Navy Sailing

Colleges & Universities United States Naval Academy (USNA)
1

<p>Varsity Offshore Sailing Claims 2007 Ft Lauderdale to Key West Ocean Race</p>

<p>Two VOST crews of Midshipmen just won the top two places in the 2007 Ft Lauderdale to Key West Ocean Race against a fleet of over 60 boats. The 160-mile race started last Wednesday in the Atlantic Ocean under ideal racing conditions with 25-plus knots of northeasterly wind and 6 - 8 foot waves.</p>

<p>The crews competed aboard the team’s two donated J/105 sloops, Dreadnought and Allegiance.</p>

<p>Tim Burchett skippered Dreadnought with John Hayes as XO, Ryan Field as navigator, and Jared Webster, James Lawsing and Will Arnest as trimmers.</p>

<p>Evan Scott skippered Allegiance with Reid Smythe as XO, Mark McClure as Navigator and Sarah Horn, Tom Oberdorf and Andrew Poulin as trimmers.</p>

<p>The two Midshipmen sailed boats reveled in the conditions and quickly surged to the front of their class. The two boats battled the fleet and each other furiously, with the two swapping the lead eight times in the race’s first 70 miles. At aproximately 11:00 pm and just south of Key Largo, the Allegiance team spun out resulting in a blown spinnaker and were forced to go with their less powerful backup sail effectively ending the contest with the Dreadnought team.</p>

<p>Dreadnought stayed on track and sailed flawlessly through the remainder of the night and finished the race in Key West Harbor at first light Thursday morning. Allegiance finished three miles behind.</p>

<p>Once the entire fleet had finished and the results calculated, Burchett’s team learned that they had convincingly beat not only their class but the entire fleet with Scott and his Allegiance crew garnering a respectable second. At the prizegiving, Burchett and crew were awarded first place in class, the Navigator’s Trophy for first place in fleet, and the Sponsors Trophy for best overall performance, an incredibly impressive haul for their efforts.</p>

<p>Two additional Midshipmen crews arrived over the weekend and will be sailing the same boats representing USNA in Key West Race Week which runs through Friday. Team Captain Joe Campbell will serve as skipper aboard Allegiance while Chris Schubert will lead a team aboard Dreadnought.</p>

2

<p>Published in the Annapolis Capital:</p>

<p><a href=“Real Estate – Capital Gazette”>Real Estate – Capital Gazette;

<p>

</p>

3

<p>The breezy conditions that have plagued offshore anglers made for a record-breaking performance and impressive sailing in the Fort Lauderdale to Key West Race last week.</p>

<p>Stars & Stripes, a custom 60 owned by Steve and Scott Liebel of Bradenton, smashed the multihull race record by completing the 160-mile race in an elapsed time of 8 hours, 31 minutes, 4 seconds. The old mark was 10:11:00 set by Zephyr in the 2005 race.</p>

<p>The first of the 50 boats to cross the finish line in Key West, Stars & Stripes reported hitting speeds of 32 knots during the 32nd running of the race, which started Wednesday afternoon off Port Everglades.
Dreadnought, a J-105 sailed by a crew from the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., was the top boat in the Performance Handicap Racing Fleet and was awarded the best overall performance trophy for the race.</p>

<p>Allegiance, another J-105 out of the Naval Academy, was second behind Dreadnought in the PHRF B class and second overall in the 24-boat PHRF fleet.</p>

<p>“It was the most amazing sailing I’ve ever had,” said Tim Burchett, one of three sailors who took turns driving Dreadnought, which had a crew of six midshipmen and a civilian coach. </p>

<p>"We had everybody up the entire night sitting at the back of the boat just to keep the back end of the boat down and keep the rudder working.</p>

<p>“We averaged 10 knots and surfed at more than 17 knots. The wind was anywhere from 15 to 25 knots during the race and probably 20 knots most of the time.”</p>

<p>A senior from Boulder, Colo., who sailed in last year’s race, Burchett said he and his mates just wanted to finish ahead of Allegiance. The two Navy boats were close together for much of the race.</p>

<p>“We were trying to beat each other and we were passing boats that were faster than us,” Burchett said, "so we were pretty confident that we had done well, but not this well. It was really great that Allegiance was also able to do so well.</p>

<p>"Everybody really wanted to win. The crew worked harder than I’ve ever seen a crew work.</p>

<p>Good performances also were turned in by Wind Pirate, a Sunnfizz 39 owned by Dan Whelan of Fort Lauderdale that won the PHRF C class; Commotion, a Beneteau 35s5 owned by Ross Hunton of Coral Springs that won PHRF D; and Decision, an R/P 52 owned by Stephen Murray Jr. of New Orleans that topped the seven-boat IRC A class and was also the top IRC boat.</p>

<p>Four boats dropped out of the race because of damage: Cheekee Monkee, a Farrier F-31 out of South Bend, Ind., that capsized approximately two miles after the start; Double O Seven, a Corsair 36 owned by Lawrence Geller and Brian Broad of Lighthouse Point that was dismasted off Key Largo; Endorphine 3, a Corsair 28R owned by John and William Laughlin of Hollywood that broke its rudder off Key Largo; and Caraluna, a C&C 9.9 that also broke its rudder off Key Largo. No injuries were reported.</p>