Shields Cup Commentary from Mike Dybvik KP' 10

The Shields Cup over the weekend of September 20-21st was somewhat of a success for the USMMA team. The crew of 8 had no experience on the Navy 44’s but, having heard of the legacy of these historic boats from teammates and coaches, by the first race the crew was well prepared to put the boat through its paces in any series of races. Focusing on speed and maintaining the momentum of the heavy boats became a major point for both the beats and the runs and at the end of the first race, with a finish of 2nd, the crew felt well prepared to push harder in the next races. The second race confirmed this and yielded a finish of 1st place. The final race of day 1 became a light air battle that, unfortunately for USMMA, did not yield the results they were looking for. USMMA had a tough start and ended up at the back of the fleet, but with the near flawless crew work and M/N Branning’s focused driving the team managed to claw its way to a 7th place finish. That put the team tied for points with California Maritime in 2nd place. SUNY had run away with the points and was in clear first.
Forecasts for day 2 were bleak with any race-able weather looking to be far off, but just before the 1300 cut off a light southeasterly filled in and the race committee blew the warning signal. Knowing that speed was still the name of the game, the engine was rumbling until 10 seconds before the preparatory signal at which point the jib was hoisted and the next four minutes were spent focusing on keeping the boat at max speed. Just after the one minute signal Coast Guard overtook USMMA to leeward and, after maintaining all their speed, the faster USMMA boat was set to crash right into C.G’s transom. USMMA ducked below C.G. and was unable to make it to the line with C.G. taking all their air. A brief press to gain speed and a tack onto port brought USMMA out to the right side of the course, where most of the boats ended up going. The breeze remained light all day and after an early tack in towards the center of the course did not pay off, the final two tacks of the beat were painful and slow in the diminishing breeze. The run was painful and slow and attempting to work up enough speed to overtake boats became an option that diminished more and more as the finish line approached. The final finish of 7th place was disappointing but the USMMA team returned to the dock with their minds already prepping for the Macmillan cup on the 25th of October. The overall finish of 3rd was admirable enough and made only sweeter as both Coast Guard and Navy were behind KP in the standings.
The crew consisted of M/N Ben Reavis on the bow, M/N Paul Hunsader on the mast, M/N Knut Erik Dybvik and M/N Josh Johnston covering the pit. M/N Logan Kolterman and M/N Derrick Cherico trimming the massive genoa with M/N Michael Dybvik on the mainsail and M/N Chris Branning at the helm.

Kings Point Third at Shields Trophy- Wins Secretary's Cup Point vs. USCGA

Ten Service Academy crews turned up and persevered through 4 races in 2-8 knots of wind on the Chesapeake Bay aboard the Naval Academy's fleet of 44' sloops. PRO Gene Gibbons managed 3 races on Saturday in a light northerly and a strong ebb. SUNY and Kings Point mastered the conditions best, each earning a first and second in the opening 2 races. SUNY kept the mo going and overcame significant adversity to win race 3 while KP was forced to card a 7th. Cal Maritime exhibited their usual solid consistency posting a 3, 3, 5 to end the day in 3rd. The forecast for Sunday was not promising and glassy conditions greeted the competitors on the water. PRO Gibbons exhibited great patience in a long postponement and was rewarded with a very light sea breeze before the race start time limit expired. A short four leg course was set and the final race of the series got underway. There were a surprising number of position changes throughout the race as crews battled through wind voids and sail handling problems. Cal Maritime recovered from a poor start and chipped away at the leaders going on to win the race by a large margin. Coast Guard also came from well back to take 2nd while early race leader Mass Maritime slipped back to 3rd. SUNY had their worst race of the series spending much of it in the back half of the fleet. But heads up sailing and crisp boat handling allowed them to recover to 4th to ice the title by 4 points over defending Shields Champion Cal Maritime. KP suffered a poor start and could never recover, scoring a 7th and dropping to 3rd overall. Thanks to all teams for making the trip. It was gratifying to see the huge turnout of service academy teams competing! Next up at Navy will be McMillan Cup 25 & 26 October. A huge thanks to Gene Gibbons and his very capable crew on the RC and also to judges Maureen Mills and Angelo Buscemi as well as all the many other volunteers who helped make the regatta a success. Final Results: 1. SUNY 1,2,1,4 8 pts. 2. Cal Maritime 3,3,5,1 12 pts. 3. Kings Point 2,1,7,7 17 pts. 4. Coast Guard 5,7,4,2 18 pts. 5. Navy 6,8,3,5 22 pts. 6. Mass Maritime 7,6,8,3 24 pts. 7. Great Lakes Maritime 8,4,6,6 24 pts. 8. Maine Maritime 4,11,2,8 25 pts. 9. Army 9,5,9,10 33 pts. 10. Royal Military Academy 10,9,10,9 38 pts http://www.collegesailing.org/
by Jahn Tihansky 8:06 PM Sun 21 Sep 2008

Waterfront Pics of the Week

We recieved about 5 calls about a vessel sinking / aground this week while we had Genuine Risk canted over to clean the bottom!
Who says the Kings Pointer can't make it to Flag Landing?

