Start thinking about the fall

Summer has begun, but fall semester classes are just around the

corner at Orange Coast College.

Registration for nearly 2,500 fall classes in more than 100

academic and vocational areas gets under way July 18 at OCC. Fall

semester classes begin Aug. 29. The semester concludes Dec. 18.

Applications are currently being accepted -- and registration

appointments are available -- in OCC’s admissions office, which is

open from 9 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday and from 9 a.m.

to 2 p.m. Friday. People may apply online at

www.orangecoastcollege.edu.

OCC’s fall enrollment fees are $26 per unit. Financial aid is

available.

Touch-tone telephone registration will be available for students

beginning July 18. In-person, late registration will be conducted

Aug. 29 through Sept. 2.

OCC’s fall class schedule is posted on the college website.

Printed schedules will be available for pick-up, free of charge,

beginning today in the admissions office.

For fall registration information, phone (714) 432-5072.

Alaska Eagle departs for South Pacific

OCC’s 65-foot sailing vessel Alaska Eagle will depart on its 21st

sail training voyage on July 11.

Eagle will return to OCC’s Sailing Center in Newport Beach on Oct.

23.

Alaska Eagle was donated to the college in 1982 by yachtsman Neil

Bergt. Eagle is a past winner of the prestigious Whitbread

Around-the-World Race, and has sailed more than 250,000 miles with

OCC sailing students aboard.

In the 23 years the vessel has been operated by the college,

Alaska Eagle has ferried Orange Coast students to Hawaii and Alaska

more than a dozen times. It begins its upcoming voyage by

participating in the 43rd Transpacific Yacht Race from Long Beach to

Honolulu. Alaska Eagle will serve as the fleet’s official

communications vessel.

The two-week passage runs July 11 through 24. The second leg will

be a 21-day passage, July 27 to Aug. 17, from Hawaii to Papeete,

Tahiti. Along the way, Alaska Eagle will make landfall at remote

Fanning Island in the Republic of Kiribati.

Leg-three is a 14-day, 550-mile trek from Tahiti through the

spectacular Tuamotu Archipelago and back. The trip runs Aug. 19

through Sept. 3. Leg-four will feature a 20-day, all-women’s voyage

from Tahiti to Fanning Island and Hawaii.

The 2,500-mile trip, scheduled for Sept. 5 through 25, is designed

for women who want to enhance their offshore skills and confidence in

a supportive, team-building environment.

Leg-five will be a 17-day, 2,200-mile cruise from Honolulu to San

Francisco from Sept. 29 to Oct. 16, offering a rugged, offshore

adventure under a wide range of sailing conditions. The final leg is

a four-day sail from San Francisco to Newport Beach from Oct. 19 to

23.

OCC’s athletic program finishes third in state

The Orange Coast College intercollegiate athletic program finished

third out of California’s 109 community colleges in the final overall

state athletic performance standings for 2004-05.

Seventy-eight California schools scored points in the competition.

Each college was awarded points based on postseason performances

of its fall and spring teams. Each school’s top five men’s and top

five women’s teams were computed in the final results.

The standings were tallied by the California Community College

Commission on Athletics.

OCC has won the statewide competition three times.

Three individual Orange Coast College teams captured state

championships this year -- men’s cross-country, women’s cross-country

and women’s tennis. Other teams that scored points for the Pirates in

postseason play included women’s swimming, men’s swimming, baseball,

women’s track and field, men’s track and field and women’s water

polo. OCC also received points from its men’s soccer, women’s soccer

and women’s volleyball squads.

* JIM CARNETT is senior director of community relations at Orange

Coast College. His column, and one for UC Irvine by Susan Menning,

will return at the end of the summer. Reach him at

jcarnettocc.cccd.edu or by calling (714) 432-5725.