The Navy offshore sailing team returned to action over the weekend, capturing the Shields Trophy.
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Offshore Sailing Records Pair of Victories at Hammond Memorial Race →
The Navy offshore sailing team had seven crews compete in the NASS Race to Oxford and the return race – Hammond Memorial Race – on Saturday and Sunday. The weekend was highlighted by a pair of first-place finishes by the Midshipmen in the Hammond Memorial Race.
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Navy's JC Hermus Named 2021 College Sailor of the Year
ANNAPOLIS, Md.--Navy junior JC Hermus was named the Everett B Morris College Sailor of the Year by the Intercollegiate Sailing Association last night at their annual awards banquet and was one of eight Midshipmen that earned All-American honors. Hermus is the first Navy sailor to be named the College Sailor of the Year since 1995.
Full story available at navysports.com
VOST Captures SURFLANT Trophy at Annapolis to Newport Race
ANNAPOLIS, Md. – Navy's offshore sailing team started its summer competition schedule at the 500-mile Annapolis to Newport Race where the Midshipmen won the SURFLANT Trophy for the best overall performance by a service academy team.
Full story available at navysports.com
Navy Wins College Sailing Coed National Championship!
2021 College Sailing Double National Champions
ANNAPOLIS, Md. – Navy intercollegiate sailing team capped off its 2020-21 season with its second national title within a week as the Midshipmen won the ICSA Gill Coed National Championship that took place in Annapolis.
The Midshipmen finished first overall with 210 points beating out second-place Stanford and third-place Jacksonville who finished with 236 points and 260 points, respectively.
Full story available at navysports.com
Navy Wins 2021 College Sailing Team Race National Championship!
2021 College Sailing Team Race National Champions
ANNAPOLIS, Md. – Navy continued its spring championship slate with the ICSA LaserPerformance Team Race National Championship where the Midshipmen won the national championship. This is Navy's first Walter C. Wood Trophy since 1992.
Full Story Available at navysports.com
VOST Places Second at J/105 Chesapeake Bay Championship
ANNAPOLIS, Md. – In its final fall competition of the season, Navy's offshore sailing team posted a second-place finish at the J/105 Chesapeake Bay Championship this past weekend in Annapolis.
Full stroy available at navysports.com
VOST Takes Top Two Spots at the Storm Trysail East Coast Championship
ANNAPOLIS, Md. – Navy's offshore sailing team finished first and second in Division 1 at Storm Trysail East Coast Championship this past weekend in Annapolis. The Midshipmen had four boats compete in the event where their final two boats finished fifth and sixth in the field.
Full story available at navysports.com
VOST Wins J/105 Class at Annapolis Yacht Club Fall Series
ANNAPOLIS, Md. – Navy's offshore sailing team had seven boats compete at the Annapolis Yacht Club Fall Series where the Midshipmen had the first-place boat in the J/105 fleet while having boats finish third and fourth in the ORC 1 class.
Full story available at navysports.com
Navy Finishes First at AYC Race to Solomons
Midshipmen crewed WASP (J/133) (on left) in AYC Race to Solomons
ANNAPOLIS, Md. – Navy's offshore sailing team had five crews compete in the ORC 1 class at the Annapolis Yacht Club Race to Solomons on Saturday where the Midshipmen's crew on Wasp finished first in the class.
The Race to Solomons was a 35-mile race where a total of 54 boats competed over eight classes. The wind conditions were better than forecasted which allowed for a fairly quick race. The competition began at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday off of Thomas Point Light in a 10-knot northeasterly breeze. The wind fluctuated between eight and 13 knots throughout the day while backing to the north allowing downwind spinnakers to be flown the entire race. Rain and mist intermittently swept across the course causing limited visibility and variations in the wind. Combined with the foul flooding current and occasional commercial traffic, this made for some challenging strategic decision-making on each skippers' part.