Kings Point Rowing Victorious Over Coast Guard

Men's Varsity Four

MORE PICTURES

The Rowing Team and Power Squadron traveled to Mystic, CT aboard the training vessels Liberator and Maximon. Watches were stood and the Plebes aboard for their first night at sea practiced terrestrial and electronic navigation as well as steering and engine room rounds aboard the vessels. A morning arrival and conning practice up the Mystic River brought the team to our dock at the Mystic Seaport Museum. The rowers practiced and had some time to explore the museum and watch an exhibition competition of Olympic rowing medalists. On Sunday the team competed- highlights below from Coach Hartwick-



ROWING TEAM WINS THE COASTWEEKS REGATTA – DEFEATS COASTGUARD

The Kings Point Varsity Men's team captured first place in the 2008 Coastweeks Regatta and defeated Coast Guard Academy in the process.
The Coastweeks regatta is held annually at the Mystic Seaport Museum in Mystic Connecticut. Additionally, the team successfully completed some training on the training vessel Liberator as it was used for transportation to the regatta and for berthing the team while in Mystic. CDR Chris Gasiorek and the Power Squadron were instrumental in providing the support in transporting the team to Mystic.

The crew of coxswain- Romulus Cirone ‘ 10, Stroke- Bradford Webster ‘’09, 3 Seat -Erik Henden ‘09, 2-Steven Jones ‘10, and Bow- James Sanwald ’11, captured the second straight victory and the third in four years in the Men’s Open Four event. While the margin was nearly ten seconds last year, this year's top Kings Point crew struck gold by only the smallest margin. The rowing mariners clocked 7:30 for the 2000 meter course to Coast Guard's 7:31, the equivalent of only 15 feet over the distance of a one and a quarter mile race.

The other Kings Point entry rowed a good race but fell short of the medals as they finishing fourth. The crew of coxswain-Jonathan Gardner ‘11, Stroke - Jeremy Tunstall ‘10, 3 Seat – Sam Diedrick ‘10, 2 - Seat Russell Marihugh ’10, and Adam Kroupa ’09 finished in 8:23.

The crew of coxswain- William Walls ‘ 12, Stroke- Drew Ruff ‘12, 3 Seat – Frank Osborne ‘12, 2 – Seat Thomas Gambill ‘12, and Bow- Norman Hilliard ’12 rowed to a third place finish and a bronze medal in the Youth Four event. This was the first time that this Plebe crew has worn the grey and blue in competition. This was a nice start of what should be a great rowing career at Kings Point for these Plebes.

Also competing for the first time for Kings Point was the Women’s Varsity four of Coxswain William Walls ‘ 12, Stroke- Anna Simons ‘12, 3 Seat – Kacey Rohloff ‘12, 2 – Seat Ali Anderson ‘12, and Bow- Jessica Willey ’12. This crew failed to capture victory but had a great race considering that one of the crew members just started rowing less than two weeks ago.

This event included many local and regional rowers, in both racing and recreational shells. The previous day of racing included many 2008 Olympic athletes competing for the honor of the ‘fastest sprinter when they sprinted 400 meters for medals. Nicknamed “The People’s Regatta”, it is attended by hundreds of athletes, and all generations of rowers, from high school teams to master and veteran rowers.

The Varsity Rowing team takes next week off and then heads to the Harlem River in two weeks for the Head of the Harlem Regatta.

Kings Point Rowing Christens New Shell

Kings Point Rowing Fall 2008

The Kings Point Crew team welcomed parents and friends for the christening of a new shell. The eight previously was unnamed, is now named the "Saucy Jack" after an war-prize vessel from the American Revolutionary War.

Genuine Risk First to Finish in Vineyard Race

Just one week after arriving at Kings Point from a 2500 nm trip from Lake Michigan Genuine Risk has finished first in the 2008 Vineyard Race. Genuine Risk was on pace to set a new record for the race for the first 130 nm of the 238 mile race. But fickle winds made the final leg very slow- even sitting in no wind in sight of the finish for 6 hours. The boat, crewed by midshipman, Alumni and Coaches finished the race at 2300 Saturday night, three hours ahead of the next finisher, course record holder Blue Yankee.

More Pics Here

Crew-
CDR Chris Gasiorek, KP '95
Ralf Steitz, KP Sailing Foundation
Jeff Miller, KP '04
Pat Showell, KP '09
Phil Ientile, KP '10
Jeremiah Lyons, KP '05
Justin Henigan, KP '08
Joe Hoffman, KP '11
Casey Penney, KP '11
Brian Giorgio, KP '08
Peete Must, KP '05
Mr. Bill Jenkins
Bill Jenkins Jr. KP '20?
Mr. Tom Castiglione
Mr. Jeff Shane
Mr. Tony Reaper
Mr. Bill Walker
Mr. Rick Marriman, USNA
Bubba Suggs, KP '11
Andrew Conroy, KP '11

Growler Takes 2nd Place in New York Tugboat Races

The crew of Growler, led by Midshipman Tripp Webb placed second in class in the annual New York Harbor Tugboat Race. 28 Tugs of all sizes and vintages gathered at Pier 84 on the west side of Manhattan on a beautiful Sunday for a variety of competitions.

Power Squadron Sunset Raft-Up

Last Thursday the Power Squadron made a run to Hempstead Harbor for a raft-up and barbeque. A great time for all- and definately a brochure picture for the Power Squadron!