A few weeks ago, American Yacht Club held the Queen’s Cup, a Yacht Racing Association Long Island Sound (YRALIS) Championship Regatta for women. Concurrent with the Queen’s Cup, the race committee also ran a regatta for the Junior Sailing Association’s Girls Champs. A local junior sailor, Lauren Krim representing Manhasset Bay Yacht Club (MBYC), came in first out of a fleet of 10 teams racing in Laser Radials.
The weather on that particular Saturday in July was a challenge. According to Krim, “the wind conditions were difficult. It was blowing really hard.” She continued, “the main reason I won was I was 100 percent determined to stay focused and hiked really hard.” She managed to sail consistently in the high wind in the first three races, and then the wind died. She quickly changed her game plan for the lighter air.
Most of the day the top four teams were neck and neck and it was just about impossible to predict who would come out on top as everyone was racing well. She accounts her ability to adjust quickly to wind changes in the last race for her podium finish. In addition to playing the shifts, which some of her competitors missed, Lauren attributes her ability to stay motivated to her sailing coach, Frank Delvin, the MBYC laser coach.
Megan Minadeo, also from MBYC, came in seventh overall in the same regatta. No other juniors were represented.
Debbie Krim, Lauren’s mom, when asked to comment on her daughter’s accomplishment, said, “we are very proud of Lauren. She has been sailing since she was 10 years old and is still hungry for the next race.”
Not only has Lauren distinguished herself on the race course, she has already completed the Level 1 Instructors course and is all set to become a sailing instructor in the summer of 2019. Now this is one organized young lady!
Congratulations to both Lauren and Megan. Way to go, ladies!
Changing tacks for a moment…some interesting news came available recently. It seems that The Nature Conservancy uses an industry-standard software mapping program, DroneDeploy, to map aquatic habitats and access the impact of oyster aquaculture on eelgrass in Tomales Bay, CA.
The team at The Nature Conservancy began using drones to help scientists in the field collect critical data to better understand what’s happening in aquatic habitats. Most recently they put DroneDeploy to work on a local project in California with Hog Island Oyster Company and the University of California Santa Cruz.
Matthew Merrifield, the chief technology officer at The Nature Conservancy, spoke about the partnership formed with Hog Island Oyster Company and how his team used DroneDeploy to map aquatic habitats and assess the impact of oyster aquaculture on eelgrass in Tomales Bay.
He said, “We find that the drones can provide a lot of primary science data for us. The value-add of drones to us was the ability to capture really ephemeral activities, things that were changing on the landscape really quickly.”
Matt is leading the charge to integrate drone technology into field operations and sees drones playing a big role in achieving the organization’s goals now and in the future. Who knew, even a few years ago, how a drone could help in such ways!
The Nature Conservancy is the leading conservation organization working around the world to protect ecologically important lands and waters for nature and people. Since starting in 1951, the organization — and their team of more than 600 scientists — has been wildly successful in achieving its goals. To date, they have protected more than 119 million acres of land and thousands of miles of rivers worldwide. With ongoing projects in 72 countries, the organization addresses threats to conservation involving climate change, access to clean water, ocean health and everything in between.
