Setting sail on a healthy voyage

Lolita Harper

The sun was high in the Newport Beach sky on Saturday morning, as

were the spirits of the crew of the Alaskan Eagle, which was readying

for the first leg of its Pacific Island tour.

Dennis Mendenhall, of Lakeview Terrace, was anxious to set sail

Saturday on his third trip with the Orange Coast College School of

Sailing and Seamanship.

“It’s great to be out here,” Mendenhall said. “It’s great to be

alive.”

Mendenhall was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma a few years

ago and was told by his doctor his days were numbered. Lymphoma is a

cancer of the body’s lymph system tissues, which are important in the

function of the immune system.

Sailing was one of those things Mendenhall always wanted to try

but had never gotten around to.

That changed.

The 58-year-old Los Angeles city firefighter took beginning

sailing lessons and reached the skill level required to sail on the

Alaskan Eagle. And he’s back this summer for the “third annual

thank-God-I-am-alive tour,” he said.

“It’s a wonderful adventure,” Mendenhall said. “It really enhances

my life.”

Mendenhall said he doesn’t want anyone to think his is a sob

story.

He’s been through a lot -- including combat in Vietnam -- and

takes his challenges as they come, Mendenhall said.

But some he goes looking for -- like this Alaskan Eagle voyage.

Mendenhall said he chose the first leg because it’s the longest

nonstop trip the training program has ever embarked on, from Newport

Beach to Easter Island in the South Pacific -- about a 3,800-mile

leg.

The voyage serves as training for those who wish to hone their

boating skills, school officials said. Each leg of the trip will have

between nine and 12 students, who fly in and out of destinations

according to the itinerary.

Mendenhall will sail with about eight other people to Easter

Island, where another group will take the leg from there to Pitcairn

Island. And the pattern of island stops continues, as various groups

take the responsibility of navigating the Alaskan Eagle to Marquesas,

Tuamotus, Tahiti, Moorea, Bora Bora, Fanning Island, Hawaii and back

to Newport.

Mike Hodson, 21, was at the docks making sure the final tasks were

taken care of before they took off. He flew in from Long Island, N.Y.

for this trip, a precious space of time for him between the end of

college life and the beginning of full-blown adulthood.

“I just graduated from [Middlebury College in Vermont] and was

looking for something to do before going off into the real world,”

Hodson said.

* LOLITA HARPER is the enterprise and investigative reporter for

the Daily Pilot. She may be reached at (949) 574-4275 or by e-mail at

lolita.harper@latimes.com.