ANNAPOLIS, Md. – The Navy intercollegiate sailing team competed in just one event this past weekend, battling for the Prosser Trophy at the MAISA Team Race Championship.
 
Hosted by the Merchant Marine Academy in Kings Point, N.Y., the 2023 Prosser Trophy featured the top eight teams in the Middle Atlantic Intercollegiate Sailing Association, as the Midshipmen won the same event at home in 2022 and entered with hopes of repeating and earning an automatic berth to the 2023 ICSA Team Race National Championship.
 
The event began with a moderate northerly breeze that made Saturday's racing nice early on, as Navy won its first two races before the wind died down, forcing a lengthy postponement ashore. Unfortunately, the wind never filled again that day and the fleet never returned to the course on Saturday.
 
Sunday saw a 10- to 15-knot northerly breeze that lasted most of the day, with the first round-robin being completed a little before noon and the fleet having a short break on shore before the second round began. Round No. 2 was nearly finished when the wind lightened and the current increased, slowing down the progress of the event. By late afternoon, it was determined that the round would not be completed by the cutoff time and the round was scrapped, with the overall results reverting back to round 1 alone. In that first round, Navy had a record of four wins and three losses, good enough for fourth place.
 
Navy's team consisted of senior Gavin McJones, sophomore Cooper Walshe and freshmen Nathan Smith and Jack Welburn as the skippers, while crews included seniors Jonah Hatt and Colin MacGillivray, juniors Madeline Smith and Julia Christie, sophomore Ryan Wahba and freshman Ellie Alex.
 
Navy next competes on April 15-16, heading to New York for the MAISA Women's Team Race Championship in Ithaca and the Owen Trophy in Kings Point, while the Mids also host the Truxtun Umsted Open Fleet Race in Annapolis those same days.