Sunny, 85 degrees, 10-15 knot breezes, lots of Snipe friends and 7 races. What more could you ask for? Perhaps not running out of beer, but even that was OK as it only took a few minutes to get more.
31 Snipes posted for the regatta held on June 5 and 6. The entire district was well represented with a strong Boston contingent as well as Rhode Island, New Jersey and the local Annapolis fleet. A few of the regulars from D4 that attend the Annapolis regattas also were present. Racing got underway on Saturday morning with lightlish westerly breezes leaving the dock. The famous Chesapeake Bay sea breeze started to fill in, backing the breeze to SW at about 10. Ned Jones sailing with Kari Warren won the first race with Henry Filter/Lori Stout second (this will start to sound familiar) and John/Maggie Manderson third. The second and third races saw the triumphant return of Bryan Fishback sailing with wife Kerry, now living in Newport RI. Fishback/Fishback won both races 2 and 3 followed by Filter/Stout with two seconds. Pedro Lorson/Watt Duffy, campaigning for the worlds in Spain finished third in race 2 and Alex Pline/Sherry Eldridge third in race 3. The breeze lightened a little and made for difficult going in the sloppy seas for the last race of the day. Charlie/Michele Bustamante won the fourth race followed by Andew Pimental/Joanne Jones in second and Lorson/Duffy in third. The jumbled finishes in the third and fourth races kept the leader board tight after the first day. All races on Saturday were 5 leg W/L courses.
After dinner the district membership held the annual meeting where a variety of district specifics were discussed. An adventerous group ventured into downtown Annapolis afterwards to check out the local scene.
The forecast for Sunday had all the right ingredients for an even better sea breeze and everyone was not disappointed. Race 5 had a Pimental/Jones on top with Filter/Stout second and Lee Griffith sailing with new crew Monique Gaylor third. A couple more knots of breeze allowed several olympic courses and some exciting reaching in the sloppy seas. With the extra breeze Filter Stout really kicked it into high gear with two more firsts. Lorson/Duffy, Pline/Eldridge, Griffith/Gaylor, Jones/Warren and Jim Bowers/Myrna Chan MacRae all had top 5 finishes in the last two races to finish the regatta.
When Filter/Stout dropped their 10th in race 4, they counted a 2,2,2,2,1,1 to win convincingly by 15.5 points. Lorson/Duffy finished second with 25 points followed by Pimental/Jones in third with 31.75 points narrowly beating Pline/Eldridge by .25 points. Griffith/Gaylor rounded out the top five. In general the racing was so tight that mark roundings, even after 4 legs of the course were very tight. I don't think more than 5 minutes separated the entire fleet. Beautiful Snipe half models were awarded to the top three skipper and crew.
Steve Podlich and our SCIRA rep Phil Richmond did an outstanding job (as usual) getting the races off quickly with square lines and perfect length courses.
For some great photographs, see our one design supporter extrodinaire Alden Bugly's site: http://www.clark.net/pub/ssa/LobbyArt/archive/snipes/colonialCup/index.html
