Colonial Cup

Annapolis, MD, USA, June 2, 2019.

Report by Alex Pline

Annapolis served up a smorgasbord from light to hiking for the the 2019 Colonial Cup. The weekend started early on Friday with a clinic organized by Kim Couranz and run by the SSA Junior Director Travis Carlisle that featured college style drills that benefited participants of all skill levels in light to medium breeze that was perfect for a clinic and drills. In the evening after the clinic, regatta chairs Gavin and Holly O’Hare hosted a pre-regatta get together at their house. It was a beautiful spring /summer evening to socialize before the regatta.

The forecast for the weekend was really atypical for Annapolis this time of year with the procession of weak cold fronts over the Mid-Atlantic. After heading out to the course on Saturday in a light north easterly and a slight postponement to wait for all of the competitors to make it to the line, the first race of the weekend was off with 5 knots from the northeast. While light it was not too lumpy (the Annapolis washing machine was on the gentle cycle) but the ebbing current was running downwind at a knot plus. About half the competitors made it to the finish in time, but unfortunately the wind died quickly to nearly zero after the first 10 boats finished, leaving another 12 with a TLE. We bobbed around for another hour and a half with a few head fakes for breeze, but it wasn’t to be so PRO Steve Podlich called an end for racing for the day.

The forecast for Sunday was much better with 5-10 from the SW which is a good direction to be augmented with a thermal given the temperatures in the upper 80s and the still cool water. However, it turned out to be quite atypical due to an approaching weak cold front. The breeze went to the west for the first race, but was a good light air race. After several postponed starts and an abandoned race with a one tack beat, the breeze sort of settled down in a SE/S direction for 3 more races. As the breeze built, the Annapolis washing machine turned on and keeping boat speed in the slop with still shifty conditions was paramount. The top five Augie Diaz/Margaux Bacro, Carol Cronin/Kim Couranz, Arthur Blodgett/Charlie Bess, Ernesto Rodriguez/Kathleen Tocke and junior sailors Tyler Mowry/Izzy Fadullon were fighting it out in the last start. Rodriguez/Tocke had the most consistent scores, but he and Carol were OCS. Carol restarted and worked back to 10 in the 10-12 knot Annapolis lump which was enough to stay in front of Blodget/Bess by one point as Rodriquez/Tocke did not restart properly. Consistency was really difficult at this event given the range of breeze, but every point ended up counting.

Final results after 5 races:

1. Carol Cronin & Kim Couranz, 22
2. Arthir Blodgett & Charlie Bess, 23
3. Augie Diaz & Margaux Bacro, 25
4. Tyler Mowry & Izzy Fadullon, 25
5. Ernesto Rodriguez, 35

Notes