Keelhaulers win 2021 Kennedy Cup

Cal Maritime Academy topped the ten team fleet from across the USA to win the 2021 Kennedy Cup, college sailing’s big boat championship, held November 6-7 in Annapolis, MD. Sailed in Navy 44s, the eight cadets on the winning team were Kyle Collins, Jacob Fisker-Anderson, Max Roth, Cooper Smith, Emi Stephanoff, Giovanni Cerrito, Django Tomlinson, and Justin Zmina.

Winds on the first day offered a NNE breeze that started in the mid teens then diminished slightly and backed a bit as the day went on. The conditions allowed for four windward/leeward races around a 1 mile course. For day two, the breeze was solid from the north northeast in the 10-14 knot range allowing three races to be completed.

After finishing the first day of competition in second place, Cal Maritime erased its six-point deficit against Rhode Island throughout the day two action to win the event by a one-point margin. As Cup champions, the Keelhaulers will now represent the United States at next Fall’s Student Yachting World Cup in France.

The Keelhaulers enjoyed a strong start to the opening day of competition by winning the first race. Following Rhode Island’s victory in the following race, Cal Maritime gave the Rams a stiff challenge and finished second. As the day progressed, URI and Cal Maritime separated themselves from the 10-team field and wrapped-up the day in first and second, respectively, with the final set of races still remaining.

Even though the Rams held a six-point advantage through four races, the Keelhaulers finished third and second in the opening pair of races on the final day, and capped the afternoon by finishing first in the seventh, and final race, to end the series with 24 team points and the Kennedy Cup.

Completing the top three were Rhode Island (29 points) and U.S. Merchant Marine Academy (32). The U.S. Naval Academy and Massachusetts Maritime Academy rounded out the top five; even though both scored 33 points, Navy took fourth by virtue of a head-to-head tiebreaker.

The second half of the standings included SUNY Maritime College (34), University of Toledo (38), College of Charleston (50), University of Michigan (56) and UC San Diego (63).

Complete scores: https://scores.collegesailing.org/f21/2021-kennedy-cup/full-scores/