![]() ![]() From simple pleasures like a fresh breeze or a great sunset to seeing junior sailors gain confidence and experience, making the voyage of a lifetime or overcoming adversity, this sport produces excellence in many different ways. It’s truly inspiring to know that there are events like the Robie and people like Buttons and Bill who understand that there are no barriers to getting people out on the water. The Robie is where Chris re-entered the world of sailing. ![]() Should Bill and Buttons ever need additional incentive to continue their support of the Robie, they need only look at the picture of Chris at the helm of the Ideal 18 on page 51 (full story linked here). Before a swimming accident that left him a quadriplegic, he sailed often, racing keelboats and instructing at Longshore Sailing School. One of them was Chris O’Brien from Trumbull, Connecticut. This year’s Robie had several new competitors, as it does every year. I am proud to know these fine gentlemen who help to make sailing accessible, competitive and fun for so many. Bill was a Contributing Editor at WindCheck for several years, and Buttons has contributed articles on numerous occasions, most recently for the Viper Class in which he is very active. Among the more than fifty volunteers who come together to produce such a successful and growing event are my friends Bill Sandberg and Buttons Padin, who co-chair the regatta with Siobhan Reilly. Since 2008, The Robie Pierce Regatta has been co-hosted by American and Larchmont Yacht Clubs. I’m proud to call Andrew a friend and also of the fact that Scaramouche’s owner and Andrew connected through WindCheck. I recently stopped by the shop to check on progress, and the restoration being done is impressive. What makes me proud about the ongoing refit article that we are running is that the work is being performed by the crew at Cooley Marine Management in Stratford, Connecticut. A pedigreed ocean racer indeed, she saw great success throughout the years, primarily as a West Coaster, and she’s found a new home here out East. I’m proud to have Belle and Joe on the cover.Īnother classic yacht gracing the pages of this issue is the 50-foot Sparkman & Stephens sloop Scaramouche, built in 1972. ![]() In my opinion, the L24 is the prettiest boat ever designed. I have had the pleasure of sailing on this boat with Joe, albeit years ago, and she can still keep pace (and often outrun) much more modern racers. The most excellent and beautiful boat is Belle, a Luders 24, and her skipper is Joe Loughborough from Newport, Rhode Island. This is one of them, starting with the cover image. I am always pleased with the quality of the content in each issue we produce, but there are certain issues I’m extra proud to see circulated. Sailing has given me some of the closest and most valued friendships in my life and WindCheck has contributed greatly to that. The title of the piece is “The Ties That Bind.” It got me thinking of all the ties that I have with the great contributors, advertisers and sailors featured on the pages of this magazine, some of whom I have known for years others as a result of the work we do at the magazine. Being recognized as a vital part of the sailing community by such a well respected publication and Editor as Scuttlebutt and Craig Leweck is humbling, to say the least. Scuttlebutt Sailing News recently published a write-up about WindCheck (issue 4860). Anyway, because Gration is at the rumor stage, I won't comment more on him specifically, but you can read more about him on his wikipedia page. Dan Goldin had prior NASA experience, but his "faster better cheaper" plan may have led to troubles internally and externally as management of missions slipped and some probes were lost. I was not terribly happy with Sean O'Keefe when he was top banana at NASA, because he seemed far more concerned about budget than about actually exploring space. I will say that not having experience with NASA can go either way. All of these are rumors which I have been hearing, but all we're getting is hearsay and unnamed sources. in fact, some people say he wants to scrap Constellation and go with military rockets after the Shuttle. Interestingly, there are rumors abounding (though with precious little evidence) that Obama wants NASA to cooperate more freely with the Department of Defense to speed up a return to the Moon and/or fill the gap after the Shuttle era but before Constellation flies. He's not terribly connected with NASA (in 1982 he served as a White House Fellow with NASA's then-deputy administrator Hans Mark), but his military career is impressive. This is rumor only, but we may hear more pretty soon. The news is buzzing that retired Air Force Major General Scott Gration has been tapped by Obama to replace Michael Griffin as NASA's Administrator.
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