Coming on the heels of the Snipe North Americans two weeks prior in New Jersey, the 2024 Frigid Digit hosted by Fleet 532 in Annapolis MD had a bit higher turnout than anticipated thanks to four teams from Miami whose boats stopped here on their way south. In addition, we had two stalwart travelers from Rhode Island who year after year continue to battle the dreaded Northeast section of I-95 to sail in Annapolis. This energy also brought some locals off the sidelines and encouraged some friends of Fleet 532 to travel extra distances to come sail at our wonderful venue.
The forecast was a bit uncertain with the remnants of hurricane Helene lurking off to the west, but in the end we were able to complete six races, three in 5-8 knots on Saturday and three in 8-12 knots on Sunday both from the ever increasing easterly directions. But the silver lining was that it was cool and overcast so the powerboat chop Annapolis is famous for – the Annapolis Washing Machine – was only on the gentle setting. This direction is notoriously tricky with both pressure differences and 20-30 irregular shifts.
The race committed led by Charlie Krafft, Bill Lawson and their crew did a great job at executing the races for us and the local Lightning fleet as a combined “Hard Chine Frigid Digit” and with 18 Lightnings and 21 Snipes it was chock-a-block at SSA for the weekend.
There were a number of new Snipe sailors at the regatta: local George Slook sailing with MK Fowler who just acquired a local boat, Erich Laughlin visiting from Penn State and crews Hannah Lee Knoll, Spencer Kreigstein, Jill Fattibene and Jacqui Rice making their Snipe debut. The most enthusiastic award goes to Matt Johns who drove out from Michigan to experience the Annapolis vibe not knowing whether he would find a spot to sail, but thanks to Tyler Mowry and Andrew Cole splitting the skipper role he was able to crew for the weekend and reported back that he had “one of the best weekends” he ever had! Sometimes we take for granted what a great venue we have.
Full results overall and by U22/U30/Women/Master skipper: https://theclubspot.com/regatta/dZRPLeN0FE/results?class_id=PrYERZJ0gn
Annapolis Snipe Fleet 532 