Thousands of people converged on the LA Waterfront over Memorial Day weekend for a myriad of events and activities, including our annual Festival of Sail at LA Fleet Week in association with the Sherry Griswold Foundation. We welcomed guests aboard our twin brigantines and visiting schooner Bill of Rights for four sails each day over the four days – Friday, May 23 to Monday, May 26.
Guests could also take free deck tours on Irving Johnson, Exy Johnson and American Pride in the Downtown Harbor Cut, as well as a few smaller visiting ships, and participate in numerous hands-on activities or visit with our special guest reenactors. Thank you to our community partners who provided the interactive experiences in our TallShip Village:
Athens Services ⋅ Brick Tech ⋅ Girls in Focus ⋅ International Guild of Knot Tyers ⋅ Kling Family Foundation ⋅ Kraken Barrel Tavern Pirate Guild ⋅ Last Call Theatre Company ⋅ Lightcat Productions ⋅ Port Royal Privateers ⋅ Sons and Daughters of the American Revolution ⋅ Your Local Lost Boy and Friends
Our crew even got a special deck tour of their own – on America’s Tall Ship – the US Coast Guard’s Barque Eagle, which was visiting for Fleet Week. Thank you to Arley Baker on the Fleet Week team for making that possible!
Extra special thanks to our sponsors: Sherry Griswold Foundation, Crail-Johnson Foundation, Phillips66 LA Refinery, Fourth District Supervisor Janice Hahn, TKF Spirit Fund, Fast Lane Transportation, Yusen Terminals, Open Water, Central San Pedro Neighborhood Council, and Marathon Petroleum Los Angeles Refinery, our Explore the Coast sponsor. We are also grateful for the additional support from Athens Services, Councilmember Tim McOsker, Grand Vision Foundation and West Harbor Los Angeles.
We’ve compiled photos from our event photographers (including the always amazing Arturo Garcia-Ayala) in two different albums:
Event Photos:
Cannon Battles on Saturday and Sunday
TallShip Village, Other Sails & Waterfront Activities
For those who missed it, or even if you didn’t, we hope to see you on one of our next Sunset Sails, and mark your calendar for Memorial Day Weekend 2026 when we’ll host the Festival of Sail at LA Fleet Week once again!
A Dream Come True
One of our long-time volunteers and cannon battle gunners, Marc Rieffel, usually makes the Festival of Sail and other tall ship activities a family affair when he brings his wife, Henriette, along. This year, he also got his dad Lex involved, which Lex called “a dream come true” at the final crew call of the weekend. Mark told us, “My dad left with such a big smile on his face!”
Lex lives in Washington, DC, and he sailed small boats as a child, mostly racing. However, before this experience, he had never sailed on a tall ship. “With Donna’s help, I have completed all the requirements to be able to volunteer on the tall ships when they are taking school kids to sea,” he said. “I hope I will have at least one opportunity in the coming year to do that and also be on an overnight sail with Marc.”
We rely on volunteers to help us on sails, as well as in our boat shop, in our office and out in the community. You can learn more about volunteering at lamitopsail.org/volunteer or reach out to Volunteer Coordinator Donna Dunn at volunteercoordinator@lamitopsail.org.