With donation, OCC’s ship comes in

Christine Carrillo

Orange Coast College’s School of Sailing and Seamanship announced

Wednesday that it has received its largest donation ever in the form

of an 88-foot, $2-million motor yacht.

ICN Pharmaceuticals Inc. founder Milan Panic, a former Yugoslavian

president, donated the yacht, which served as his private vessel for

20 years. The donation will allow the school to adopt a new noncredit

program geared toward vocational instruction.

“We don’t see it as a luxury yacht. We see it as an instructional

platform,” said Brad Avery, director of the school. “We see it as a

tool that we can use to increase [the students’] knowledge of large

boat operation.”

While Avery anticipates the upkeep of the yacht, known as Bella,

will cost the school about $100,000 per year, he is certain that the

school and its students will benefit from it.

“It enables us to inaugurate a summer program that will train

people for positions on large yachts,” Avery said.

“This boat is uniquely suited because it is designed to be crewed

by a professional staff. It gives us a very good platform to teach

people to work professional positions on board a large motor boat

yacht,” he said. “It gives us a platform for hands-on training.”

Since the School of Sailing and Seamanship is independently

funded, its success greatly relies on donations from the community,

in addition to student fees. After the school gets sufficient use

from the yacht, it will be sold, and the profits will go back to the

school.

“There can’t be a better time than right now,” said Gene Farrell,

interim president at OCC. “The [donation] continues to endow that

program. ... It is incredible to get a donation of that size.”

As the school’s professors and staff go through the yacht to

create new lesson plans relative to what the yacht offers, they can

see the vastness of its instructional possibilities.

“The gift of Bella is a tremendous gift for us,” Avery said. “It’s

a reflection of our program that we have the ability and the staff to

operate the boat. ... It gives us a new challenge.”