Not my finest hour sailing-wise, but I had a great time sailing with Lisa – despite being DSQed in a race for not doing my penalty turns fast enough after getting flagged for pumping.

Variety is the Spice of Life

Doug Hart Back On Top After 20 Years

Doug Hart has always been near the top of the score sheet but it took 20 years to repeat as North American Champion, having won last in the Bahamas in 1996. Sailing this year with Ryan Hopps they took the 2016 North Americans Birney Mills Trophy by a scant two points over George Szabo and Dianna Waterbury after a close last day. The winner was not known by the competitors until the scores were posted at the club because the variety of conditions over the three day regatta resulted in very inconsistent scores over the eight races sailed. In an unusual turn, the scores posted by Szabo/Waterbury were overall more consistent, but Hart/Hopps despite counting a 17 had four top 3 finishes. Nick Voss/Nicole Popp had been lurking well down the results sheet, but once they were able to drop a 45th from day one, they slid up to third overall. Fourth place team Jensen McTighe/Brendan Feeney counted no finish worse than ninth, a great result just ahead of their departure for the Snipe Western Hemispheres in Brazil. Edgar Diminich/Iberth Constante rounded out the top 5.

Annapolis Snipe Fleet 532 is experiencing its own comeback. Regatta Chairman and Annapolis Fleet 532 Captain Chris Ryan is a relentless promoter of the Snipe Class and had as a goal to get together the largest collection of Snipes seen on the East Coast for a long time. He succeeded attracting 69 registrants and beat the last two NAs held in Annapolis in 1994 (62 boats) and 1985 (68 boats) as well as being the largest regatta in North America since 2009 with boats arriving on single, double, and triple trailers from all over the continent. This was in part due to encouraging sailors with older model boats to participate with a Silver division and arranging many chartered or borrowed boats to insure that every available local boat would make it on the water. A great sign for the continued growth of the class were a significant number of junior sailors at the event, fresh faces from new teams or new crew members, and a re-emergence of less travelled class members. The event created a significant number of class membership renewals as part of the registration process as all skippers, crews, and boats were registered for the event.

Chris along with the rest of the fleet volunteers, the Severn Sailing Association (SSA), PRO Steve Podlich and his handpicked race committee put together a great event despite tryingly light conditions at the beginning of the regatta. Annapolis typically holds this regatta in the fall when the breeze is freshening as the temperatures drop, but for this edition the NAs was held concurrently with the Colonial Cup, the annual SSA Snipe Spring Invitational. In keeping with the nutty weather the mid-Atlantic has been experiencing this year – the spring felt more like Seattle than Annapolis – with less than a week to go, the forecast was for light easterly breezes and cooler temperatures throughout the weekend. For those who don’t know the Chesapeake Bay weather, easterly breezes coupled with cool overcast conditions are almost never a good prognosis.

As boats streamed in on Thursday, fleet members Brett Davis, Steve Pickle and Jon and Happy Anthony with their teams got all boats through measurement and registration. The class approach to streamlining measurement helped speed the process by limiting measurement to boat weight and new sail measurements. It was hoped to run a practice race Thursday afternoon, but the breeze completely turned off after a few boats left the dock for a practice sail: a bad omen. On the social side, the regatta saw the return of a large tent to be used for evening dinners as well as a real beer truck (well trailer, but close enough!), something not seen on the SSA lot for some years: a good omen.

Friday morning started as predicted with a light, but sailable easterly and racing began promptly at 11am. Fortunately, being a weekday the pleasure boat traffic was nonexistent so the 5-7 knot breeze, although tricky, was enough. Starts were very competitive causing multiple recalls and a steady appearance of I and Z flags. The downstream current at the start pushing competitors towards the starting line did not help and contributed to the number of general recalls and affected which side of the course was favored. As the first race progressed the breeze got lighter and lighter, but still a fair test of skill and the first boat finished within several minutes of the 90 minute time limit, but unfortunately a number of boats did not make the time limit window. After a pause, the wind came back up and a second race was run in similar conditions, with only a few boats not making the time limit window. Hart/Hopps showed their light air prowess with two firsts. Eventually Steve Podlich called it a day and the fleet headed in for the evening’s social activities and Taco Bar dinner.