Skipper Paul Jervis led his crew on the J/133 Wasp to a first-place finish in the ORC 1 class, where seven boats competed. Matt Gillcrist and his crew on the Farr 40 Zephyr finished second and Nicholas Hogan paced the Farr 40 Ranger to finish fourth. Rounding out Navy's crews in the event was Katie Boyle's crew on the Ker 50 Wahoo and Don Poirier skippered the R/P 66 Zaraffa and they finished fifth and sixth, respectively.
Jervis's crew on Wasp included Nicholas Walden on trimming spinnaker, Adam Lance on trimming main, Matthew Malone on bow, Corey Street on mid bow, Madelyn Ploch on helm, Joseph Garcia on trimming jib, Larry Frazier on mast and Carson Hillier in the pit. The pair of Jervis and Garcia split the navigation chores.
"Paul pushed his crew hard during practice leading up to the race, which paid off in their excellent performance," head coach Jahn Tihansky said.
Navy Wins US Sailing U.S. Offshore National Championship
ANNAPOLIS, Md. – Navy's Offshore Sailing team won the 2019 US Offshore Championship this weekend, which was the first time the Midshipmen have won the event since 2005.
Navy played host to the biennial national championship, which included civilian amateur teams from various regions of the country. This year, teams from California, Illinois, Michigan, Texas and Louisiana joined the Midshipmen and Mid-Atlantic teams from Long Island Sound and the Chesapeake Bay.
The Midshipmen earned a clutch victory on Sunday to win the last race of the event right in their own backyard as the finish line for the last race was set up right off the seawall of the Robert Crown Sailing Center.
Over the three-day event, Navy posted three wins over five races and compiled scores of 4,1,1,6,1 to finish seven points better than the team from Detroit, Mich.
Navy's crew was skippered by Jonathan Hitt and included tactician Ben Van Duyne, helm Sean Caraher, main trim Zackary Bauer, jib trim Matthew McClelland, pit Christian Hoffman, mast Ethan Falsone and bow Hayden Espericueta.
Navy's second event of the weekend was at the AYC Doublehanded Distance Race. The Midshipmen had two teams compete in the event where each team had a midshipman skipper along with a coach. Don Poirier, accompanied by assistant coach Nancy Haberland led Avenger to a second-place finish in the J/105 class after completing the event four minutes back of the lead boat. Katie Boyle skippered Dreadnought to a fifth-place finish in the same class.
Navy wins Shields Trophy
ANNAPOLIS, Md. – Navy's offshore sailing team captured the Shields Trophy this past weekend and also competed at the Hospice Cup Regatta with both events taking place on the Chesapeake.
At the Shields Trophy, the Midshipmen sailed strong over the first four races of the event on Saturday. After the first day of competition, the Midshipmen held a two-point lead over Coast Guard. Navy posted scores of three, one and three over the final three races of the Shields Trophy on Sunday to secure the win. The winning Midshipmen crew included Ben Van Duyne, Hayden Kuzemchak, Tim Forman, Zachary Krause, Grace Vandegrift, Matthew Malone, Philip Smith and Gary Munsell.
The 10-team field at the Shields Trophy included the Australian Defense Forces Academy, British University Sailing Association, the Royal Military College of Canada, Army West Point and other maritime and service academies.
Navy also had three crews compete at the Hospice Cup Regatta on Saturday. The Midshipmen sailed in the J/105 class boats. Navy's Dreadnought led the way with a sixth-place finish where Nick Walden skippered the boat. The Midshipmen also had a team finish in 12th and a boat rounded out the field in 13th.
Navy Wins Marblehead to Halifax Race
HALIFAX, Nova Scotia – The Navy offshore sailing team had a pair of boats compete in the 2019 Marblehead to Halifax Race. The race is 380 miles long and began this past Sunday in Marblehead, Mass.
The Midshipmen had a boat compete in ORR-1 class and another in the ORR-2 class.
