Mike Cranfield's Alaris is one of our favorite sailboats on the water. The modified Block Island 40 competed in the 1959 Annapolis to Newport Race (watch the video here) with the Iliff family, and in 2015 won her class in the same race with skipper Mike Cranfield and multiple Iliff family members as crew. Recently, over the weekend, Cranfield sailed Alaris to a win in his class in the Constellation Cup.
Mike Cranfield isn't just a talented sailor, however. The veterinarian at the Maryland Zoo in Baltimore started a group called Gorilla Doctors Mountain Gorilla Veterinary Project. His work in areas such as the Democratic Republic of Congo caught the attention of CBS News' 60 Minutes on Sunday, who noted that, thanks to Dr. Cranfield's incredible work, mountain gorillas have gone from near extinction to a growing population.
