Shields Trophy Regatta

Following 22 months of no big boat intercollegiate racing at the Naval Academy, Navy kicked off the 2021 fall season with day one of the Shields Trophy Regatta today. Ten team are on hand in Annapolis to contest for the trophy which is a championship for service and maritime academies aboard Navy's fleet of 44 foot sloops.

Conditions started off grim with little to no wind and overcast skies. PRO Sharon Hadsell took the fleet out with the hope of a southerly filling in. After a 3 plus hour postponement, enough breeze had filled in to start a race.

Coast Guard, Navy and Cal Maritime all got off the line clean and headed left while the rest of the fleet played middle or right. The wind went left and Cal nailed the layline to lead by 200 yards at the weather mark. Navy rounded second and URI 3rd. Boats more or less held positions on the run with URI opting to turn left at the gate. Coast Guard turned right and were able to overtake URI up the second beat while Cal extended to a comfortable lead.

Teams held positions for the final run to the finish with Cal in 1st, Navy 2nd and Coast Guard 3rd.

There was not time to run a second race so the fleet was sent in. The forecast for racing tomorrow appears to be better!

Jahn Tihansky, Regatta Chair

Sunday Summary What a difference a day makes! Today the wind gods smiled on the Shields Trophy Regatta and delivered champagne conditions for racing.

Heading to the course competitors saw gusts to 20 knots from the NNE which compelled most to start with J3 jibs, and soaking any unprepared crew with rail spray. After a short postponement, PRO Sharon Hadsell started the first race. With a strong ebb, the left side proved strong and boats who played that side were rewarded with a big advantage. These included Cal Maritime, Coast Guard and Navy who rounded the first mark in that order and well ahead of the rest. Cal was the only boat selecting a J1 jib at the start sensing that the breeze would diminish. Both Coast Guard and Navy opted to change jibs on the first run with Navy getting it done while Coast Guard started the change too late. This allowed Navy to get past Coast Guard and engage Cal on equal footing. Navy showed superior upwind speed and passed Cal up the second beat and the two teams finished 1, 2 for the race.

For race 2, the Navy crew were coming into their own and led the race wire to wire. URI was second and Charleston 3rd.

In the 4th and final race, the wind had veered right about 20 degrees and diminished into the single digits. This time Mass Maritime led at the first mark with Coast Guard second and Navy close behind in 3rd while Cal was deep. Positions were held on the run but on the second upwind leg, Navy again found the gas pedal and were able to pass both Coast Guard and Mass Maritime to take the lead which they held to the finish. MASS took second and SUNY Maritime found their mojo and took third.

Final results had Navy taking the win with a dominating score line of 2,1,1,1. University of Rhode Island snuck by Cal Maritime with scores of 4,3,2,5 for second and Cal took third with a 1,2,5,7. Navy’s crew included skipper 1/C Gary Munsell, 1/C Meade Tolen, Teagan Foley, 2/C Maddy Ploch, Pat Michalik, Jackson Dupaix, Joey Zaladonis and 4/C Langston Goldenberg.

A huge thanks go out to the numerous volunteers who worked both on the water and behind the scenes to make this event possible. PRO Sharon Hadsell NASS RC Chairman Tom Stalder Navy Offshore Fleet Captain Frieda Wildey Jury Chairman Nelson Pemberton RC committee members: Jan Richardson, Val Pendrick, Paul Grimm, Ann Powers, Karen Yeigh, Steve Small, Bill Levatano, Mids from both the varsity and JV offshore sailing teams Safety officers: Glendon Bartlett, Carroll Sparwasser, Aron Axe, Doug Dykman, Ken Schneider, Jason Yauman, Jay Corcoran, Nelson Pemberton, Duane Geruschat, John Yeigh and Don Worm. Next up at Navy offshore is the McMillan Cup 16 & 17 October.

Jahn Tihansky Regatta Chair

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.