Best Snipe Colonial Cup Turnout in 25 Years

36 teams from as far as Miami and Hawaii attended the 2022 Snipe Colonial Cup, the highest since 1988 and nineteen teams from the host club Severn Sailing Association. “This is a testament to the work we have done over the last 10 years to grow the fleet” said fleet captain and long time Snipe sailor Lisa Pline. “Also, most of our growth has been in the U30 segment, showing the Snipe is THE place to be for post college sailors looking for a ‘Serious Sailing, Serious Fun’ experience they can continue with despite busy lives.”  Big shout out to Nikki Bruno who stepped up to chair the regatta (her first!) and also to the great sponsors she got for the regatta:  Dunkin’ Donuts who provided coffee, bagels and donuts for breakfast both days, Helly Hansen Annapolis, Princeton College Consulting, and Student Coaching Services for swag bag contents.

The strength of this fleet cannot be understated.  There were multiple current and former College All-Americans (including the winning crew off her A-division win at College Nationals), several national and international Snipe Champions, four teams training for Snipe Worlds in August (two “regular” and two junior), quite a few current college coaches, and of course our most famous former Rolex Yachtsman of the Year, Augie Diaz.  Even with all that talent, the organizers were equally pleased with the number of new Snipe sailors (and even one crew who had never been in a sailboat of any kind!).

As often happens in Annapolis, several days before the regatta the breeze forecast was not spectacular with the imposition of a high pressure pattern over the mid Atlantic region…the kind of day that makes the Annapolis Chamber of Commerce happy, but the Snipe sailors not so much. Fortunately, the predictions were off and we had two great days of sailing with a little bit of everything. Saturday morning was glassy so PRO Mark Bennett postponed ashore for about an hour and a half until the signs of a thermal began to appear followed by a filling easterly that eventually built to around 12 knots and shifting to the south, the quintessential Annapolis summer conditions. Temperatures were perfect in the low 80s, enough to drive the thermal but not enough to be “stinky hot”.

Three of the four planned races were completed on Saturday. Raul Rios and Andrea Riefkohl were the most consistent with a 1,2,2 followed by Arthur Blodgett and Grace Howie and closely by Trevor Davis and Rees Tindall who are training hard for the Junior World Championships in Portugal this year. The placings were very close with multiple sets of boats crossing the finish line in short succession. Keeping the boat moving in the Annapolis “washing machine” is always paramount and despite the breeze clocking right most of the day, you could easily lose 10 boats on smaller oscillating shifts – you know the infamous Stuart Walker “Type 3 Breeze” – because of the high quality and consistency of the competitors.

Once ashore, the SSA Snackbar with new proprietors from Broadneck Grill & Cantina went into high gear serving refreshments. From the number of Margaritas and fresh squeezed Orange Crushes seen at the club, it appears they are a big hit! Following the fantastic drinks was a taco bar upstairs, apres-dinner Harp music from our own Flora Cole and of course the “heartier” of the group headed over to Davis’ Pub afterwards. 

Thanks to the presence of Tropical Storm Alex off the east coast, Sunday morning started out with almost 20 knots from the east. However, we knew at some point the bottom would drop out as the storm took a hard right moving away from the coast. It did in fact happen, but we were able to complete three more races allowing a discard. By the time all was said and done at the end of the day the  breeze was essentially zero. Fortunately, the race committee made the smart call to finish the last race before what would have been a very painful final downwind leg. As is often the case with the northerly breeze direction with ebbing current, those who dove left tended to do very well, although there were some limited opportunities for those taking a risker tack to the right. Arthur and Grace won the last two races but it was not quite enough to get them over Raul and Andrea who were again consistent with top 3 finishes. Augie Diaz and Katie Bornarth were also consistent, ending in third place followed by Trevor and Rees who slipped a position to 4th due to a tough last race. They still did well enough to top Boston sailor Trevor Long with local Shallom Fadullon (5th) for the Top U30 Award.  There were also four Women’s Teams (plus two more women skippers sailing with male crews) vying for the Top Women’s Award, which was won decisively by Carol Cronin/Kim Couranz who were 7th overall.

