Kennedy Cup

10 Teams from around the country are at the Naval Academy in Annapolis this weekend battling it out for the Kennedy Cup, College Sailing’s Big Boat National Championship. PRO Paul Clissold from Toronto, ON Canada is heading up the Race Committee and Jack Lynch is Jury Chairman.

Sailing aboard USNA’s Navy 44 sloops, the fleet completed one race today in extremely challenging conditions. The breeze built soon after docking out and was in the low 20s at the start of race 1. While no sail limitations were signaled, competitors wisely selected #3 jibs and many also tucked 1 reef in their mains. Charleston won the left off the line and played a favorable left shift to lead by 100 yards at the first weather mark. Queens then Navy rounded next and the fleet quickly proceeded downwind under blue and gold spinnakers. At the leeward mark, Charleston took the left gate and headed course right followed by Queens. Navy went right gate and got the left for second upwind. For the second beat, the breeze built to steady mid 30s with two boats reporting gusts over 40. Navy parlayed capitalized on another left shift and took the lead by the second weather mark. Charleston lost a jib sheet and scrambled to get around the mark and hold onto second position. All boats wisely opted for main and jib configuration downwind and a few boats still managed to broach.

PRO Clissold waited a while hoping for conditions to moderate but wind speed remained in the high 20s with gusts to mid 30s so he sent the fleet back to the dock.

Racing continues tomorrow and concludes Sunday.

Race 1 results: 1. Navy 2. Charleston 3. Cal Maritime 4. Queens 5. NY Maritime 6. Coast Guard 7. Maine Maritime 8. Mass Maritime 9. Michigan 10. Kings Point (BKD will get average points for subsequent races)

Day 2 Kennedy Cup at the Naval Academy

A nice SSW breeze filled in as boats motored out to the start area providing ideal conditions for racing today.

PRO Paul Clissold and his team were able to run four races and get the fleet back to the dock in time for a delightful BBQ hosted by the Navy Sailing’s Social Committee. Charleston started out fast winning the first race of the day with KP in second and Navy third. Charleston continued their smart sailing to post another bullet in the days second race while KP slipped to fourth and Navy 5th. For the third race of the day, Cal Maritime finally found their mojo and sailed to a convincing wire to wire victory with Charleston lurking in second. Navy stumbled to a 7th after a painful second beat.

For the day’s final race, Charleston was again out front but Navy was right on their heels on the first run. The two rivals split gates with Charleston turning right and Navy left. Navy was ahead at the first cross and gained more on the left side going on to finish first in the race with Charleston second and KP 3rd. However, Navy was later disqualified for a start line incident with Maine Maritime.

Racing continues tomorrow with Charleston holding a commanding lead.

Update on Saturday Race Summary

It was inadvertently omitted from Saturday's report that College of Charleston was DSQ from race 3 of the regatta.

Sunday summary:

Notwithstanding the above, College of Charleston didn't miss a beat today picking up right where they left off. With two races remaining on the schedule and the standings somewhat reshuffled with both Navy and Charleston suffering DSQs during Saturday's racing, PRO Paul Clissold got racing started on time in a light NNE breeze and building ebb.

In the first race of the day, both Charleston and Navy tacked right early and were greeted with a 25 degree right shift placing them first and second at the top mark, positions they held to the finish. Cal Maritime was 3rd while Queens came fifth and KP suffered an unfortunate last.

Going into the final race, Charleston was back to an insurmountable lead with Navy in a close battle with Cal and Queens for second.

For the final race, boats that got right again came out ahead with Queens leading the race wire to wire. Cal Maritime finished second and Charleston sailed conservatively to post a 3rd and secure the championship. Navy got hung out on the left and finished deep allowing Queens and Cal to slip by into second and third positions.

Congratulations to the Charleston Cougars, this year's Kennedy Cup winners and the 2015 US representative to the Student Yachting World Cup!

A special thanks goes out to PRO Clissold and his RC gang, our jury chair Jack Lynch and jurists Maureen Mills and Dick Morin, as well as the NASS Social Committee led by Kathy Formisano who put on a huge BBQ spread for over 100 hungry sailors and coaches Saturday night.

The following chart shows the relative rank of the teams as of the race indicated. Note that the races are ordered by number, then division, which may not represent the order in which the races were actually sailed.

The first place team as of a given race will always be at the top of the chart. The spacing from one team to the next shows relative gains/losses made from one race to the next. You may hover over the data points to display the total score as of that race.