Bits and Pieces: Smooth Sailing For Langley

When not providing sheetfed presses for printing concerns worldwide, manroland sheetfed likes to partake in more leisurely distractions. One such pastime is yacht racing.

Tony Langley, the man who rescued the then-insolvent printing press manufacturer, is an ardent racer who recently entered his manroland sheetfed vessel (dubbed Weapon of Choice) in the 2013 Musto Vice Admiral's Cup, hosted by the Royal Corinthian Yacht Club at Cowes in the United Kingdom. Weapon of Choice set the pace for its Class 0 division (50-52 footers) by winning two of the four races against fellow TP52 class boats on the first day of the three-day event.

On day two, Langley's Weapon notched consecutive victories and garnered a second-place finish in another race to lead the overall standings by two points. On the final day, Langley bagged two more triumphs to pull away from the field by a five-point margin and capture the Admiral's Cup regatta.

Langley was fortunate to have two-time Olympic silver medalist and noted skipper Ian Walker on board as tactician. Walker was impressed with the crew's performance in challenging weather conditions.

The manroland sheetfed yacht will be back in action during Cowes Week in August before being shipped to Sydney, Australia, to vie for the Southern Cross Cup. With an entrepreneur who specializes in keeping boats afloat during difficult circumstances, perhaps manroland sheetfed is in more-than-capable hands with Langley.

SWEET GESTURE: Direct mail specialist Three Dog Logistics of Baltimore recently did its part to help out the Girl Scouts of America in delivering some cookies and smiles to military veterans and their families. Three Dog served as the courier for shipments of more than 10,000 packages of Girl Scout cookies, transporting them from New York to facilities in the Washington, DC, area—including Walter Reed Military Medical Center—as part of Operation Cookie Drop.

Three Dog Logistics has a partnership with Girl Scouts of the Hudson. In all, more than 70,000 packages of cookies (that's a LOT of thin mints) found their way into the hands of military personnel at home and abroad. For its part, Three Dog trucked cookies to Walter Reed Hospital, Wounded Warrior assistance sites and the Fisher House Foundation facilities, which houses the families of wounded veterans who are being treated.

Among the cases of cookies were personal notes and hand-drawn cards furnished by the Girl Scouts as a thank you to soldiers and sailors. They also drew pictures on the Three Dog shipping crates as an added bonus.

"I have enormous respect for the men and women who put their lives on the line every day for our country, and delivering a few cookies seems like such a small token of my appreciation," said John Kennedy, CEO of Three Dog Logistics.

Small tokens have a way of adding up, and more businesses should set aside their own business challenges and take up a charitable effort as a gesture of appreciation to those who put their own financial well-being—not to mention their lives—on the line in defense of our country and global democracy. PI