ANNAPOLIS, Md. – Navy's offshore sailing team had seven boats compete at the spring edition of the NASS Race to the Lighthouses on Saturday. The Midshipmen had its crew on Farr 40 Ranger finish second overall in the fleet and first in the PHRF A0 class.
 
Following a three-week practice, Navy had its new skippers compete in their first competitions on the open bay. The race featured ideal conditions with plenty of wind and navigational challenges around the 21-mile course. The course took the fleet under the Bay Bridge to a rounding mark off Sandy Point State Park, then back south toward Thomas Point Light, and then across to Bloody Point on the eastern shore before returning north to finish the race on the Severn River near Greenbury Point.
 
The Midshipmen had two of their Navy 44s in the PHRF A2 class and there was a hard-fought battle between the two Navy boats and the rest of the field in the eight-boat class. After working through the fluky conditions and strong currents, Meade Tolen led his team on Defiance to a third-place finish and was ahead of Sam Hall and his crew on Integrity who took sixth. Tolen and his crew came out as the top Navy boat in their class and the crew included Luke Brodnik, Patrick Michalik, John Neubauer, David Hicks, Aidan Johnson, Katie Ketner and Jessie Sedlock, along with Nicholas Hogan helping coach.
 
The five-entry big boat PHRF A0 class featured all Navy boats from the massive 66-foot Zaraffa to the nimble Farr 40s Zephyr and Ranger. Luke Gillcrist and his team aboard Ranger broke away from the fleet early on after finding better wind and current relief to the west, which allowed them to extend away from the competitors into a comfortable lead from which they never looked back. Zachary Medeiros and the crew on Wasp sailed sharp and fended off charges from Keegan Steele and his crew on Zephyr, as well as, Eddie Rankin who skippered Wahoo.
 
Earning line honors for the race was Teagan Foley who led the 16-person crew aboard Zaraffa who finished over 20 minutes ahead of the next boat. However, after factoring in the handicap time allowances, they dropped back to fifth in the class.
 
The top-performing boat for the Midshipmen on Saturday was Gillcrist's Farr 40 Ranger who were first in their class and second overall in the fleet. Gillcrist's crew included Cory Routen, Joseph Garcia, Renee Bonner, Nate Bramwell, Frank Carter and Kobe Nguyen, along with Grace Vandegrift and Adam Lance helping guide the team.
 
This was Navy's lone spring competition and will return to action during their summer block events which begins with the Annapolis to Newport Race on June 4.