NEXUS

To continue the thread of research at Jackson Laboratory. Progress is leaping forward in no small measure as a result of the progress in computers. Imagine that only a short time ago it took 10 years to map the human genome. That same task today takes 10 days. Just as google searches for key words, programs can now be created to accomplish similar tasks in gene research. Additionally, it is no longer necessary to remember where and search the shelves of documents for specific information that was so very time consuming; not to mention the possibilities of sharing data by the internet.

OLD SCHOOL
OLD SCHOOL

The prospect of moving knowledge forward we are living in exciting times.

I will add that this applies to weather prediction as well, hurricane season started the first of june, today we have the first named storm. We cannot control the weather and I am not certain we should, but we can be better prepared with advanced knowledge.

LAB RATS

VIEW FROM CADILLAC MTN TOWARDS BAR HARBOR
VIEW FROM CADILLAC MTN TOWARDS BAR HARBOR
LAB RATS
LAB RATS
SEEKING THE SOLUTION
SEEKING THE SOLUTION
NEED FOR A NEW KIND OF DOCTOR
NEED FOR A NEW KIND OF DOCTOR

Yesterday was a visit to Jackson Laboratory located in Bar Harbor, Me. They have a powerful team searching for a cure for cancer. The laboratory is probably the most famous place for medical research that you have never heard of.” I certainly fit that category. As a layman listening to what was certainly a dumbed down version of the work being done I was still overwhelmed by my effort to absorb concepts I was unfamiliar with. It will take a while to synthesize the information.

To say that Bar Harbor and Acadia National Park are truly beautiful; does not really do justice to the sights.

A SAILING LEGEND

Considered by most the father of modern short handed sailing. In 1964 he won the OSTAR, single-handed transatlantic race from Plymouth UK to Newport, RI beating the next competitor by a wide margin. I remember seeing him sail into the harbor after the finish. He sailed many fully crewed races and introduced many of the following generations of french sailors to the sport.His legacy is in full bloom today.Our paths crossed a number of times after that in various parts of the world. Many years later his nephew spend the summer with our family.

RAMBLINGS OF THE MIND

BAMBOO TODAY
BAMBOO TODAY
RHODODENDRONS
RHODODENDRONS
EGYPTIAN ONIONS
EGYPTIAN ONIONS

IT WAS A SPLENDID DAY. THE HUMIDITY MOVED OUT REPLACED BY SUN WIND AND DRY AIR. A GOOD OPPORTUNITY TO WASH AND DRY; FOLLOWED BY SANDING AND PAINTING. ALL THE TIME WHILE THIS WAS GOING ON THE BAMBOO GREW 2 FEET. IF ONLY I HAD STARTED A CAMERA ON A TRIPOD WITH  TIME LAPSE.

WHILE PAINTING I STARTED TO ASK MYSELF WHIC WERE THE BOOKS WHICH MOST IMPACTED ME. AS I STARTED COMPILING A LIST IN MY HEAD; I IMMEDIATELY STARTED LISTING THE AUTHORS I REALLY LIKED. THIS LIST GREW QUICKLY. FACED WITH THE PROSPECT OF CUTTING NAMES FROM THE LIST I COULD NOT SO I STOPPED AND CHANGED SUBJECTS.

I WILL LIST A FEW NONE THE LESS.

‘THE LAST LEAF”     OLIVER WENDEL HOLMES

“THE MAN WITHOUT A COUNTRY”   EDWARD EVERETT HALE

“LIVING WELL IS THE BEST REVENGE”   CALVIN TOMPKINS

“WEST BY NIGHT”  BERYL MARKHAM

“TRACES OF THOMAS HERIOT”  MURIEL RUKEYSER

“MOBY DICK”    HERMAN MELVILLE

MY PREDICAMENT IS OBVIOUS, WHAT ABOUT THOMAS WOLF, WILLIAM FALKNER, F. SCOTT FITZGERALD, ETC.?

NEW EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF SYRF

Congratulations to Bjorn Johnson appointed the executive director of the Sailing Yacht Research Foundation

SYRF APPOINTS NEW OFFICERS

Scott Weisman joins Board of Directors as new Treasurer, Bjorn Johnson becomes Executive Director

Effective June 1st, the Sailing Yacht Research Foundation (SYRF) will have a new Treasurer and a new Executive Director position filled to help guide the organization forward in its mission to support the science of sailing.

Scott Weisman from White Plains, NY will join the Board of Directors of SYRF as its new Treasurer, filling the position vacated by Peter Reichelsdorfer who retired from SYRF last month. Weisman is a Co-Chairman of Etico Capital LP and Senior Managing Director of Olympus Securities, LLC, and has decades of inshore and offshore racing experience in the Northeast US, having had a succession of designs named Pterodactyl campaigned successfully throughout the region, and most recently also raced the Tripp 41 High Noon. Scott is no relation to San Diego-based fellow SYRF Board member Gary Weisman.

“I joined SYRF because I believe in its mission to support handicap racing with science,” says Weisman. “Science and technology are the anchors to any good handicap system, and I believe that if we have the best technology then we can have the best racing.

“HPR is an example: it is SYRF that has supported the advent of this new system to encourage the design of high-performance offshore yachts that are pushing technology forward, and this concept is getting traction all over the world. I look forward to helping shape this and other dimensions of the SYRF mission for the future.”

SYRF has also created a new Executive Director position to help manage its operations and fundraising efforts of the foundation, which has 501(c)3 status to accept tax-deductible donations. Bjorn Johnson from Newport, RI will fill this position, and brings with him a wealth of both sailing and organizational experience in offshore sailing. With a professional background in real estate project management, Johnson has applied these skills as the leader of several one design class fleets over the past decade, but most notably was also Chairman of the 2010 Newport-Bermuda Race, one of the world’s premier ocean races.

“I see that there is fertile ground available to grow offshore sailing,” says Johnson, “and SYRF can play a very important role in this growth. Besides promoting research and development, I see other key elements being education and transparency in the use of the research that comes from SYRF-funded projects. Owners, sailors, race organizers and managers, and even the media need to know more about how science can be applied to create better sailing for everyone.

“I look forward to finding donors who share this vision, but also working with rating systems and classes to apply these principles.”

Johnson has also accepted the Executive Director position for the Offshore Racing Association (ORA), the owner of the HPR and ORR rating rule systems.

“We are really pleased to have Bjorn and Scott on board,” says SYRF co-Chairman Steve Benjamin. “They both share the Board’s vision and goals for the future, and with their successful backgrounds and experience bring great skills and insight to having us accomplish our mission.”

For more information on SYRF, and information on how to make a tax-deductible donation, visit the website at www.sailyachtresearch.org. For a T2P-produced video explaining the SYRF mission, visit http://youtu.be/jgsdhgvd8A8.

About SYRF: The Sailing Yacht Research Foundation (SYRF) provides the sport of yacht racing with the technology, tools, research, and expertise necessary to broaden and deepen the understanding of yacht dynamics, to improve the fairness of yacht racing handicapping and rating rules, and encourage the universal adoption and implementation of those rules. A 501(c)3 foundation, SYRF was incorporated in 2006 by a group of sailors and scientists who, through research into the performance of competitive sailing yachts, made it their goal to develop the tools that aid in promulgating better handicap racing in all categories.

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