DickC Cup

Annapolis, MD, USA, August 3, 2025

3rd Annual DickC Cup

Report by Alex Pline

The 2025 DickC Cup saw a return to the typical light air Annapolis Summer conditions. At least after almost a month of insufferably hot temperatures, the temperatures moderated a bit after a passing cool front (that spawned a water spout that went right through SSA!).

The DickC Cup is is a collegiate style A/B regatta that honors DickC Bartlett, one of the SSA and Snipe Fleet 532 founders (more about DickC below). This year, eleven teams mostly of SSA fleet members in A division and their new to the Snipe college sailing friends comprised the B division.

The course was set right off SSA in the Severn River – this is the area we typically run high school and college regattas – to facilitate quick A/B rotations. The courses were 2 lap W/L, with a projected length of about 20 minutes. Racing was very similar both days starting with a light northerly, eventually shifting around to the northeast and east as the temperatures warmed and the summer thermal effects drew a slight sea breeze. But as usual this shift does not happen smoothly, rather in fits and starts as the thermal and the gradient breeze battle each other. These conditions made for very tricky sailing with the shifts oscillating typically 45 degrees and the wind strength nominally 5-6 knots, and at times dropping to almost zero. To make the sailing even more challenging, the boat traffic (and chop!) increased as the racing entered the afternoon where every type of watercraft from paddle boards to commercial cruise boats went right through the course. It is what we call a “Chamber of Commerce kind of day”. 

As challenging as it was for everyone, in A division Bradley Adam/Bryan Stout and Trevor Davis/Rees Tindall racked up consistently low scores winning all of the 6 races between them. Rob Vann/Lydia McPherson were a close third with no finish worse than 4th. In B division Alphonso Bringas/Preston Senior had an impressive 5 wins and a 3rd with Joe Marynowski/Darby Capellin and Tanner Kelly/Kate Shermock a distant 2nd and 3rd but separated by only 1 point.

However, this regatta format requires solid performance from both divisions and in the end Bradley Adam/Bryan Stout and Joe Marynowski/Darby Capellin were most consistent coming out of top.

In addition to the Overall DickC Cup, we count the A division as our SSA Summer Series Event.

About the DickC Cup

The regatta is to honor Richard C “DickC” Bartlett, an original member of both Severn Sailing Association and the local Snipe Fleet 532 who celebrated his 100th birthday last year just before his passing. According to his son Jonathan, DickC was always about getting new sailors into the Snipe and helped build the fleet to become the go to powerhouse fleet at SSA and nationally in the Snipe Class. As such we thought it was appropriate to create an A/B college style event that honored his many years of supporting the Snipe Fleet by bringing the Snipe to both those who are new to the boat as well as to reunite some Snipe “Alumni” with the fleet by pairing them with a current Snipe sailor. And of course we could not resist the punny regatta name as well as the retro Dixie Cup themed trophies and accoutrements. The Capital did a nice article on DickC’s awesome 100 years last spring that is worth a read: https://www.capitalgazette.com/news/ac-cn-richard-bartlett-100th-birthday-celebration-20220322-rlgtejot3zb3bngdcg2kjbj56i-story.html