Pegasus Project Expands Horizons

“In the 14 years since we started, we’ve introduced about 5,000 kids to San Francisco Bay and sailing,” explains Peter Hayes, founder of the Pegasus Project. Staffed by volunteers from the local sailing community, his organization introduces Bay Area youth — many of them ‘at-risk’ youth — to the fundamentals of sailing and marine science aboard the 51-foot ketch Pegasus. Hayes’s dream, however, is to expand the horizons of every area student before they graduate high school, by introducing them to the joys of sailing — at least once.

The wooden dinghy pictured here is the result of an annual two-semester boat-building project run at Harding Elementary School’s Transitional Education Program in El Cerrito. Local dignitaries, including Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates and Assemblywoman Loni Hancock, joined parents and teachers in honoring the young shipwrights at the dinghy’s christening last month at the Berkeley YC.

“Sailing with kids is hard work, but it’s also fun!” says Hayes — and, no doubt, deeply rewarding in intangible ways. To learn more about the Pegasus Project, visit www.pegasusproject.org.