News From Fort Schuyler

October 27, 2008 - Volume 8, No. 37

NO RUST ON HIS JOINTS - One of the recipients of the coveted Ironman designation upon his completion of the October 11 Hawaiian Ironman Triathlon was JIM McDIARMID '60. (Thanks for the heads up from his classmate, HERM MOLZAHN.) Jim competed in senior division (ages 70-74) and did the following: a 2.4 mile ocean swim, then a 112 mile bike ride across the Hawaiian lava desert, topped off with a 26.4 mile run along the coast of the Big Island. According to Wikipedia "...the Hawaiian Ironman is still regarded as the most honored and prestigious event to win worldwide. Many could consider this to be the most arduous and demanding competitive sporting event." Jim writes: "Everything I have read about the final .2 mile run down Alii Drive to the finish line is true. It is emotional and exciting to have hundreds upon hundreds of athletes and spectators cheering and encouraging you to the finish. I felt like I was being carried on a sea of emotion and did not even realize I was running. I kinda lost it at the finish as it was so improbable that I could do this." [Ed. - Hopefully the college or alumni magazine will provide a more detailed, illustrated article about Jim's amazing accomplishment and all the planning, preparation, support and persistence that went into it.]

TOUR DE BRONX - A week after Jim's Hawaiian triathlon the 14th Tour de Bronx wended its way through our fair borough. The 5,000 participants had two distance options, 25 and 40 miles, with the latter bicycling through Fort Schuyler roads before concluding at the New York Botanical Garden.

MORNING LIGHT STAR - The Baltimore City Paper ran an article on 15 October, featuring STEVE MANSON, Class of 2011, one of the stars in the new Disney movie, Morning Light, that opened on 17 October. Steve, a Naval Architecture/Deck major, hails from Baltimore. According to the article the "...movie revolves around 15 mostly college-age sailors selected from a pool of more than 500 applicants to train for six months to compete in the yearly offshore Transpac Los Angeles-to-Hawaii sailing race. The conflict [in the film] comes from the 'why' Manson was chosen to be one of the 15. During the selection process, he was green by most sailboat-racing standards ' 'I was extremely outclassed,' he says ' and by Transpac standards, he was whatever comes before green. The cocked eyebrows come from the fact that Manson is African-American, and sailing is about the whitest sport this side of hockey. The arguments would be that he was chosen because he makes a good subplot ' beating the odds, etc." Steve first got into sailing through Baltimore's Youth Works program. Now, when he is not studying at Fort Schuyler he is a sailing instructor at Baltimore's Downtown Sailing Center. (Info on film at http://disney.go.com/disneypictures/morninglight/ )

THE ROAD NOT TAKEN - A recent NFFS story about Israel reminded LEONARD WEISS Oct '46, how he almost became a member of the Israeli Navy. " One of the SS MARINE CARP's ports of call was Haifa. As I had written earlier, we were rounding up war brides of American servicemen in various ports in the Mediterranean to bring them to the US where they would join their husbands. This was in December 1946, 3 months after graduation. The Israeli intelligence people were very good even then. Somehow they found out that a junior third mate on the ship was Jewish. I was secretly approached and offered a commission in the future Israeli Navy. I was a young ardent Zionist and told them that it sounded interesting and exciting, but I would have to fulfill my commitment to American Export and return to the US. I assured them that on the trip back, I would give it serious thought. They gave me the name of a contact person in NY and I was supposed to give him my decision. I spent the entire voyage back to the US debating the pros and cons of taking this important step. When I got home, naturally, my parents became involved in helping me determine what I should do. For a variety of reasons I chose not to take that step.

I have often wondered what my life would have been like had I done so? For one thing, I never would have met my wife, to whom I have been married for 56 years. That in itself has proven to me that I made the right decision."

ON THE WEB - Trolling the internet usually nets a few Fort Schuyler graduates for NFFS. For example, if you go to www.nysmc55.net/memories.html you will find a slide show entitled 'The Well Traveled Schuyler Mariner.' "These pages reflect a short period of our lives and where we met as a class. It starts out with our Cruises from 1952 through 1954 leading up to our graduation from Fort Schuyler in 1955. Our class may not have had many reunions, but a bash was held on our 45th with a party on the TS EMPIRE STATE [in 2000.]"

Various corporate websites contain pictures of graduates, including marine consultant JAY BOLTON '67 (Secure Ocean Services LLC), ROBERT MARTINSEN '83 (VP Product Engineering at the high-power semiconductor laser firm, nLIGHT), THOMAS WYNNE '90 (Partner in the Cleveland law firm Ray, Robinson, Carle & Davies PLL), GREGG BRIDGE '79, Senior Attorney at Bridge Law Office in Wisconsin, JOE BAJEK '88 (President-Elect, Colorado Health Information Management Systems Society), and classmates MARIO CRISCIONE '71, GARY SHIFLETT '71, JOE FERRELL '71, all at the barging industry firm Gellatly & Criscione Services Corp.

CALL FOR PAPERS - The college's Department of Global Business and Transport is seeking papers by December 15th for its 4th Annual Groundhog Day Event on February 2nd, 2009. The conference will once again address the subject, Cutting Edge Issues in Shipping. "These may include topics pertaining to vessel operations, chartering, shipbuilding, engineering, economics, finance, law, policy, insurance, etc. You will have approximately 35-40 minutes to present your paper (a question and answer period of about 10 minutes will follow). Six papers will be presented at the Conference. We expect about 100 attendees." (For more information go to the college website www.sunymaritime.edu)

WORD OF MOUTH - Leonard Weiss recalls how his classmate, MARTY SILVER, came to attend Fort Schuyler. "His brother Ed was a classmate of mine at Brooklyn Tech. We remained in touch after graduation from H.S. When I told him that I was going to the Maritime Academy, he indicated that it might be a good place for his kid brother. And so Marty Silver ended up going to Maritime."