youth is support from its community. Over 60% of PYSF parents donated money this year, according to Carmichael, and the organization relies heavily on volunteers.
“The amount of investment we get from our internal community to keep making this opportunity happen is really, really powerful,” Carmichael said. “We want to make it known. We want to invite people to join us. We want to be an example for schools, sailing organizations (and) foundations to do more, empowering humans to be good people and taking care of our world.”
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