Next up for the Annapolis Snipe Fleet Invitationals being hosted by Severn Sailing Association are the Women’s Snipe Nationals August 7-8 and the Frigid Digit October 1-2.  Check out snipefleetannapolis.com for more information.

Full Results:

PLACE	SAILORS	SAIL NUMBER	NET	TOTAL	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6
1	Raul RiosAndrea Riefkohl	29841	8	11	1	2	2	1	[3]	2
2	Arthur BlodgettGrace Howie	30473	12	19	[7]	1	5	4	1	1
3	Augie DiazKatie Bornarth	30288	19	28	[9]	6	1	2	7	3
4	Trevor DavisRees Tindall	29940	26	38	5	3	7	9	2	[12]
5	Trevor LongShallom Fadullon	30324	31	45	4	[14]	11	5	4	7
6	Robert RamirezKate Sheahan Herron	31638	34	61	8	[27]	4	6	11	5
7	Carol CroninKim Couranz	31295	38	56	10	5	9	3	[18]	11
8	Evan HoffmannShira Golub	30687	44	57	12	7	[13]	7	8	10
9	Ivan ShestopalovLexi Pline	30299	45	68	11	13	8	8	5	[23]
10	Andre GuaragnaLogan Brickhouse	30023	50	71	[21]	4	10	10	9	17
11	Christian FilterKimmie Leonard	30552	50	87	13	8	14	[OCS – 37]	6	9
12	Carter CameronBryan Stout	30337	51	70	2	18	3	[19]	13	15
13	Bradley AdamAndrew Vernon	29044	52	69	3	12	6	[17]	15	16
14	Gavin O’HareHolly OHare	30629	56	83	6	15	[27]	11	20	4
15	Lee GriffithNikki Bruno	31304	80	105	17	17	20	20	[25]	6
16	Tyler MowryMatt Orgill	30302	80	117	16	22	17	[OCS – 37]	17	8
17	Tarasa DavisRyan Barone	29671	80	109	15	11	[29]	13	27	14
18	Eric ReinkeAlex Dailey-Strnad	31357	81	110	14	[29]	22	14	12	19
19	Alex PlineLisa Pline	31313	83	107	19	20	[24]	21	10	13
20	Brady StaggChase Cooper	30195	84	108	[24]	9	16	22	19	18
21	Brad MillikenMarissa Milliken	30928	86	112	20	[26]	15	15	14	22
22	Sarah AlexanderHollis Barth	31635	93	124	[31]	16	21	16	16	24
23	Esteban ForrerGrace Benzal	29147	105	132	[27]	19	18	24	24	20
24	Grant GarciaAmy Johnson	28686	111	144	26	[33]	19	12	26	28
25	Chris RyanJill Bennett	30301	116	146	[30]	21	28	18	22	27
26	Lorie StoutSunny Sturmer	29682	118	148	22	23	23	[30]	29	21
27	Travis TuckerCharlotte Carroll	3086	119	150	23	24	[31]	23	23	26
28	Chris KienerPeter Lobaugh	31449	124	156	25	[32]	25	28	21	25
29	Cole AmaralSean Trudell	1295	125	159	32	25	12	25	31	[34]
30	Zack KelchnerMegan Place	29782	128	165	18	10	26	[DNC – 37]	DNC – 37	DNC – 37
31	Devon FeusahrensLauren Feusahrens	30860	145	179	28	31	[34]	26	30	30
32	Walter GnannHunter aka “The Tall Guy” Smith	26280	147	181	[34]	30	30	27	28	32
33	Charles GreenMindy Michaels	30743	159	195	[36]	35	33	29	33	29
34	Flora ColeAndrew Cole	28142	163	200	29	28	32	[DNC – 37]	DNC – 37	DNC – 37
35	Rich McVeighCarol McVeigh	31061	166	203	35	[OCS – 37]	35	31	32	33
36	Mark FuhrmannLeAnn Myhre	27734	168	205	33	34	36	[DNC – 37]	34	31

Originally scored using Clubspot at: https://theclubspot.com/regatta/gQTol6Xd8s/