On Saturday, a very patient race committee ran three races. The first was (as expected) sailed in a very light southeast wind. The ebbing current was wreaking even more havoc on the starting line than the day before and the Z flag (20%) penalties figured prominently on the scoresheet for race 3. It looked like it might be the end of the day after race three with the breeze going down to nearly zero, but wisely Steve Podlich chose to keep us out waiting and eventually the breeze came around to a southerly direction and increased slightly when the clouds began to clear. With the current abated and the wind shift to the south, the second two starts were much more manageable for the competitors (and the race committee) and even got crews and skippers into the hiking straps by the last leg. With more consistent scores and no drop (yet) Szabo/Waterbury finished the day tied with Hart/Hopps. Back on shore the competitors participated in a post-race debrief followed by a crab-themed dinner including MD hard shelled crabs. The “locals” had a lot of fun introducing “out of towners” to the proper technique for “picking crabs” as it is called.

Once again, Sunday started light with current pushing competitors over the line, the appearance of the Z flag, multiple recalls and a lot of alphabet soup on the score sheet in race 6. But for race 7 the breeze finally increased out the south to the point where skipper and crews were full out hiking and the “Annapolis Washing Machine” was on – at least the medium rinse setting anyway – thanks to the Chesapeake chop and pleasure boat wake. This was the quintessential Annapolis condition that we all know and love and it was great to finally see it given the earlier forecast. Despite the breeze beginning to fade, after race 7 the race committee “leap frogged” the course to start the last race with plenty of time to spare. It was a shorter course, a little less than an hour race to close out the 8 race series, a pleasant surprise the way it looked on Thursday. The fleet blasted in as the breeze increased with the impending approach of a cold front, but thankfully the predicted thunderstorms didn’t materialize until after most competitors had packed up.

In addition to the awarding the Birney Mills Trophy to the North American champion, the Kim Thompson Trophy for the top crew and the Colonial Cup Trophy to Hart and Hopps, awards were presented to Fleet 532 members Joe Hidalgo/Ethan Schroud for the Silver division and Jensen McTighe/Brenden Feeney for the Junior division, both scored separately within those divisions. The Chuck Loomis Trophy was also awarded to Jensen McTighe as the top placing Junior in the overall score.

This was definitely not a “one setting” regatta and being able to perform consistently in the top three in a wide variety of conditions was the key to success. Variety may be the spice of life, but it is also a great test of skill.

