High pressure and light air dominated the weekend in Annapolis for the 2008 Shields Trophy Regatta hosted at Navy.
Ten Service Academy crews turned up and persevered through 4 races in 2-8 knots of wind on the Chesapeake Bay aboard the Naval Academy's fleet of 44' sloops. PRO Gene Gibbons managed 3 races on Saturday in a light northerly and a strong ebb. SUNY and Kings Point mastered the conditions best, each earning a first and second in the opening 2 races. SUNY kept the mo going and overcame significant adversity to win race 3 while KP was forced to card a 7th. Cal Maritime exhibited their usual solid consistency posting a 3, 3, 5 to end the day in 3rd. The forecast for Sunday was not promising and glassy conditions greeted the competitors on the water. PRO Gibbons exhibited great patience in a long postponement and was rewarded with a very light sea breeze before the race start time limit expired. A short four leg course was set and the final race of the series got underway. There were a surprising number of position changes throughout the race as crews battled through wind voids and sail handling problems. Cal Maritime recovered from a poor start and chipped away at the leaders going on to win the race by a large margin. Coast Guard also came from well back to take 2nd while early race leader Mass Maritime slipped back to 3rd. SUNY had their worst race of the series spending much of it in the back half of the fleet. But heads up sailing and crisp boat handling allowed them to recover to 4th to ice the title by 4 points over defending Shields Champion Cal Maritime. KP suffered a poor start and could never recover, scoring a 7th and dropping to 3rd overall. Thanks to all teams for making the trip. It was gratifying to see the huge turnout of service academy teams competing! Next up at Navy will be McMillan Cup 25 & 26 October. A huge THANKS! to Gene Gibbons and his very capable crew on the RC and also to judges Maureen Mills and Angelo Buscemi as well as all the many other volunteers who helped make the regatta a success. Final Results: 1. SUNY 1,2,1,4 8 pts. 2. Cal Maritime 3,3,5,1 12 pts. 3. Kings Point 2,1,7,7 17 pts. 4. Coast Guard 5,7,4,2 18 pts. 5. Navy 6,8,3,5 22 pts. 6. Mass Maritime 7,6,8,3 24 pts. 7. Great Lakes Maritime 8,4,6,6 24 pts. 8. Maine Maritime 4,11,2,8 25 pts. 9. Army 9,5,9,10 33 pts. 10. Royal Military Academy 10,9,10,9 38 pts. Jahn S. Tihansky Director, Varsity Offshore Sailing Team U.S. Naval Academy 410-293-5608 [EMAIL PROTECTED] <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
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