ANNAPOLIS, Md. – The Navy offshore sailing team competed in two events over the weekend, highlighted by finishing third in the U.S. Offshore Sailing Championships.
 
Navy joined a field of eight teams competing at the U.S. Offshore Championship for the Lloyd Phoenix Trophy. On the first day of competition, the Navy crew led by Don Poirier (Lincoln, R.I.) took the first race of the event, leading wire-to-wire.
 
In the second race of the day, Poirier's team recovered from a poor start to the race, moving to the front with a speed advantage only to be overtaken in the final legs of the competition for a second-place finish.
 
Entering the final day of competition in second place, sitting just one point out of first, Poirier and his crew started the first race by leading at the first mark by a small margin. The positions remained mostly static the rest of the way as Navy would take first place in race one, leading to the finale of the competition with the Midshipmen holding onto first place by a narrow margin.
 
In the final race of the championship, Navy ultimately fell short in its bid to secure a first-place mark, finishing third overall in the competition.
 
In its second event of the weekend, Navy participated in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Offshore Regatta, hosted by the Columbia Yacht Club in Chicago, Ill.
 
The Midshipmen tallied a sixth-place finish in its first race of the competition, followed by a bounce-back performance in the second race of the afternoon, finishing first. At the end of the first day of competition, the Mids sat in fifth place heading into day two.
 
During the second day of competition, Navy compiled a second and third-place finish, respectively, over its first two races. The Midshipmen entered the final race of the competition in third-place overall with just two points separating the top-three teams.
 
In the final competition of the event, Navy incurred a foul that caused them to complete two penalty turns, finishing at the back of the field.
 
Overall, the Midshipmen tallied a fourth-place finish with 30 points while the podium was taken by Michigan in first (20 points), San Diego in second (27 points) and Rhode Island in third (28 points).
 
The Mids are set to return to action October 2-3 as it hosts the Annapolis Yacht Club Doublehanded Distance Race along with the opening leg of the Annapolis Yact Club Fall Series.