Sailing Science Center News

November 2019

Vol. 3, No. 3

Welcome to the November issue of the Sailing Science Center News! Our theme this month is The Journey, as we look back on the shore behind us, look forward to the challenges ahead, and enjoy the moment we're in.

Continue reading for more updates on the SSC journey below!

If my ship sails from sight, it doesn't mean my journey ends, it simply means the river bends.

– Enoch Powell

Volunteer Spotlight - Christine Cid

This month’s Volunteer Spotlight is on Christine Cid, a true blessing to our team! Christine grew up in Jersey City, near Manhattan, and has a brother who is seven years older. After graduating from high school at seventeen, Christine moved to Boston to attend Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences (MCPHS) where she enrolled in a combined undergraduate/doctorate program in pharmacy. What got her interested in that? Christine says she knew she wanted to go into healthcare, and seeing a special about a NASA pharmacist set her on her journey.

After graduating, Christine moved to California to work for Genentech under a post-doc fellowship, where she started in Regulatory Affairs, but then moved to Strategic Insights and Analysis. If she’s starting to sound like a young hotshot, trust me, she’s every bit of that!

Recreationally (how do you find the time Christine?) she says she’s passionate about visual and musical arts and she loves spending time outdoors. The latter was more difficult in New Jersey, but now she likes hiking and riding her road bike in Marin. Oh, and there’s sailing! It’s something she wanted to do since high school but didn’t have access to. Once in California, however, Christine joined the Social Sailing program on Treasure Island, which is where we met.

Another theme in Christine’s life has been volunteering. In college she was a volunteer for the Boston Marathon in 2013, which was the year of the bombing. She was close enough to hear and feel the bomb’s concussion, but luckily wasn’t hurt. The experience made a lasting impression on her, however. Also, in college, she volunteered as the Content Manager for the American Marketing Association’s monthly email. Christine is now bringing that experience to the Sailing Science Center News as our new Content Manager and is seriously outshining the previous person in that role (me).

Atop Mission Peak

Prior to publishing our October issue I was afraid I was having memory lapses because I couldn’t recall composing some of the material, even though it looked like my writing. Fortunately, Christine set me straight before I went to the neurologist by informing me that the copy was hers. Whether she’s matching my voice intentionally (are you really that good Christine?!), or just happens to write like I do, you’ll have a hard time separating our work. You’re doing a fantastic job Christine!

October Volunteer Event - Sunday Funday Potluck

L to R: Carolyn Davidson, Laila Dounas, Paul Kamen, Emma Sarkisyan, Alexey Sobdev

Morgan Davidson

Mike Beller & Meagan Strout

Jeff Owens

Photos courtesy Travis Lund

Our October Volunteer Event was a Sunday potluck hosted by SSC Director and Treasurer, Travis Lund, and his wife, Catia. More than a dozen SSC people showed up to enjoy food, refreshments, music and good company. The presence of more than half the party-goers after the official end of the event is a good measure of the party's success. A shout needs to go out to Travis and Catia, and to our Volunteer Event Coordinator, Morgan Davidson, for organizing the event and ensuring that everything was cleaned up before we left!

SSC Volunteers

It is good to have an end toward which to journey, but it is the journey that matters in the end.

– Ursula K. Le Guin (paraphrased)

In the News

Saildrone

On October 21st we visited with Saildrone in Alameda. Saildrone is building autonomous sailboats that are being used for ocean data collection with better than 10x cost reductions compared to manned vessels. Their standard vessel is 7m (23 feet) in length. The week before our visit they had just completed construction of their 100th drone. There are currently about 30 Saildrones deployed on the oceans worldwide.

If you want to merge sailing and science there's absolutely no better example of it than Saildrone!

The only impossible journey is the one you never begin.

– Tony Robbins

Social Media Corner

Help Us Source Juicy Content for Social Media!

As we build our presence on social media through our own original content , we also want to spotlight and share the best existing content from around the web. In particular, we want to crowd-source shareable content – i.e., pictures, short videos, quote graphics, and illustrations of scientific principles – related to sailing.

Email social.media@sailingscience.org with your favorite sailing blogs, websites, YouTube channels, Facebook groups, and Twitter/Instagram accounts.

And, of course, follow us on Twitter and Facebook .

Small Stuff

Benevity

Are you working in the corporate world? Hundreds of Fortune 1000 companies are using Benevity Causes to facilitate employee giving and volunteering at their organizations. In many cases companies will match employee don- ations or contribute in proportion to an employee's volunteer hours.

The Sailing Science Center is registered with Benevity Causes , meaning that if your company works with Benevity you now have an easy way to make donations to the SSC. Look into it today!

Move the Needle!

These are things YOU can do to move the SSC vision forward:

Volunteer
Donate
Share the SSC Newsletter with your friends
Sign our Endorsement Letter
"Like" us on your favorite social media platform

Make a difference. Move the needle!

Leadership Corner - The Journey

When Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay reached the summit of Mt. Everest on May 29, 1953, they had a view of the world that no one had seen before. In order to reach their camp before nightfall, t he pair spent only 15 minutes at the top before beginning their descent. And so the question is, was the view worth the climb?