Colonial Cup - District 1 Championship - Final - Snipe Class International

Annapolis, MD, USA, June 4, 2023. Final results after 6 races:

Ernesto Rodriguez & Grace Benzal, 13
Alfonso Garcia Bringas & Tania Benitez, 25
Trevor Davis & Rees Tindall, 37
Trevor Long & Alexandra Damley-Strnad, 44
Bradley Adam & Thomas Walker, 45

Report by Alex Pline (edited and improved by Lisa Foulke Pline and Nikki Bruno)

2023 Snipe Colonial Cup and District 1 Championships Dominated by Under 30 Sailors

The 2023 Snipe Colonial Cup and Snipe District 1 Championships was held this past weekend at the Severn Sailing Association by Snipe Fleet 532. Four of the top five finishers and 10 of the 34 skippers were “NextGen” sailors – under 30 years of age. Many have high-level college sailing experience (several of them arriving in Annapolis just a day after finishing college nationals!). In addition to the youth presence, almost 20% of the competitors were women, with five full women’s teams and three woman skippers, and several international teams from Canada and Mexico attended as well. On top of that, seven teams were either married couples (one with a bun in the oven!) or parent-child duos, making the Snipe one of the premier family-friendly sailboat racing classes.

As one of the fastest growing classes for U30 sailors, the double-handed Snipe is the perfect post-collegiate boat to keep those boots wet after graduation and the social connections from college sailing strong. Its technical and tactical aspects also make the Snipe a great cross-training boat, and many past and present Snipers have also competed as professional sailors or pursued Olympic campaigns. According to Bradley Adam, a college sailing coach and one of the top U30 skippers, “the low cost of entry (about $5-7k for a quality used boat) and the opportunity to sail against some of the best sailors in the world, while still being a super fun group of people, make the Snipe class truly special.” After all, the class motto is “Serious Sailing, Serious Fun,” and the Colonial Cup surely lived up to that expectation.

The forecast for the weekend called for a building northeasterly breeze through Saturday and abating on Sunday. The fleet left the dock anticipating that building breeze, but in the end it didn’t materialize until after racing for the day. That left 5-12 knots with 30 degree shifts and short standing chop that was not the typical “Annapolis washing machine” – rather much shorter and very random. This was no doubt made worse by the very strong bay current due to discharge from the Susquehanna River that ran perhaps 2 knots at times all day (there was never a low tide as noted in our local conditions article!). These conditions made staying in pressure (which was usually accompanied by a lift) very critical and massively overstanding the windward mark layline was a must. Those who did not ended up either having to spin out at the mark or were swept into it. These types of conditions – an unstable light to medium breeze from the northeast with very lumpy waves and very strong current – are not unknown to Annapolis, but even then, especially on Saturday, they were the most extreme combination many could remember here.

On Saturday, Rodriguez/Benzal came out of the blocks with a commanding two firsts. However, Bringas/Benitez were right on their heels. After two more races, no one except Rodriguez/Benzal escaped the indignity of at least one deep race (including a number of OCS) and as a result, there were many competitors grouped together all the way down the scoresheet.

Sunday morning rolled around with cooler and drier conditions with most of the evening’s breeze abated. The RC waited a few minutes on station for the breeze to settle in from the ENE at about 6-8 knots. The really lumpy chop had faded, but the more typical washing machine chop was starting up as many powerboats hit the bay. The current however, showed no signs of slowing. All of the lessons learned from Saturday about staying in the pressure and adjusting for the current applied, but given a slightly lighter breeze, it was even more important to “connect the dots” to the breeze or else one could easily find themselves a half leg behind. Only two of three planned races were completed as the influence of the southerly thermal would have made setting a fair course impossible before the drop dead time of 2:30 pm. At the end of the day, the top five managed to post no finishes out of the top 10, while the rest of the fleet had at least one deep race; this left Rodriguez/Benzal in a commanding lead. In a regatta with no drop race, being consistent and not taking any big risks is critical.

On the Serious Fun side of things, after racing on Saturday the fleet enjoyed two hours of open bar at SSA Snack Bar extraordinaire Botanas Fajardo (who have been voted the best tacos in Annapolis), including Martin’s blender concoctions, followed by an Italian dinner from nearby Eastport favorite Sammy’s Pizza Kitchen. At about 6pm the strong NE breeze finally arrived – incidentally causing one third of the Annapolis Newport Race fleet to retire – but some of our star U30 sailors just couldn’t let it pass, so they relaunched and headed out for some heavy air reaching practice. And that’s not the only time Davis/Tindall have taken advantage of off hours breeze to practice. That’s some dedication to improving their performance! After dinner and some socializing, the more adventurous in the crowd ventured out to local Annapolis establishments and backyards to continue socializing.

The overall winner of the Colonial Cup Perpetual Trophy was the venerable Ernesto Rodriguez from Miami sailing with new crew Grace Benzal. But in second through fifth were the U30 teams of Alfonso García Bringas of Miami/Mexico sailing with Tania Benitez, locals Trevor Davis and Rees Tindall just back from competing at the College Nationals for Tufts University, Trevor Long from Boston and local Alexandra Damley-Strnad, and locals Bradley Adam and Thomas Walker. The District 1 Championship is awarded to the skipper who is a member of a fleet in District 1 (Northeast/Mid Atlantic US) and Davis/Tindall are members of Annapolis Snipe Fleet 532.

