SUNY Maritime wins Kennedy Cup

Ten college teams from across the USA competed in the 2018 Kennedy Cup, considered to be the Big Boat National Championship for the Inter-Collegiate Sailing Association. Held in the Navy 44s, racing was hosted by the US Naval Academy on November 3-4 in Annapolis, MD.

Day 1 – Saturday, November 3:
The ten teams who arrived at the Naval Academy this morning for the Kennedy Cup were greeted by gray skies and drizzle. Little did everyone know what was soon to come. During the competitors’ briefing, the skies cleared and the forecast northwesterly filled in with a vengeance.

PRO Bruce Bingman set up the course downwind of the Greenbury Point radio towers and with the wind gusting into the low 30s, informed the fleet that sail restrictions were to be observed including no genoas and no spinnakers.

Under #3 jib and reefed main, Navy won the first two races of the day with Coast Guard taking a 2,3. After suffering a bad first race and then a MOB that resulted in a DNF in race two, SUNY came back strong to win races 3 & 4. The sail restrictions remained in place for all four races.

At the end of the day, Navy is lying first with 12 points. Coast Guard is one point back in second after being awarded breakdown points in the 4th race. Mass Maritime is third with 17 points.

However, after further deliberation, the jury awarded breakdown points to New York Maritime for Race 2 and the scores have now been updated to reflect this. Going into tomorrow, NY Maritime moves up to third, 2 points behind Navy.

Three more races are on the schedule for tomorrow.

Day 2 – Sunday, November 4:
A nice easterly greeted the 10 competitors for the Kennedy Cup this morning on the Chesapeake Bay off Annapolis. Pro Bruce Bingman set up a four leg course and racing commenced on time. Navy jumped out of the blocks and led at the first three marks only to falter on the final run and drop back to 6th.

New York Maritime sailed sharp to stay close and look for an opportunity to pounce. The last of the easterly favored the boats who went right downwind allowing NY Maritime and the right pack to sneak across the finish ahead of the despondent Navy crew. NY took the bullet while Navy fell back to sixth.

As forecast, the breeze never filled back in and the RC elected to pull the plug on further racing, with the series concluding after five races.

Congratulations to the NY Maritime Privateers for their second victory at Navy this fall, with the team roster at the Kennedy Cup of Kyle Comerford ’19, Miller Condrack ’20, Jeffrey Ellington ’19, Peter Mosconi ’19, Garrett Bolton ’21, Paul Monks ’18, Bailey Kerr ’20, and Daniel Watkins ’20. The win qualifies SUNY to represent the US in the Student Yachting World Cup next fall in France.

Event details – Results – Team rosters