ANNAPOLIS, Md. – The Navy intercollegiate sailing team closed out the 2024-25 season Friday with a second-place finish in the final round of the ICSA Open Fleet Race National Championship in St. Mary's City, Md.
Advancing through Tuesday and Wednesday's semifinal round to earn a berth in the extremely competitive 18-team finals on Thursday and Friday, the Midshipmen and the rest of the championship field showed up ready to race on Thursday, but the weather didn't cooperate. With not enough wind to race all day, the fleet headed out to the course three times but never reached a sailable threshold.
The fleet reported early Friday and racing began in light wind, but throughout the day the wind kept dying and then filling in from different directions. The race course kept moving all over the St. Mary's River as the organizers did their best to provide quality racing for the championship.
Navy got off to a strong start by clawing back to the middle when behind and moving up to the top when things were well, as the Mids quickly entrenched themselves near the top of the standings and were sailing well in all course locations and wind directions. In the afternoon, a light southerly breeze allowed for racing off Church Point and Navy took advantage, with the Mids able to pull off six top-5 finishes in a row to pull within a single point of Stanford for the lead. The wind then shifted to the east and the course was moved back into the horseshoe bend at the very end of the day.
In race 7A, Navy committed a foul at the first mark and wound up in the back after two penalty turns, so Stanford was able to stretch their lead back out. Race 8 was started for both divisions with Navy behind Stanford by 16 points, as the Mids got ahead and closed in on getting the needed points when the wind died and the races were abandoned.
Navy wound up second overall, winning the Oxford University Yacht Club Trophy, as
Nathan Smith and
Ellie Alex finished second in the "A" division while
Henry Allgeier and
Fiona Cullen were also second in the "B" division. In reserve for Navy were
Tanner Kelly,
Ryan Wahba,
Darby Graham,
Jack Welburn,
Spencer Dominguez and
Owen MacWilliams.
The results marked the eighth time Navy has claimed the Oxford University Yacht Club Trophy and the Mids' best finish at the ICSA Fleet Race Nationals since winning the 2021 championship.