--Alex Pline
Final Results:
| Pos | Sail# | Helmsman | Crew | Race 1 | Race 2 | Race 3 | Race 4 | Race 5 | Race 6 | Race 7 | TotPts | Pos |
| 1 | 28702 | Henry Filter | Lori Stout | 2 | 2 | 2 | -10 | 2 | 0.75 | 0.75 | 9.50 | 1 |
| 2 | 28044 | Pedro Lorson | Watt Duffy | 6 | 3 | -10 | 3 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 25.00 | 2 |
| 3 | 29499 | Andrew Pimental | Joanne Jones | 5 | 10 | -13 | 2 | 0.75 | 7 | 7 | 31.75 | 3 |
| 4 | 29147 | Alex Pline | Sherry Eldridge | 12 | 5 | 3 | -16 | 4 | 2 | 6 | 32.00 | 4 |
| 5 | 29204 | Lee Griffith | Monique Gaylor | 9 | 6 | -12 | 5 | 3 | 12 | 4 | 39.00 | 5 |
| 6 | 28852 | Ned Jones | Kari Warren | 0.75 | 11 | -19 | 14 | 7 | 3 | 5 | 40.75 | 6 |
| 7 | 28440 | Jim Bowers | Myrna Chan MacRae | 4 | -9 | 8 | 7 | 8 | 5 | 9 | 41.00 | 7 |
| 8 | 27054 | Bryan Fishback | Kerry Fishback | 8 | 0.75 | 0.75 | 6 | 19 | -21 | 8 | 42.50 | 8 |
| 9 | 29572 | Charlie Bustamante | Michele Bustamante | 13 | -17 | 4 | 0.75 | 10 | 6 | 11 | 44.75 | 9 |
| 10 | 29317 | Dirk Kneulman | Ian Brown | 7 | 7 | 9 | 15 | 12 | -20 | 2 | 52.00 | 10 |
| 11 | 29324 | Hal Gilreath | Alex Stout | 11 | 8 | 7 | 11 | 5 | 15 | -16 | 57.00 | 11 |
| 12 | 26451 | John MacRae | Barbara Evans | 16 | 4 | 14 | 13 | 9 | -19 | 15 | 71.00 | 12 |
| 13 | 25483 | Eric Reinke | Kim Couranz | -20 | 14 | 5 | 17 | 13 | 9 | 14 | 72.00 | 13 |
| 14 | 28065 | John Manderson | Maggie Manderson | 3 | 20 | 20 | 12 | 14 | 8 | -32OCS | 77.00 | 14 |
| 15 | 29323 | Mike Mergenthaler | Dawn Mergenthaler | 15 | 16 | 15 | -18 | 18 | 13 | 13 | 90.00 | 15 |
| 16 | 28142 | Allan Carscaddan | Eleanor Bradley | 21 | 18 | 17 | 4 | 15 | -22 | 17 | 92.00 | 16 |
| 17 | 29592 | Paul Cronin | Samantha Rosemont | 14 | -22 | 21 | 22 | 17 | 10 | 10 | 94.00 | 17 |
| 18 | 26894 | Harry Levinson | Sarah Levinson | 23 | 12 | 16 | 8 | 20 | -24 | 21 | 100.00 | 18 |
| 19 | 28542 | John Lally | Kerry O'Brien | 18 | 15 | 6 | -28 | 26 | 16 | 22 | 103.00 | 19 |
| 20 | 25870 | Scott Myers | Rhonda Myres | -31DNC | 28 | 18 | 9 | 16 | 11 | 23 | 105.00 | 20 |
| 21 | 25679 | David Nelson | Missy Nelson | 19 | 21 | -29 | 20 | 11 | 18 | 20 | 109.00 | 21 |
| 22 | 28728 | Ray Gauthier | Joni Palmer | 25 | 25 | 26 | -31DNF | 21 | 14 | 12 | 123.00 | 22 |
| 23 | 25460 | Fred Abels | Jim Tomasetti | -30 | 29 | 11 | 26 | 25 | 17 | 25 | 133.00 | 23 |
| 24 | 27591 | John Mullane | Liz Brooks | 10 | 13 | 25 | -31DNF | 27 | 30 | 28 | 133.00 | 24 |
| 25 | 24695 | Bob Coyle | Chuck D'Antonio | 24 | -26 | 23 | 23 | 23 | 25 | 19 | 137.00 | 25 |
| 26 | 26382 | Ted Morgan | Karen Long | 29 | -30 | 22 | 19 | 28 | 26 | 18 | 142.00 | 26 |
| 27 | 27734 | Darryl Waskow | Diana Belknap | 26 | 24 | -27 | 24 | 22 | 23 | 26 | 145.00 | 27 |
| 28 | 26488 | Nigel Mendez | Patricia Schmidt | 28 | 27 | 24 | 21 | -29 | 27 | 24 | 151.00 | 28 |
| 29 | 29369 | Mike Kaim | Drew Hamilton | 17 | 19 | 30 | 25 | -31DNC | 31DNC | 31DNC | 153.00 | 29 |
| 30 | 28680 | Brad Dunn | 27 | 23 | 28 | 27 | 24 | 28 | -31DNC | 157.00 | 30 | |
| 31 | 25710 | James Bowers | Susan Bowers | 22 | -31 | 31 | 29 | 30 | 29 | 27 | 168.00 | 31 |
Principal Race Officer: Steve Podlich