–Alex Pline

Series Standing – 8 races scored

Pos	Bow/Sail	Skipper/Crew	Club	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	Total Points	Pos
1	20/ 31297	Doug Hart/Ryan Hopps	Mission Bay Yacht Club	1	1	2	[25]	4	17	6	3	34.00	1
2	57/ 30337	George Szabo/Dianna Waterbury	San Diego Yacht Club	4	8	7	[11]	3	4	4	6	36.00	2
3	63/ 28814	Nicholas Voss/Nicole Popp	Coral Reef Yacht Club	3	[45]	5	4	6	12	8	5	43.00	3
4	36/ 30027	Jensen McTighe/Brenden Feeney	Lauderdale Yacht Club	8	5	[32]	8	9	7	3	8	48.00	4
5	09/ 31027	Edgar Diminich/Iberth Constante	FEVELA/SYC	[70/OCS]	2	10	13	5	2	2	16	50.00	5
6	49/ 31130	Ernesto Rodriguez/Eduardo Supercrew	no club affiliation	7	[22]	3	16	7	11	5	2	51.00	6
7	08/ 30288	Augie Diaz/Julia Melton	BBYC/CRYC/CGSC	21	6	6	7	1	1	[24]	10	52.00	7
8	02/ 30473	Arthur Blodgett/Terra Berlinski	no club affiliation	9	7	1	3	[27]	3	12	17	52.00	8
9	34/ 28854	Randy Lake/Nikki Bruno	no club affiliation	5	4	12	[19]	2	14	19	1	57.00	9
10	05/ 30860	Carol Cronin/Kim Couranz	Severn Sailing Association	16	[18]	13	2	11	6	11	4	63.00	10
11	21/ 29114	David Hernandez/Christine DeSilva	Coral Reef Yacht Club	6	11	[21]	10	10	15	1	11	64.00	11
12	16/ 8653	Hal Gilreath/Andre Guaragna	Florida Yacht Club	12	3	17	18	8	5	[22]	9	72.00	12
13	03/ 31171	Jim Bowers/Julia Rabin	Winchester Boat Club	2	24	[27]	5	17	9	25	12	94.00	13
14	67/ 29682	Wilson Stout/Byran Stout	no club affiliation	15	19	18	1	12	19	[23]	20	104.00	14
15	47/ 30759	Enrique Quintero/Simon Sanders	Coral Reef Yacht Club	20	[62]	15	12	15	10	9	23	104.00	15
16	14/ 30903	Cameron Fraser/Elizabeth Glivinski	Medford Boat Club	22	9	[47]	15	23	18	10	21	118.00	16
17	45/ 31355	Andrew Pimental/Megan Place	Sail Newport	[29]	27	14	27	14	22/ZFP	7	13	124.00	17
18	18/ 30904	Lee Griffith/Hillary Noble	Surf City Yacht Club	19	20	4	30	13	22	20	[32]	128.00	18
19	51/ 31280	Art Rousmaniere/Jesscia Bennett	Winchester Boat Club	23	23	9	9	20	27/ZFP	17	[37]	128.00	19
20	12/ 30552	Christian Filter/Declan Lombard	Severn Sailing Association	18	13	8	28	21	24	[32]	22	134.00	20
21	55/ 29044	Sonya Smith/Steve Pickel	Severn Sailing Association	10	16	[36]	22	26	26	15	26	141.00	21
22	31/ 29782	Zachery Kelchner/Lauren Schoene	Severn Sailing Association	13	31	23	26	19	20	[35]	19	151.00	22
23	07/ 29671	Tarasa Davis/Kim Calnan	Atlanta Yacht Club	25	26	30	24	34	[42/ZFP]	13	7	159.00	23
24	13/ 28142	Bryan Fishback/Lorie Stout	Severn Sailing Association	11	33	26	36	31	[41/ZFP]	21	14	172.00	24
25	39/ 30629	Gavin O’Hare/Holly O’Hare	Eastport Yacht Club	24	21	[42]	31	22	32	27	25	182.00	25
26	58/ 31013	John Tagliamonte/Linda Epstein	Winchester Boat Club	37	[70/DNF]	39	20	16	31	18	27	188.00	26
27	65/ 30606	Peter Wolcott/Kerri Wolcott	Quassapaug Sailing Center	34	28	24	6	32	[54/ZFP]	41	24	189.00	27
28	23/ 30500	Brian Hetherington/Max Hetherington	SSA	40	15	[54/ZFP]	17	37	30	28	28	195.00	28
29	56/ 30749	Christopher Stang/Lindsey Stang	no club affiliation	41	[42]	16	32	25	37/ZFP	29	18	198.00	29
30	06/ 30391	Brett Davis/Christina Perrson	SSA	17	10	41	39	36	35/ZFP	[70/DNF]	30	208.00	30
31	46/ 31313	Alex Pline/Lisa Pline	SSA	30	32	59/ZFP	14	24	[70/DSQ]	38	15	212.00	31
32	32/ 30687	Sean Kelly/Trisha Kutkiewicz	SSA	38	25	44	40	29	[45]	30	29	235.00	32
33	48/ 31357	Eric Reinke/Morgan Commette	SSA	33	12	25	29	28	43/ZFP	[70/DNS]	70/DNS	240.00	33
34	68/ 29016	Phillip Schofield/Katherine Bennett	SSA	[53/TLE]	40	19	23	38	52	36	33	241.00	34
35	64/ 30325	Harry Waskow/Rosalind Hansen	Surf City Yacht Club	14	48	22	[52]	41	48/ZFP	43	31	247.00	35
