Students Ditch Boat in Pacific

A group of Orange Coast College sailing students and staff, returning the school’s $500,000 ketch from Hawaii after it took part in a trans-Pacific race, have been forced to abandon the boat about 800 miles from shore after its mast was damaged.

No one was injured and the crew members are now sailing toward Panama on two commercial ships that picked them up.

The ketch Bonaire had been chartered by a group of Newport Beach yachtsmen to sail in the Transpac race from Los Angeles to Hawaii, and the college crew had flown out to the islands to sail it back to its home port of Newport Beach. The group sailed out of Honolulu on July 15.

But on July 23, the mast step--the base that holds the mast in place--collapsed, causing the 80-foot main mast to drop a foot into the boat.

It took two days to find a rescue ship. At that point, six members of the crew--five students and a first mate--were transferred to a Panama-bound German freighter. The captain and other first mate attempted to continue navigating the Bonaire for three more days before they gave up and were taken aboard a Japanese automobile carrier.

“Of course, I was worried,” said Patrice Pauley of Tustin, whose 20-year-old son Ryan was one of the students on board. “He said at no time was he in any danger. He also said he’s having the time of his life. He told me the whole experience has been wonderful for him.”

The college has one of the largest nonprofit sailing schools in the country, with more than 6,000 students.