HOMECOMING SPEAKER - According to the college website, one of this past weekend’s Homecoming waterfront activities that did not have to be cancelled/rescheduled due to the weather was GARY JOBSON’s "Ultimate Sailing multimedia presentation covering the Beijing Olympics, Antarctica, America’s Cup, Offshore and Inshore Racing and the Classics." During his cadet years, Gary was twice named College Sailor of the Year. He sailed on the winning boat in the 1977 America’s Cup (see below) and has been ESPN’s sailing commentator since 1985, winning two Emmies for sailing programs. There is a full biography at www.sunymaritime.edu.

MORE AMERICA’S CUP SAILORS - "Other Maritime College/America’s Cup grads include DICK SADLER ‘76, who sailed as a grinder with GARY JOBSON ‘73 and Ted Turner aboard COURAGEOUS when they won the Cup in 1977. Also SCOTT VOGEL ‘82, who was probably the world’s best-known bow man at that time, who sailed with Dennis Conner aboard STARS AND STRIPES when they won at Perth Australia in 1987. BILL TRENKLE ‘80 was also a key crew member that year on S&S There are others...why not ask?" writes DICK BRACKEN ‘56. [Editor - So, I’m asking, any further additions to this list of outstanding collegiate sailors ?]

YET ANOTHER LITERARY ENGINEER - A book of poetry by DAVID FREDETTE ‘94, Latent Heat: A Year’s Worth, was published earlier this year by Xlibris Press. "Latent Heat has to do with phase change. Energy has to be either released or absorbed when change happens. The same is true in life." According to his publisher’s press release, after he graduated "...several years were spent as an engineering officer at sea, on oil tankers, and research vessels. But success was followed by setbacks, when he found himself in the hospital due to bipolar disorder. He recovered, and continues to improve with a good treatment regimen, family support, [and] working full time..." in the HVAC field. For more information on the book go to www.xlibris.com

FAR FLUNG CORRESPONDENTS - Earlier in the year LUIS M. LUIS ‘83 was commuting between the oil fields of Nigeria and his home in Houston (see NFFS - 25 February) . Last week NFFS sought an update from Luis in view of hurricanes hitting Texas and the continuing violence in the Niger Delta. It turned out that Luis had returned to Texas from Africa on the day before Hurricane Ike. His storm experience was probably similar to some of the other 60+ alumni who live in the Houston area. Luis arrived home in time to cover the biggest windows with plywood before the storm hit at 2AM on Saturday, September 13. Even though winds that far inland were ‘down’ to 75-80 mph "We still didn’t come out completely unscathed, We lost about 30-40 shingles from the roof" which resulted in some ceiling damage due to water leaks from the next day’s heavy rain.

Being the hyperactive person that he is, Luis was scheduled to fly out to Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard on 13 September for his annual two week Naval Reserve Active Duty training, but had to leave a day later due to Ike. He returns to Africa on 9 October, but: "This time going to Nigeria, I have a 5-day ‘pit stop’ in Abu Dhabi to teach a seminar on offshore platform engineering design and inspection for a company called Haward Technology Middle East (www.haward.org)." Luis concludes: "As you can see I have been very busy, To top it off, I am planning on taking the GMAT next week in Houston, because I have started online classes toward a master’s degree in Industrial Technology Management from the University of Texas A&M at Commerce, Texas."

GOLDEN GLOVES - ‘"Thanks for the Ed Villella update" writes RICK BAGSHAW ‘62, "I recall that he was an undefeated boxer whilst a student @ Fort Schuyler so nobody kidded him about ballet. Boxing was eliminated as a college sport before I got there but I remember seeing ‘Whitey’ Poor, an upper classman - think that was his name - who boxed semi-professionally for spending money. You could always tell when he had had a recent encounter as he looked like a truck drove over him." [Editor - Might he have been Walter J. Porr ‘59?]

STORMY WEATHER ON THE CAPE - Last month the president of the Massachusetts Maritime Academy, Adm. Rick Gurnon, came out in support of a suggestion by Congressman William Delahunt that the name of its training ship ENTERPRISE be changed to KENNEDY - and raised a storm of protest. The Boston Globe covered the story in its August 10 edition noting that approvals were still needed at the school, state and federal levels (www.bostonglobe.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2008/08/10/maritime_academy_to_rename_its_ship_the_kennedy ) Soon thereafter, the MarEx Newsletter sent out a piece about the idea to its subscribers (Tempest in a Teapot: Mass Maritime Moves to Change Name of Training Ship) and reaped a rich harvest of responses in the following week about the proposal, not only from Mass Maritime alumni, but also from SUNY Maritime graduates, including TOM RUSZALA ‘69, PAUL LOBO ‘69 and KEVIN JIRAK’76. It would seem that the timing of this suggestion was not the best, coming as it did in the middle of presidential election season.

http://www.newsletterscience.com/marex/readmore.cgi?issue_id=315&article_id=3425&l=<#__LIST_ID__#>&s=<#__SUBSCRIBER_ID__#>

NO NFFS NEXT WEEK - Taking time for R&R in Cape Cod. The next issue will appear on October 13.