Colleges / Campus scene : 2 OCC Students to Sail the Pacific

Orange Coast College students Chris Gruwell and Monica Twitchell are making their first trans-Pacific voyage this summer on board the college’s sailing yacht, Volcano.

The Volcano set sail from Newport Beach this week bound for San Francisco, Hawaii and Alaska before it returns home.

Gruwell, of Newport Beach, and Twitchell, of Costa Mesa, were each awarded $2,500 by OCC’s sailing program to make the journey with nine other students and two licensed Coast Guard skippers.

Gruwell will be on board for the first two legs of the trip, from Newport Beach to San Francisco and from San Francisco to Hawaii. Twitchell will meet the ship in Hawaii and sail from Hawaii to Sitka, Alaska.

Both will participate as full members of the crew, including standing watch, steering, sail handling and galley duty. By the end of the voyage, both will have mastered celestial navigation.

Brad Avery, director of OCC’s Sailing Center, said the scholarship is given each year to students who have an interest in improving their navigational skills but would not otherwise be able to afford such a journey.

Twitchell, 30, recently received a certificate from OCC in dental technology. She began taking sailing classes at OCC in 1993 and has been involved with the sport since.

Gruwell, 24, has rowed for OCC’s crew team for the past two seasons.

“They tell me that oarsmen make good sailors because they’ve mastered the art of weight distribution and balance,” Gruwell said. “I hope they’re right.”