ANNAPOLIS, Md. – The Navy offshore sailing team had six crews competing in the 68th Annual Race to Oxford on Saturday and the corresponding Hammond Memorial Race back to Annapolis on Sunday.
 
Conditions ran the gamut with very light winds to start off Saturday's race, followed by strong winds and thunderstorms as the fleet approached the finish in Oxford.
 
Senior skipper Javier Jimenez Kane led his crew aboard DEFIANCE to third in the Navy 44 class against eight other boats over the 30-mile course. Fellow senior Renee Bonner skippered GALLANT to fourth place, close behind DEFIANCE, while senior Nate Bramwell skippered INTEGRITY to fifth place and 1/C Phil Pacheco led TENACIOUS to seventh in the same class. Jimenez Kane's crew included seniors Rick Irving, Kit Oney, Ian Mason, Cam Coffelt and Henry Isom, along with sophomores Graham Rose and Zach Peterson.
 
In the J/105 class, junior Ulysses Buzan led his crew aboard CONSTELLATION to first place in their five-boat class, while junior Brandon Prouse skippered AVENGER to fourth in the same class. Buzan's CONSTELLATION crew included senior Pat Fisher and sophomores Maddy Nienow, Sawyer Barnard, Drew Schipper and Olivia Schuchard.
 
In Sunday's race back, conditions were very light but with no storms to generate wind.
 
With all six of the Mids' boats in the same class for this race, Prouse and crew aboard AVENGER applied lessons learned from Saturday and led the race from start to finish to take first place out of nine boats. Pacheco and his crew on TENACIOUS also bounced back from the previous day, taking second in the class. Third was Bramwell and team aboard INTEGRITY, while Buzan's CONSTELLATION came in fourth, Jimenez Kane' DEFIANCE in fifth and Bonner's GALLANT in sixth.
 
Prouse's crew on AVENGER for the weekend included junior Austin Nolan and sophomores Kaili Williams, Colin Caraher, Josh Flores and Jack Hahne.
 
Next up for Navy is the US Offshore Championship, being hosted in Annapolis on Thursday-Sunday, Sept. 14-17.