ANNAPOLIS, Md. - The Navy intercollegiate sailing team kicked off its spring break with three challenging regattas, one at home and two away.

Navy's home regatta was the first major women's event of 2017, the Navy Spring Women's. This event attracted 20 teams from all over the country and featured many of college sailing's top women. It was a very cold and windy weekend in Annapolis and the conditions thoroughly challenged all of the competitors. Navy sailed well at home, finishing sixth overall. Hannah Hughes, Brittney Slook and Karma Richards finished 12th in A division while Jessica McJones and Molly Hanson were fifth in B. Manuel Inserni-Pagan, Spencer Nora and Tyler Fleig did a fantastic job serving as race committee and safety boat operators, keeping the competitors safe and assisting in numerous capsize recoveries.

The weekend's major team race regatta was hosted by St. Mary's College of Maryland, where it was cold like Annapolis, but not quite as windy. In fact, lack of wind on Sunday prevented the completion of the full second round-robin, which was abandoned and replaced by a final four round. Navy advanced to the final based on its 7-2 record in round one and secured second overall out of 10 teams by going 2-1 in the final round, a very solid result considering the tough competition. Patrick Snow, Michael Madigan, Gary Prieto, Peter Hogan, Molly Robertson, Mary Morocco, Ana Mier, and Parker Loftus all sailed for the Midshipmen in this event.

In Navy's other event, four Mids traveled south to Charleston, S.C. for the Charleston Spring Regatta. his event featured 18 teams from around the country looking to gain some insight on the tricky Cooper River currents that will factor heavily in this year's National Championships in Charleston. Navy finished 10th overall, with Jimmy Madigan and Emma Remis coming in 12th in A division while Nicholas Gartner and Kent Mathes were sixth in B. The rest of the team will join them in Charleston for four days of training in the Cooper before returning to Annapolis to host college sailing premier team race regatta, the Graham Hall next weekend.