A big thanks to regatta co-chairs Zack Kelchner and Nikki Bruno, the SSA Race Committee and PRO Steve Podlich and the members of Snipe Fleet 532 for running another fantastic Colonial Cup, our premier event. Also thanks to our food and beverage providers, Dunkin’ of Annapolis, Botanas Fajardo, and Sammy’s Pizza Kitchen. And the biggest thanks to our photographers Ted Morgan and Jack Turner for putting up with the lump to get us some awesome shots!

	SAILORS	SAIL NUMBER	BOAT NAME	CLUB/ORG	NET	TOTAL	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6
1	Ernesto Rodriguez Grace Benzal	USA 31337	None	Miami Snipe Fleet	13	13	1	1	4	2	1	4
2	Alfonso García Bringas Tania Benitez	MEX 31637	None	FMV	25	25	2	4	1	11	5	2
3	Trevor Davis Rees Tindall	USA 944	Bad Panda Racing	Severn Sailing Association	37	37	8	2	6	9	6	6
4	Trevor Long Alexandra Damley-strnad	USA 30324	Impact Warning	Fleet 244 – Cottage Park	44	44	4	10	14	6	2	8
5	Bradley Adam Thomas Walker	USA 29044	None	Severn Sailing Association	45	45	7	6	21	1	9	1
6	Enrique Quintero Charlie Bess	USA 31640	MAQ	Coral Reef Yacht Club	58	58	16	5	2	8	8	19
7	Carol Cronin Kim Couranz	USA 31295	None	Severn Sailing Association	64	64	5	14	15	4	21	5
8	Mary Baker Taylor Scheuermann	USA 29151	None	Mbyc	69	69	10	16	13	5	4	21
9	Brady Stagg Gracie McDougall	USA 30195	None	Annapolis Yacht Club	74	74	15	8	5	18	10	18
10	Christian Filter Lydia McPherson	USA 30552	None	SSA	76	76	13	7	10	7	24	15
11	Gavin O’Hare Holly OHare	USA 30629	Severing	OBYC	77	77	6	3	12	13	19	24
12	Alex Pline Lisa Pline	USA 31313	Old Folks Boogie	Severn Sailing Association	85	85	19	12	19	14	7	14
13	Tarasa Davis Kim Calnan	USA 29671	T-Time	Atlanta Yacht Club	89	89	25	17	7	10	18	12
14	Augie Diaz Sophia Devling	USA 30288	Danilu	Coconut Grove Sailing Club	91	91	3	OCS – 37	8	15	3	25
15	Lee Griffith Nikki Bruno	USA 31304	Menage a trois	Surf City Yacht Club	91	91	24	18	23	3	13	10
16	Zack Kelchner Darby Capellin	USA 29782	Grommet Expess	Severn Sailing Association	94	94	11	9	26	24	11	13
17	Eric Reinke Jill Bennett	USA 31357	None	Severn Sailing Association	96	96	18	22	3	21	23	9
18	Bob Adam Stephanie Adam	USA 30302	Touch of Grey	Sail Newport, Inc	96	96	14	15	27	23	14	3
19	Kathryn Bornarth Lily Theisen	USA 30321	Black Jack	USSCMC	101	101	22	19	11	17	12	20
20	Juan Carlos Cuellar Ignacio Sanchez	CAN 30762	AGUA	Voilesansoucy	108	108	12	13	25	25	16	17
21	Robert Ramirez Laura Varela	USA 31638	None	New York Yacht Club	121	121	9	11	17	27	20	OCS – 37
22	Preston Senior Amy Johnson	USA 28686	None	Eastport Yacht Club	122	122	21	20	33	19	22	7
23	Lorie Stout Sunny Stirmer	USA 29682	Lizzie	Severn Sailing Association	130	130	17	23	18	32	17	23
24	Chris Ryan Nicole Ryan	USA 30301	None	Severn Sailing Association	138	138	23	24	30	12	27	22
25	Evan Hoffmann Hollis Barth	USA 31770	Pickle Rick	San Diego Yacht Club	140	140	28	OCS – 37	20	29	15	11
26	Marissa Milliken Brad Milliken	USA 30928	Jussa Situation	Severn Sailing Association	145	145	27	21	28	20	33	16
27	Greg Virgin Chloe Constants	USA 31805	None	Severn Sailing Association	152	152	20	26	16	26	32	32
28	Gordon Richards Ryan Perry	CAN 29314	None	Guelph Community Boating Club	153	153	29	25	24	16	30	29
29	Rich McVeigh Carol McVeigh	USA 31061	None	Severn Sailing Association	154	154	26	28	22	22	26	30
30	Travis Tucker Ginny Alex	USA 29440	Sniper no Sniping	SSA	168	168	DNC – 37	DNC – 37	9	28	31	26
31	Mark Fuhrmann LeAnn Myhre	USA 27734	None	SSA	182	182	30	30	32	30	29	31
32	Preston Anderson Noelle Scheer	USA 129	Kiwi Express	Severn Sailing Association	183	183	32	27	29	RET – 37	25	33
33	Isabella Fadullon Kate Shermock	USA 3086	None	Severn Sailing Association	187	187	31	29	31	31	DNF – 37	28
34	Devon Feusahrens Ryan Barone	USA 30860	Her Fault	Severn Sailing Association	203	203	DNC – 37	DNC – 37	DNC – 37	DNC – 37	28	27
35	Charles Green	USA 31847	Snipeovation	US Sailing Center – Miami	222	222	DNC – 37	DNC – 37	DNC – 37	DNC – 37	DNC – 37	DNC – 37
36	Arthur Blodgett Grace Howie	USA 31771	Alice	SSA/Larchmont YC	222	222	DNC – 37	DNC – 37	DNC – 37	DNC – 37	DNC – 37	DNC – 37