United States Coast Guard Academy - Department of Athletics - Sailing - CGA Sails to Annapolis-Newport Class Victory

Newport, RI--(5/6/07)--Coast Guard Academy cadets sailed the J-44 Glory across the finish line of the 2007 Annapolis-Newport Race Monday morning through the remnants of Tropical Storm Barry to win the IRC Class II division. The cadets’ handicap-corrected time placed them 6th of 18 among all IRC-scored boats and second among the five service academy entries. Since its first entry in the 1951 race, the only other Coast Guard Academy yacht to win a division was the Nelson-Marek 41 Rampage in 1997.

The 60th anniversary regatta started Friday afternoon in Annapolis with clear skies and moderate southerly winds for the 56 entries, but the forecast suggested rougher conditions ahead. Overnight the fleet beat upwind through the tidal currents of the Chesapeake. Early Saturday morning Glory sailed through the lower bay’s traffic lanes and the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel, rounding the Chesapeake Light at noon and heading northward for Newport.

Senior Bob Lally grinding a winch.

Although the winds remained southerly from a nearby high pressure system, a small low was developing in the Caribbean and predicted to track northerly towards the race course, bringing gale-force winds. While the faster boats could outpace the storm, the slower boats would bear the full force of the low, by now named Tropical Storm Barry. Many of them opted to withdraw while still within the bay’s shelter. In all, 21 boats chose to retire. For those still competing, the key navigational decision of the race would be how to best take advantage of the shift between weather systems.

Glory’s strategists were Crew Chief/Navigator senior Bob Lally and Watch Captains senior Tim Andersen and senior Brad Peifer. They planned to fly their asymmetric spinnaker on a tight starboard tack reach, getting as much distance to the east of the rhumb line from Chesapeake Light to Newport as they could, until an expected easterly wind shift would force them to change sails. They would then reach to the finish from a position upwind of the rhumb line. As the race unfolded, their analysis proved correct as the conditions gradually shifted from the southerly 16 kt breeze and 2 ft seas at the Chesapeake Light on Saturday to an easterly gale of 35 kt gusts, torrential rains, and 10 ft seas that saw Glory under a double-reefed main and heavy weather jib in the final miles.

Shaken, soaked, and weary, Glory’s crew crossed the finish line in Newport at 06:59 on Monday, the first boat in IRC II to finish. As the remaining boats finished, Glory’s corrected time stood as the winner, 10m 57s ahead of the second place Brown-Eyed Girl, a sister J-44.

The crew of Glory was senior Bob Lally, Crew Chief/Navigator (Avon, CT), senior Tim Andersen, Watch Captain (Sayville, NY), sophomore Kirstin Haas (Wayne, NJ), sophomore Stephen Hills (Deerfield, NH), sophomore Kevin Tongue (Westport, MA), senior Brad Peifer, Watch Captain (Billings, MT), junior Nicole Bredariol (Cranbury, NJ), junior Mike Higbie (Centreville, VA), junior Josh Smolowitz (Falmouth, MA), and sophomore Noelle Demarco (Fairport, NY). Safety officers LT Colin MacInnes and ENS Derrick Miller were also on board.