United States Coast Guard Academy - Department of Athletics - Sailing - Colgate Fleet Sweeps Ram Island Yacht Club Invitational

On Sunday, August 25th, the United States Coast Guard Offshore Racing Team left the Jacob’s Rock Seamanship and Sailing center with 11 vessels with 65 sailors aboard them. The Academy’s 8 Colgate 26’s, two Mumm 30s and flagship J/44 “Glory” joined a spirited group of 102 sailboats in the sailing area off Groton Long Point.

Boats of all types and sizes approached the starting line under power, eagerly anticipating a start to the regatta at 1000 hours. Close to that time it became apparent that there was a dwindling breeze. Ram Island Yacht Club Race Committee raised the red and white answering pennant subsequently sounding two prolonged fog-horn blasts, indicating a postponement of the regatta’s rolling starting sequence. Cadets spent the next hour swimming, cleaning boat bottoms, and generally getting to know each other while all kept an eye on the more turbid water to the southwest, indicating a filling breeze approaching. Eventually, the fleet’s bobbing and drifting near the starting line evolved into promising situation as cadets raised their sails and began formulating their starting strategies.

The Colgate 26 Fleet was the third start in the rolling sequence, after Ensigns and Shields. The two Mumms (“Hammer” and “Ebur”) along with J/44 “Glory” were in the A division, comprised of high performance big boats flying spinnakers. All fleets began with a windward leg across the sound towards a bell off Silver Eel Cove on Fishers Island, NY. The first leg was a grueling start to the race, with an unfavorable tide. The tide moved faster than the wind causing some boats to move backwards, further away from the first mark. At this point the big-boats and the one-designs parted ways, the Colgates heading back north towards Vixen’s Ledge before beginning their long downwind spinnaker ride. Big boats continued southwest to The Race, the entrance to Block Island Sound in order to proceed around Fishers Island in a counter-clockwise circuitous route. The race committee opted to have the one design fleets stay inside Fishers Island Sound on the northern side of the island, sailing a long downwind to Stonington Breakwater before their last upwind leg to the finish line just east of Ram Island.

The big boats and the one designs met after sailing the length of Fishers Island on opposite sides in the water between Stonington, CT and Watch Hill, RI before sailing the final leg of the race. The finish line was the scene for some dramatic position jockeying between the Colgates, but at the end of the day the Coast Guard Offshore Racers finished as a united team, sweeping the Colgate division by placing first through eighth consecutively. The regatta standings for the Coast Guard Colgates are especially remarkable as the vast majority of the skippers and crews aboard were third and fourth class cadets. For many Colgate sailors the Ram Island Yacht Club Invitational marked their first regatta ever, as well as their first spinnaker flying experience. This first regatta of the season is a clear indication that the 2007 Coast Guard Academy Offshore Sailing Team is a force to be reckoned with.

The Coast Guard Offshore Sailing Team would like to thank the Ram Island Yacht Club Race Committee for accommodating our Colgate fleet and it’s support vessel on the race course. The Race Committee’s willingness to provide our more inexperienced Colgate sailors with their own starting sequence, and scoring division made our first regatta much more manageable. Ram Island’s support and encouragement is certainly appreciated by all of the competing Coast Guard Academy cadets, and the offshore coaching staff.