2022 Snipe Colonial Cup
Stellar turn out at SSA’s Snipe Colonial Cup.
36 teams from as far as Miami, Puerto Rico, and Hawaii attended the 2022 Snipe Colonial Cup, the highest in 25 years (since 1988) and included nineteen teams from Severn Sailing Association. “This is a testament to the work we have done over the last 10 years to grow the fleet” said fleet captain and long time Snipe sailor Lisa Pline. “Also, most of our growth has been in the U30 segment, showing the Snipe is THE place to be for post college sailors looking for a ‘Serious Sailing, Serious Fun’ experience they can continue with despite busy lives.” Big shout out to Nikki Bruno who stepped up to chair her first regatta and also to the great sponsors she got for the regatta: Dunkin’ Donuts who provided coffee, bagels and donuts for breakfast both days, Helly Hansen Annapolis, Princeton College Consulting, and Student Coaching Services for swag bag contents.
The strength of this fleet cannot be understated. There were multiple current and former College All-Americans (including winning local crew Andrea Riefkohl fresh off her A-division win at College Nationals and her skipper Raul Rios, 2017 Snipe World Champion, from Puerto Rico), several national and international Snipe Champions, quite a few current college coaches, and of course our most famous former Rolex Yachtsman of the Year, Augie Diaz. There were also four teams training for the Snipe Worlds in Portugal in August - two teams of SSA Junior Associates competing in the Junior Worlds (Trevor Davis/Rees Tindall and Cole Amaral with a substitute crew from Guatemala), as well as Augie Diaz/Katie Bornarth and new Annapolitan (and future SSA member) Arthur Blodgett sailing with Grace Howie in the Senior Worlds. Even with all that talent, the organizers were equally pleased with the number of new Snipe sailors (and even one crew who had never been in a sailboat of any kind!).
The weather gods were kind, and even though the forecast was for light both days, the actual conditions were a little bit of everything. Saturday morning was glassy so PRO Mark Bennett postponed ashore for Saturday, after about an hour and a half postponement onshore, the signs of a thermal began to appear followed by a filling easterly that eventually built to around 12 knots and shifting to the south, enabling 3 races to be completed.
Raul Rios and Andrea Riefkohl were the most consistent with a 1,2,2 followed by Arthur Blodgett and Grace Howie, with Trevor Davis and Rees Tindall close behind. The placings were very close with multiple sets of boats crossing the finish line in short succession. The Saturday regatta party featured fantastic drinks and a taco bar upstairs from SSA’s new Snack Bar vendor from Broadneck Grill & Cantina, followed by apres-dinner Harp music from SSA’s own Flora Cole, who at 12 years old was also the youngest skipper!
Thanks to the presence of Tropical Storm Alex off the east coast, Sunday morning started out with almost 20 knots from the east. However, even though the bottom dropped out as predicted, the RC was able to complete three more races allowing a discard. By the time all was said and done at the end of the day the breeze was essentially zero. Fortunately, the race committee made the smart call to finish the last race before what would have been a very painful final downwind leg.
Arthur and Grace won the last two races but it was not quite enough to get them over Raul and Andrea who were again consistent with top 3 finishes. Augie Diaz and Katie Bornarth were also consistent, ending in third place followed by Trevor and Rees who slipped a position to 4th due to a tough last race. They still did well enough to top Boston sailor Trevor Long with SSA Junior Program’s summer Head Coach Shallom Fadullon (5th) for the Top U30 Award. There were also four Women’s Teams (plus two more women skippers sailing with male crews) vying for the Top Women’s Award, which was won decisively by Carol Cronin sailing with former Commodore Kim Couranz who were 7th overall.
Next up for the Annapolis Snipe Fleet Invitationals being hosted by Severn Sailing Association are the Women’s Snipe Nationals August 7-8 and the Frigid Digit October 1-2. Check out snipefleetannapolis.com for more information.
See more photos by Ted Morgan HERE through June 19.