Rising senior Sean Caraher led his crew of 18 aboard Zaraffa to the class victory in the ORR-1 class. Zaraffa also was the top boat overall in the 29 boats throughout the ORR classes to win the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Cup.
In the ORR-2 class, rising senior Matt McClelland skippered his crew of 14 on Wahoo to a second-place finish in the class.
Navy Wins Class in Annapolis to Newport Race
“I couldn’t be more proud of my team. It was a very tough, grueling race and our crews were more than up to that challenge,” Head Coach Jahn Tihansky said. “We couldn’t have asked for a better race to challenge our sailors. This Annapolis-to-Newport gave them the opportunity to be tested in a tough environment and see what they’re made of.”
The Naval Academy Varsity Offshore Sailing Team entered two donated Farr 40s in ORC 1A and after sailing in close proximity over the 475 nautical mile passage RANGER, Skippered by MIDN Hayden Kuzemchak beat our other Farr 40, ZEPHYR, by a mere 16 minutes. In total, the Midshipmen took home 13 trophies, also finishing 1-2 on ORC 2 with the Navy 44s Gallant and Defiance.
A new horse in the stable: Swan 56
The Naval Academy Sailing Foundation's newest donation and VOST's newest offshore rocketship: the Swan 56
The staff and Midshipmen have had her out for a shake-down and it was smiles all around. Everyone's looking forward to great things next year!
Summerwind Aerial
Special thanks to Midshipman Billy Rudiger, who knew that the most important thing to pack for a classic schooner regatta was a drone.
2016 Friends of Naval Academy Sailing Regatta
The Robert Crown Sailing Center played host to approximately 60 former sailing team graduates and staff members.
The entire regatta photo album is available to view and download at: https://500px.com/lesv3/galleries/friends-of-navy-sailing-regatta-2016
2 Schooners in Paradise
On September 8th the replica of the yacht America sailed into Annapolis. The Midshipmen, a few staff and guests escorted her into the Santee Basin onboard our Schooner Summerwind. Joining the crew onboard were former NASA Space Shuttle astronaut (and Navy Sailing volunteer) Capt Ken Rightler, Vice Admiral Dixon Smith and Jimmy Buffet
The 1929 John G Alden schooner Summerwind escorts the replica 1851 schooner America into Annapolis harbor.
Jimmy Buffet takes the helm with America's Cup Hall of Fame inductee Jon Wright and space shuttle astronaut Capt Ken Rightler in the afterguard.
A big fan of Naval Academy Sailing, Jimmy has been wearing our gear on stage this summer.
After its historic win of the Hundred Guinea Cup (soon after renamed the "America's Cup") the America served both sides of the Civil War and later as a Midshipman training vessel in both Newport R.I. and Annapolis.
Members of the Sailing Team onboard America in the Naval Academy's Santee Basin.
Summerwind Returns to Bristol, R.I.
Summerwind, our 1929 John G. Alden Schooner, was put to work this summer with a trip to Bristol, R.I. In company with 4 Navy 44s and their Midshipmen crews Summerwind and her 16 Midshipmen trained in the Cheseapeake for a couple weeks before beginning the trip down the Bay and up the East Coast. The five boats were hosted by the Herreshoff Marine Museum and the Bristol Yacht Club. Halsey Herreshoff took a personal interest in showing the Midshipmen the best Bristol had to offer with a fascinating tour of the family museum as well as a sail onboard a couple of his classic boats (the NY40 was a special experience). The crew of Summerwind returned the favor, giving Halsey a lift down to Newport, under sail in 15 knots of perfect Narragansett bay breese.
Navy 1 - 2 in the 2016 Annapolis to Bermuda Ocean Race!
Midshipman Zack Michel and his crew aboard INTEGRITY took overall honors in the 2016 Annapolis to Bermuda Ocean Race. Midshipman Ben Olson's GALLANT placed a close second, finishing only two miles in trail (after 750nm of racing!)