36	04/ 30262	John Coolidge	Atlanta Yacht Club	44	37	[70/ZFP]	21	35	36	39	36	248.00	36
37	53/ 24089	David Schoene/Sandy Westphal	SSA	35	17	34/ZFP	48	46	[70/DNF]	34	38	252.00	37
38	29/ 30928	Chris Jankowski/Eleanor Wells	SSA	31	30	38	33	18	39/ZFP	[70/DNS]	70/DNS	259.00	38
39	10/ 29147	Liz Dubovik/Alex Romagnoli	Chatham Yacht Club	[53/TLE]	14	33	34	53	37	45	44	260.00	39
40	35/ 31256	Ed Machado/Jon Robertson	Mission Bay YC	39	29	37	54	[58]	42	14	46	261.00	40
41	28/ 29536	Julian Inglis/Nathan Poulton	GCBC	36	38	28	45	[49]	47/ZFP	33	34	261.00	41
42	66/ 29111	Joel Zackin/Pam Corwin	Quassapaug Sailing Center	42	41	[59]	42	40	50	16	35	266.00	42
43	22/ 30600	Kevin Hetherington-Young/Audrey x2	Winchester Boat Club	28	47	53	38	42	[61/ZFP]	26	41	275.00	43
44	52/ 29499	Adam Rousmaniere/Jennifer Rousmaniere	Winchester Boat Club	26	51	[57]	47	43	41	42	39	289.00	44
45	54/ 31344	Luciano Secchin/Cicero Barcelos	Iate Clube do Espirito Santo	[53/TLE]	49	48	41	51	16	37	49	291.00	45
46	17/ 305	James Golden/George Kaye	Annapolis Yacht Club	53/TLE	[56]	31	53	30	44	40	45	296.00	46
47	33/ 31259	William Kibler/Harrison Reisinger	Atlanta Yacht Club	[53/TLE]	34	29	50	47	48	48	42	298.00	47
48	19/ 29318	Christopher Hains/Barbara Mann	Guelph Community BC	45	52	[70/ZFP]	49	39	38	31	47	301.00	48
49	01/ 31157	Martin Bebb/Anne Rusnak	no club affiliation	47	60	11	44	48	54	50	[70/DNS]	314.00	49
50	70/ 30301	Chris Ryan/Nicole Ryan	SSA	27	36	43	43	33	[70/DNF]	70/DNS	70/DNS	322.00	50
51	41/ 29964	Robert Panza/Charlie Baywood	Quassapaug	48	46	46	35	54	[56]	49	50	328.00	51
52	62/ 30236	Kenneth Voss/Kay Voss	CRYC/CGSC	53/TLE	54	51	[56]	55	35	44	43	335.00	52
53	37/ 30510	Keisha Meyer/Josh Meyer	Bellport Bay Yacht Club	53/TLE	43	49	[59]	50	43	47	51	336.00	53
54	26/ 29987	Jason Hill/Maryl Ludden	no club affiliation	53/TLE	39	[64/ZFP]	55	45	49	53	48	342.00	54
55	40/ 29311	Gilmore O’Neill/Connor O’Neill	Medford Boat Club	50	[58]	54	57	56	53	46	40	356.00	55
56	11/ 31061	David Eggleton/Tyler Eggleton	SSA	32	35	48/ZFP	37	[70/DNS]	70/DNS	70/DNS	70/DNS	362.00	56
57	43/ 26280	Gareth Petko-Bunney/Kimberly Leonard	Cowan Lake SA	53/TLE	50	[64]	62	57	57	51	52	382.00	57
58	44/ 30819	Francisco Perez/Kerry OBrien	OHCC	46	44	55	[70/DNS]	70/DNS	39	70/DNS	70/DNS	394.00	58
59	24/ 28714	Matt Heywood/Chris Bickley	North Cape Yacht Club	49	53	[70/ZFP]	51	44	70/DNS	70/DNS	70/DNS	407.00	59
60	61/ 28277	Jon Virden/John Quay	SSA	53/TLE	65/TLE	35	60	61	[70/DNS]	70/DNS	70/DNS	414.00	60
61	38/ 30390	Howard Miller/David Miller	Cowan Lake SA	53/TLE	59	56	58	60	58	[70/DNS]	70/DNS	414.00	61
62	25/ 26895	Joe Hidalgo/Ethan Schroud	SSA	53/TLE	61	60	[70/DNF]	52	55	70/DNS	70/DNS	421.00	62
63	15/ 27734	Mark Fuhrmann/Lee Polites	SSA	[70/DNS]	70/DNS	52	46	59	59	70/DNS	70/DNS	426.00	63
64	50/ 29645	Danielle Romme/Josh Romme	SSA	53/TLE	55	[70/ZFP]	61	62	60	70/DNS	70/DNS	431.00	64
65	30/ 31322	Todd Johnson/Faye Ferguson	SSA	43	57	[70/DNS]	70/DNS	70/DNS	60/ZFP	70/DNS	70/DNS	440.00	65
66	27/ 26109	Randy Holl/Dawn Hamilton	SSA	53/TLE	63	[70/ZFP]	63	70/DNS	70/DNS	70/DNS	70/DNS	459.00	66
67	59/ 31007	Guy Thomas/Will Thomas	Lincoln Sailing Club	[70/DNS]	70/DNS	70/DNS	70/DNS	70/DNS	65/ZFP	52	70/DNS	467.00	67
68T	42/ 28999	Jaimie Peva	SSA	[70/DNS]	70/DNS	70/DNS	70/DNS	70/DNS	70/DNS	70/DNS	70/DNS	490.00T	68T
68T	60/ 29908	John Upton	Rush Creek Yacht Club	[70/DNS]	70/DNS	70/DNS	70/DNS	70/DNS	70/DNS	70/DNS	70/DNS	490.00T	68T

