Field trip a cut above

Marisa O’Neil

While their schoolmates were in class doing math problems or writing

essays Wednesday morning, 100 Ensign Middle School students were

sailing the seas on a U.S. Coast Guard cutter.

The seventh- and eighth-grade students are taking part in physical

education teacher Joe Fuschetti’s fishing, boating and aquatic safety

class. Wednesday, they got to tour the Orange County Sheriff’s Harbor

Patrol facility in Newport Beach and experienced a one-hour cruise

aboard the 87-foot Coast Guard cutter Narwhal.

They toured the ship, learned about the Coast Guard, tried on

firefighting gear and tested out their sea legs as the boat sped out

to sea along the coast of Corona del Mar. Some students, like

12-year-old Austin Webster, even got to take the helm briefly.

“We got to drive a Coast Guard cutter today,” Fuschetti exclaimed

to his students after the trip. “That’s pretty amazing. You don’t get

to do that every day.”

The grant-funded class is the first of its kind in the state,

Fuschetti said. It’s open to anyone with an interest in boating and

fishing, and the Coast Guard tour fit in perfectly with the boating

segment of the class, he said.

Although students have toured the facility and the ship before,

Wednesday was the first time a group of students got to go out to

sea, Narwhal Executive Officer Matt Vaughn said.

“We thought it would make it more lively for them,” Vaughn said of

the cruise. “We wanted to get the most bang for the buck.”

That approach worked on 12-year-old Jay Wilson.

“I thought it was going to be one of those boring museum tours,”

he said.

Instead, Jay got to don a helmet and lifejacket and ride a

four-passenger Zodiac boat launched from the cutter.

“It was like riding a big jet ski,” Jay said. “But it was really

fast and a lot louder. It was a lot of fun.”

Students got to check out the galley, .50-caliber machine guns and

firefighting equipment. Jessica Bent, 13, put on the boots, fireproof

suit, hood and gasmask that Coast Guard firefighter Shaun Haskins

usually wears.

“How would you like wearing all this for 30 minutes?” Haskins

asked her.

Jessica shook her head vigorously, the hose from the gasmask

dangling down from her mouth.

After cutting through the ocean waves, with the wind blowing

through their hair, most of the students gave the Coast Guard a big

thumbs-up.

“It’s a tough job,” 12-year-old Jake Rieke said. “But it’s also a

fun job.”

Ensign Middle School science teacher Gary Hensley may have been

the most enthusiastic recruit. He had so much fun on the trip, he was

considering signing up for the Coast Guard Reserve.

“I love teaching,” he said. “But this would be great.”

* MARISA O’NEIL covers public safety and courts. She may be

reached at (949) 574-4268 or by e-mail at [email protected].