APPLICATIONS

Starboard, port, tack, jibe, jib, boom - accommodating to technical terminology that has nothing to do with cyberinfrastructure and thanks to Chris Hopman of the University of Wisconsin's Hoofers Sailing Club, Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center won the TeraGrid 07 Regatta. Weather threatened to cancel the Regatta on Madison's Lake Mendota, Wednesday evening, June 6, but the gray thunderheads that had gathered during the afternoon blew over with excellent timing. A race among TeraGrid's nine resource providers was the featured event, with a skipper from the Hoofers Sailing Club taking the helm on each sloop-rigged vessel. “We had a perfect evening on the lake with wonderful fresh air,” said PSC’s Captain J. Ray Scott, PSC director of systems and operations. “Thanks to the conference organizers for a great event, and with much thanks to our excellent skipper Chris and the PSC crew, PSC gets to claim bragging rights.” The regatta entailed three races on a loop course, about a mile upwind and a mile downwind with a mid-course start line. PSC’s boat came in first in two of the three races and second in the other. “PSC demonstrated the meaning of precision,” said Hopman, an undergrad going into his third year at UW majoring in computer science and math. Upon return to shore, Scott presented Hopman with a PSC “supercomputing is our middle name” t-shirt.