Notes

(1)	Scoring System is ISAF Low Point 2013-2016
(2)	Time limit expired (TLE) penalty is: Finishers plus 2
(3)	Finishes in [brackets] denote throwouts

Subdivision: Junior (5 boats) (top)

Pos	Bow/Sail	Skipper/Crew	Club	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	Total Points	Pos
1	36/ 30027	Jensen McTighe/Brenden Feeney	Lauderdale Yacht Club	1	1	[5]	1	1	1	1	1	7.00	1
2	12/ 30552	Christian Filter/Declan Lombard	SSA	2	2	1	[3]	2	2	2	2	13.00	2
3	68/ 29016	Phillip Schofield/Katherine Bennett	SSA	4/TLE	4	2	2	4	[5]	3	3	22.00	3
4	33/ 31259	William Kibler/Harrison Reisinger	Atlanta Yacht Club	4/TLE	3	3	4	[5]	4	5	4	27.00	4
5	17/ 305	James Golden/George Kaye	Annapolis Yacht Club	4/TLE	[5]	4	5	3	3	4	5	28.00	5

Notes

(1)	Scoring System is ISAF Low Point 2013-2016
(2)	Time limit expired (TLE) penalty is: Finishers plus 2
(3)	Finishes in [brackets] denote throwouts

Subdivision: Silver (5 boats) (top)

Pos	Bow/Sail	Skipper/Crew	Club	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	Total Points	Pos
1	25/ 26895	Joe Hidalgo/Ethan Schroud	SSA	2/TLE	2	2	[6/DNF]	1	1	6/DNS	6/DNS	20.00	1
2	50/ 29645	Danielle Romme/Josh Romme	SSA	2/TLE	1	4/ZFP	2	3	2	[6/DNS]	6/DNS	20.00	2
3	61/ 28277	Jon Virden/John Quay	SSA	2/TLE	5/TLE	1	1	2	[6/DNS]	6/DNS	6/DNS	23.00	3
4	27/ 26109	Randy Holl/Dawn Hamilton	SSA	2/TLE	3	5/ZFP	3	[6/DNS]	6/DNS	6/DNS	6/DNS	31.00	4
5	42/ 28999	Jaimie Peva	SSA	[6/DNS]	6/DNS	6/DNS	6/DNS	6/DNS	6/DNS	6/DNS	6/DNS	42.00	5

Notes

(1)	Scoring System is ISAF Low Point 2013-2016
(2)	Time limit expired (TLE) penalty is: Finishers plus 2
(3)	Finishes in [brackets] denote throwouts

Information is final

Principal Race Officer: Steve Podlich
Jury Chair: Elliott Levy