Old Boat, New Voyage : Gift: Two doctors have donated their racing sloop to the Orange Coast College sailing program.

When Dr. Robert Burns got a new racing boat, he and his sailing partner faced a decision of what to do with the Witch Doctor.

What they decided was to donate the $400,000 racing sloop, which Burns co-owned with Dr. Neil Barth, to Orange Coast College’s sailing program.

“The boat’s purpose was truly that of a racing boat, and it deserves to be in a fairly prominent racing environment, which OCC has managed to establish and maintain,” said Burns. “We wanted it to have a broader access to the community . . . and we knew it would be well taken care of.”

So in December, the 44-foot Witch Doctor--a pun-like name that its physician co-owners took from the question, “Which Doctor?”--sailed into North Lido Channel as the third major gift to the sailing program in 12 years.

The two others are the Alaska Eagle, OCC’s main floating classroom, and the Obsession, which was donated to the college in 1991.

“It’s not something that comes along very often,” said Ann Owens, office coordinator for the sailing program. But when community residents think about what to do with a sailboat they aren’t going to use anymore, they often think of OCC, she said.

“They look to our program when they want to donate a boat,” she said.

Burns’ reasons for donating the Witch Doctor were similar to those of Stephen R. Nichols, who said he wanted to make sure that his gift, a 70-foot, $800,000 racing sloop named the Obsession, would be put to the greatest possible use in an established sailing program. He had also come to know Brad Avery, director of OCC’s sailing program, through sailing races.

More than 3,000 people have taken courses in beginning sailing, navigation, maintenance, power boating and marine sciences at OCC, said Avery. And many of them get hooked for life.

“They quit their jobs, sell their homes and sail away,” he said.

Because the college now has the Witch Doctor, the Alaska Eagle will be able to take off on a yearlong cruise with students in July, without interrupting the studies of those who remain behind.

In previous years, beginners studying navigation, handling and anchoring of a sailing boat often had to wait several months each year for the Alaska Eagle to return from trips. No other boat was equally suitable for overnight cruising to Catalina and hands-on practice, said Avery.

But now, the Witch Doctor is in.

The black and red boat won “First in Class” at the 1991 San Francisco Big Boat competition, a series of high-speed races around the bay.

“It’s such a wonderful boat,” said Erica Christian, 26, a two-year participant in the sailing program. “It’s very light, very fast. . . . It’s a good basic boat.”

Though fully equipped with 20 bags of sails and navigation equipment, the boat is also light enough for one person to handle the winches, said Christian. But it’s large enough to comfortably accommodate six passengers for overnight voyages.

Classes in navigation, safety, marine diesel repair and other sailing-related skills will be held on the Witch Doctor, with about six students per session, said Avery.

“It’s more of the size people would have” if they bought their own boats, he said. “People can relate to the Witch Doctor. It has everything they would need to have to (learn about) cruising.”

Sure, some larger sloops have more room, said Christian, “but speed is everything and comfort is nothing. The Witch Doctor is both fast and comfortable.”

Avery and a few students are still cleaning up the new floating classroom for use later in June, when it will begin taking students to the Channel Islands.

Barth said he already misses his boat.

“It was like giving a pet away,” said Barth. “You give it to someone you know will take good care of it.”