Orange Coast Students Sailing to Caribbean

Three Orange Coast College students are on a sailing voyage through the Panama Canal and more than a thousand miles into the Caribbean.

The students, Graham Hoover and Teri Sigler of Costa Mesa and Sterling Jones of Huntington Beach, each received a $2,500 scholarship to sail aboard the 65-foot Alaska Eagle, owned by the college.

The Alaska Eagle, with a captain and crew of 12, sailed through the Panama Canal on May 22 and 23 and headed to the San Blas Islands.

From there, it will sail more than 200 miles through the Caribbean to Cartagena, and then 800 miles to the British Virgin Islands.

The scholarships, in memory of the late Newport Beach sailor George Sturgis, have been awarded for the last six years to students who have demonstrated an interest in sailing and navigation.