Classmates to Board for Cruise of Lifetime

During the past five or six years, Cindy Kreide and David Odegard have taken nearly every boating class that Orange Coast College had to offer, but somehow never met. It wasn’t until the OCC students journeyed north to Alaska that they finally ended up in the same boat--the Alaska Eagle.

Kreide and Odegard met during the college’s 1990 cruise from Ketchikan to Vancouver, B.C. And on March 21 in Newport Harbor, they’ll board the Alaska Eagle once again--this time to be married.

Since they met on the boat, it seems only natural that they should get married on it, says Kreide, 33. “We wanted something small and simple. I didn’t want a big church thing.”

Even though the setting may be unconventional, the couple’s wedding garb will not. Kreide will be wearing a brocade wedding gown, complete with veil, and Odegard will be decked out in a tux. The ceremony will take place while the Alaska Eagle lies, sails furled, somewhere in a quiet corner of Newport Harbor.

Skippering the 65-foot college-owned boat will be Brad Avery, director of OCC’s marine programs. Avery was also skipper during the Ketchikan-to-Vancouver cruise on which the couple met.

The cruise, which was the fifth leg in an 8,000-mile voyage that is part of the college’s Pacific sail training program, lasted for 13 days and drew nine students, who did everything from sail trimming and navigating to cleaning and swabbing the decks. Odegard and Kreide ended up being on the same middle-of-the-night four-hour watches. It was during those times that the two began to talk and to discover how much they had in common.

“We talked a lot,” says Odegard, 30. “And when we went ashore our group sort of held together. We really didn’t do anything dating-wise until a couple of weeks after we got back. And then we started going out and (the relationship) built over a year and a half.”

Kreide agrees that it was not love at first sight. “I did not think romantically when I first saw him,” she says. “I mean he’s good-looking, but I didn’t think love.”

Kreide and Odegard, neither of whom has even been married, say that romance was the furthest thing from their minds when they signed up for the cruise. “I sure didn’t go on the trip expecting to meet my future husband,” says Kreide, a pharmacist in Woodland Hills. “I was going because I enjoy sailing, and I had always wanted to see Alaska. Meeting new people was great, but it was not my priority.”

As for Odegard, he says: “I was out for a sailing experience, an adventure, which it definitely was. We weren’t hooked together the whole time.”

In fact, on board the boat, it was difficult to be alone. The female students bunked two to a cabin, while the five male sailors stayed in the sail locker in the bow. Both Odegard and Kreide remember their first kiss, which took place well into the cruise on Roche Harbor in Washington’s San Juan Islands.

They also remember working together as a crew and being impressed with each other’s sailing skills. “Cindy is very independent and can do anything on the sailboat that I can do,” says Odegard, who is general manager of manufacturing for an Orange company that makes replacement parts for vintage cars. “We worked together well.”

Living in the cramped quarters aboard a boat is probably the best test of any relationship, Odegard admits. “You would know if you weren’t going to have a future.”

As for the couple’s future, Kreide says: “If we weren’t buying a house this year, we were thinking about going on another cruise on the Alaska Eagle. We had thought to go to the South Pacific. I can see us in a few years going again, maybe on our fourth or fifth anniversary.”

Solo Sailor. Tania Aebi, a former Manhattan bicycle messenger who at 21 became the youngest person ever--and the only American woman--to sail around the world alone, will describe her 27,000-mile, 2 1/2-year voyage during a lecture at 7:30 p.m. March 6 at the Bahia Corinthian Yacht Club, 1601 Bayside Drive, Corona del Mar.

The lecture, open to the public, is sponsored by “Cruising World” magazine and the Boat Owners Assn. of the United States. Tickets are $10 and may be purchased by calling (800) 937-BOAT. Tickets will also be available at the door, but seating is limited.

Sail Club. The Balboa Sailing Assn. will hold a Catalina Cruise March 7 and 8. For information call (714) 840-3957. In addition, a regular business meeting will be held from 6:30 to 11 p.m. March 10 at the American Legion, 215 15th St., Newport Beach. During the meeting sign-ups will be taken for upcoming day sails, whale-watching cruises and raft-ups.

America’s Cup. Orange County residents can become a part of the 1992 America’s Cup campaign by joining the newest chapter of the Masthead Society, a support group for the America 3, according to Orange County sailor Brian Mock, advisory committee co-chairman.

America 3 is currently vying with Dennis Connor for the right to defend the Cup. Members who join the Orange County chapter will receive passes to watch the racing aboard the organizations’s spectator yacht during the selection trials in San Diego. For information on the Orange County Masthead Society. call co-chairman Ralph Rodheim at (714) 557-5100.

More Cup News. The America’s Cup trophy will be on display from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday at the America’s Cup Museum, Cruise Ship Terminal, 1150 N. Harbor Drive, San Diego.

The cup will also be on display on selected dates throughout the races including March 6, March 7, March 13 and March 14. For information, call the museum at (619) 685-1413.

In other America’s Cup announcements, “Yachting,” the official magazine of the 1992 event, has teamed up with America’s Cup Services, a nonprofit subsidiary of the America’s Cup Organizing Committee, to put together a cup program and a San Diego visitors’ guide. Both books are available for $5 at many newsstands and may be ordered by calling (800) 92-CUP-92. The program book features information on the race’s history and profiles of the America’s Cup teams.

Safe Boating. Coast Guard Auxiliary classes got underway this month in Tustin and Corona del Mar and will continue for 12 weeks. For information on the Tustin classes, call John Belsher of Flotilla 15-4 at (714) 993-1136. Information on the Corona del Mar classes is available by calling Gloria Wurthman in Flotilla 2-7 at (714) 837-2041.

Leaky Decks. The recent rains mean leaky decks aboard the tall ship Californian, which during most of her eight years at sea has operated during drought conditions. As a result, the Nautical Heritage Society is seeking donations to pay for the recaulking of the vessel. Steve Christman, president of the society, estimates that the caulking can be done at $1 a foot, but the Californian has 5,526 feet of deck seams. A donation of $92 would cover an entire seam from bow to stern, Christman estimates. For information, call (714) 661-1001 or send donations to the nonprofit Nautical Heritage Society, 24532 Del Prado, Dana Point, Calif. 92629.

Women Sailors. The Women’s Ocean Racing Sailing Assn. will meet at 6:30 p.m. March 25 at the Bahia Corinthian Yacht Club, 1601 Bayside Drive. Guest speaker is Dennis Kelly, who will talk about whales and dolphins. For membership information, call Shannon Carr at (714) 965-7529.