Tuesday 24 June 2008
Monday 16 June 2008
Goodbye to sailor who died with valor
Nearly 700 sailors, co-workers and friends crowded into the Clear Lake United Methodist Church on Thursday to say goodbye to veteran seaman Roger Stone, who died saving the lives of two students as their sailboat capsized in stormy seas.
"Roger was my friend and he demonstrated uncommon valor," Mike Janota, Stone's sailing partner for 25 years, told those at the memorial service.
Stone, 53, was the first to recognize that the keel had dropped off the Texas A&M University at Galveston sailboat, the Cynthia Woods, at about 11:45 p.m. Friday during a race from Galveston to Veracruz, Mexico.
Realizing that they had only seconds before the boat capsized, Stone hustled students Steven Guy and Travis Wright into the gangway.
Stone pushed Guy out as water rushed in, enabling Guy to struggle to safety underwater by grabbing the wheel and pulling himself toward the stern.
Known for his coolness in the face of danger, Stone had saved lives before.
"Roger was a hero well before the weekend," said the Rev. Tony Vinson during the service.
Vinson recounted how in a race two years ago Stone was disqualified after he dropped his sail and turned on his motor to help a competitor whose sailboat was dismasted and its crew thrown into the water, in danger of being swept onto the rocks.
"He basically put himself out of the race," to help the stricken crew, Janota said in an interview.
Stone's sailing skills were legendary.
Janota recalled a race in which a boat with a deeper draft was gaining on them and Janota wanted to maneuver the boat to cut off their competitor.
But Stone calmly calculated their relative positions with a cheap, aging GPS device and told Janota to stay on course. Predicting their opponent would strike the shallow bottom, Stone said, "He's going to run aground just about now," Janota recalled.
"He literally called it on the second."
Roger Winslow Stone was born in London, the son of Doris Lacy Stone, now 90, and the late Richard Winslow Stone. He was raised in Hastings-on-Hudson, N.Y., a suburb of New York City.
He got his first taste of sailing after his father purchased a 13-foot, French-made open hulled sailboat, said his sister, Valerie Stone, 54, of Boston.
After graduating from Bellevue Community College in Bellevue, Wash., with a degree in biomedical photography, Stone accepted a photography job in 1980 at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston.
He met his wife, Linda, in 1987 during a racing event and they were married on June 15, 1990, in Veracruz.
In Galveston he immersed himself in his life's passion, sailing, winning many offshore sailing trophies, family and friends said.
But his devotion to his children, Eric, 14, and Elizabeth, 12, was stronger than his love of sailing, family and friends said. Janota recalled him announcing unabashedly to a room of shocked sailors that he would not race in one of the most important races of the year because he had to accompany his daughter on an Indian Princess outing.
His ashes will be scattered at sea Saturday, Janota said.
Sunday 15 June 2008
16 and Sailing Around the World
From the first day Zac Sunderland said hello to planet earth, it seems he was destined to live the sailor's life. Brought home from the hospital to his first home, a 55' Tradewind in Marina del Rey, California, he was assigned his first bunk and listened to his mom tell the world of his birth over a single side-band radio...he never looked back.
Born to a family of yachtsmen and shipwrights, Zac quickly grew sea legs, and at an early age was deciphering Lat/Longs, not streets and avenues. His three wheeler youth was substituted with hoisting mains, jibs and mizzens.
As he grew more confident under his dad's tutelage, Zac joined the family on sailing adventures to Australia, New Zealand, the UK and Mexico; there, developing not only his sailing skills but also adding to his experience with other cultures. When his shipwright father purchased a 51' Aleutian, Zac worked with him to outfit it for the cruising life, and after 6 months the family left for a 3 year cruise of the Channel Islands, Baja California and mainland Mexico. This period in Zac's life was the epiphany that all young men could envy. It instilled in him a love of the sailing life, a deep respect for the ocean, and the commitment and drive to pursue his dream; to someday circumnavigate the globe, single-handed.
Since then, 16 year old Zac Sunderland, a homeschooled A student, has been preparing himself physically and mentally for that dream. He has been racing, crewing and delivering yachts of all sizes and value. He crews for delivery captains up and down the west coast, often given sole responsibility for navigating, sail trim and resolving mechanical problems. In between studies and crewing, Zac will work on marina yachts, either on his own or under the wing of his shipwright father, up in the crow's nest installing or repairing rigging, down below on a thru hull fitting, or maybe overhauling a diesel engine. Zac has recently purchased an Islander 36 with his savings and is in the process of aquiring sponsors to aid in the outfitting of the boat for world cruising. His experience and knowledge are broad and deep.
HE IS READY TO LIVE HIS DREAM.
Picture of the Beriev Bartini VVA 14 aircraft
Picture of the Beriev Bartini VVA 14 aircraft
CCCP-19172 Yes, that's an aircraft. Anti-submarine ground-effect hydroplane designed in 1972. This monster looks horrible even with wings and without - like now - it is total 'nightmare'. But it is rather interesting and cognitive. And good confirmation of true phrase - ugly airplanes don't fly.
