How there can be two days of such dissimilar weather in one placed on a given weekend is beyond me. After getting soaked and blown off the bay with no races run on yesterday, today was the polar opposite at the Mac Cup 08.
With the start time advanced one hour in an effort to complete races, the 9 crews competing needed sunscreen and light sheets for today's races. Race one was run in the dying gradient westerly and a strong ebb. 5 of the 9 boats were called OCS and had to return. The final ΒΌ mile to the finish saw positions swing wildly with URI (having led wire to wire to that point) dropping to 4th and Coast Guard squeeking in at the pin for the win. The top four finished within two lengths of each other. Racing was delayed until a patchy sea breeze solidified at slack tide. Race 2 got underway with the left side paying big. URI won the pin and the left to lead at the first mark. Coast Guard sailed sharp, stayed in touch and managed to nip URI at the finish by mere feet to win again. Mass Maritime took 3rd and Navy played catch up all race to take 4th. The 3rd and final race was started in 8-10 true and still showing backing trends. By now the current had shifted and was flooding hard. It appeared no teams recognized this and all were late at the start with URI's attempt to nail the pin foiled by getting swept to leeward by the current. They quickly jibed around though and stopped the blood letting. The current caused equal drama at the weather mark with the starboard parade all ending up short, head to wind and worse. NY Maritime nailed it perfectly to lead by a huge margin while Navy benefitted as well passing at least 4 boats who were parked near the mark. On the second beat, SUNY parted a jib sheet which shortened their lead significantly. Navy now in 2nd attacked NYM on the last run but could not get past. NYM won by half a length with Navy settling for 2nd. Coast Guard miscalled a layline and dropped back to 6th. In the end Coast Guard and Navy finished tied with 8 points with Coast Guard winning the tie break and the 08 McMillan Cup. URI and NYM finished tied with 11 points with URI getting the nod for 3rd having beat NYM 2 of 3. Next up in two weeks is the Kennedy Cup. 1. Coast Guard 1,1,6 8 2. Navy 2,4,2 8 3. URI 4,2,5 11 4. NYMaritime 5,5,1 11 5. Mass Maritime 7,3,4 14 6. Kings Point 9,6,3 18 7. Queens University 3,8,8 19 8. St. Mary's 6,7,7 20 9. Maine Maritime 8,9,9 26 Jahn S. Tihansky Director, Varsity Offshore Sailing Team U.S. Naval Academy 410-293-5608 [EMAIL PROTECTED] <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
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