Alumni Chris Branning '09 and Peet Must '05 aboard Vanquish
After a tough start in Friday's distance race (we went to the wrong mark on a tour of the Chesapeake- we still crossed the line first but corrected to 8th place) the KP team found its stride in the wind and drizzle on the bay today with a second and two firsts in the days three races, good enough to move us up to second in the competitive 8 boat fleet.
Given the number of boats and hours we spend on the water we are fortunate that we have not had many incidents at the KP Waterfront, though we spend a lot of time training for them, well this week that training did it's job.
To all,
On Tuesday October 13, 2009 there was an incident aboard the S/V Renegade. Crew members aboard at the time were M/N Derrick Cherico (helm) and Logan Koltermann (main), and Plebes James Pilliod (jib), Mikkel Tophoj (bow), Stefano Ritondale (mast), and Zachary Bradley (2nd jib). At the time the wind was blowing about 20-25 with gusts up to 30. The J29 doesn’t have instruments so this is just an estimate. We had a #3 jib up and one reef in the main. We did some tacks upwind then went wing-on-wing downwind for a bit then came back up. Our Offshore Coach John Porter told us to practice some man-overboard drills. Logan then went down below to get an extra fender to throw overboard. We were on starboard tack at the time and tossed the fender off the stern. We immediately called man overboard and eased sails and came down. The Plebes had an eye on our "man," then we jibed and came up wind and tacked onto stbd. We came up to our man head to wind. The Plebes were unable to recover our guy so we went back onto starboard tack for a bit then came back down to make another pass. Plebes Tophoj and Bradley had an outstretched arm pointing to the man in the water while Plebe Ritondale went down below to get the boat hook and Plebe Pilliod was working the jib. As we came downwind Derrick called ready to jibe, we all acknowledged and then jibed. It was then that Bradley lost his footing on the starboard side and began to slip in between the lower lifeline and the deck. He managed to grip onto the stanchion just aft of the shrouds while his waist/legs were trailing in the water. Only able to hold on for a few seconds he let go and fell in the water. He was under the water for approximately 4-5 seconds. Fearing the worst we kept an eye and waited for him to surface, still on port jibe. We immediately notified the rest of the crew this was no longer a drill and we had an actual man overboard. While Tophoj had an eye on Bradley in the water, Derrick came up and tacked the boat onto starboard. Bradley saw this and began swimming to us. We were not on starboard tack for long when the boat met up with Bradley. As Derrick tried to stop the boat, Logan luffed the main and ran over to the leeward (port) side and grabbed Bradley and hoisted him through the lower life line and the deck. We asked if he was hurt and he said no just cold. We then told him to go down below and warm up. It was at this point our Offshore Coach came up in the Ambar and made sure everyone was ok. After this fact, we went engine on doused the jib and main. Then making sure everyone was ok and had no serious injuries, we headed back into the basin.
Other boats that were practicing too were the Lager, Hypnos, Diana, a few sonars and the dinghy team. However these boats were not in the immediate vicinity. We think a few things we did right was to immediately notify the entire crew that there was a man overboard and to keep a sharp eye on him. The waves were about 3-4 feet high, some even 5. This we’re sure made it hard to keep an eye on Bradley. We never were more than 200 feet from him which made it easy. We were really impressed with the other Plebes on board. They did a great job of keeping an eye on our guy in the water and knowing what to do when the situation presented itself unexpectedly. Especially with the weather getting colder, you never want someone in the water for too long. Luckily he was able to swim to us which made it easier for us to get him on board.
We cannot think of much we did wrong, however in that kind of breeze with 2/3 of your crew plebes, it might have been a good idea not to jibe. Instead we could’ve came up on the wind, tacked, then came back down. That was one possibility, another is absolutely making sure everyone is ready before each tack and jibe. I think also Bradley may have been too focused on keeping an eye out for our fake man in the water and was not paying as much attention as he should’ve and lost his footing. There was definitely a ton of breeze that day and I think each of us learned something. We were very lucky to recover him so quickly and also that no one was seriously injured.
Very Respectfully,
MIDN Derrick Cherico 2/c and MIDN Logan Koltermann,2/c
3rd Company
Renegade Skippers
Team results
The Kings Point Rowing team experienced mixed results on the
The regatta was created as a way to commemorate the founding of the U.S. Navy. This competition was the team’s last preparatory race prior to competing next weekend at the Head of the Charles Regatta in
While the team did not bring home medals, each crew put forth their best effort. With a day of mixed weather and a progressively stronger tail wind the race times were fast for most races.
The Men’s Varsity Four started the day off for Kings Point with what was to be the best performance in the Collegiate Four event. With only forty-five seconds separating the top 13 crews, the crew of Coxswain Daniel Dunn ‘13, Steven Jones ‘10, Chas Waters ‘10, Connan Ingham ‘12, and Kyle O’Connor finished a close 11th. This crew is hoping to improve their speed in an effort to again finish in the top three when it represents Kings Point at the prestigious Head of the Charles regatta next weekend.
The Kings Point Varsity Women’s Double of Anna Simons ’12, Kacey Rohloff ’12, had some race difficulties and were unable to medal. The crew started the race strong and were leading most of the crew but then dropped back to finish 8th of 9 crews. This crew came off a medal winning performance last week but had difficulty when they experienced difficulties with the rough water.
The Novice Men’s Eight came off a victory over 12 teams last week but was unable to repeat this week as they finished a disappointing 15th of 20 crews. The crew of Coxswain David Wong ’13, Chris Murphy ’13, Garrett Poncin ’13, John Wood ’13, Dustin Downing ’13, Garrett Fulton ’13, Brendan Rohr ’13, Kevin Woloscyk ’13 and Grant Johnson ’13 finished a distant 15th amongst 20 crews. They had trouble during the race when they had difficulty handling the rough water and fell off the pace when one rower’s oar caught the water the wrong water and they slowed significantly.
The novice Women’s Crew of Coxswain Kate O’Connor ’13, Str. Emily Meehan ’13, Christi Gallo ’13, Elsie Domingues ’13 and Lauren Callahan ’13 were unable to replicate last weeks silver medal performance of last week and finished 6th of seven crews.
Despite starting well and having what seemed to be their best race of the season the Novice Men’s four of Coxswain Daniel Dunn ’13, Str. Garrett Poncin, John Wood ’13, Sung Hyong ’13, and Brian Nichols ’13 ran into trouble midway through the race and were unable to keep with the leaders. In just their first race as a crew they rowed well and finished 12th of 14 crews.
The final crew of the day was the Varsity Men’s Eight of Coxswain David Wong ’13, Str. Thomas Gambill ’12, Mike Stocko ’10, Sam Diedrick’10, Frank Osborne ’12, Andrew Pfarner, Jeremy Tunstall’10, Chris Murphy 13, and Drew Baldwin ’10. Despite great efforts and a solid race, the crew was only able to finish 22nd but did defeat threes crews.
Overall, the team rowed to the best of their ability especially considering that it only rowed three times in last two weeks due to inclement weather.
The team heads to
The Offshore Team performed well in this weekend's light air on Long Island Sound, finishing high in this years Greenwich Cup. Skipper Pat Ambrose '10 aboard Diana managed to finish within the time limit to secure 2nd place, while Hypnos', skippered by Bubba Suggs '11, 3rd place on Saturday was enough to take the trophy. I somehow missed Renegade, skippered by Logan Kolterman, which finished second! Congrats to all the boats. Also recieved a very nice email today- I love it when I get these!!
I thought you should know we sailed this weekend against three different boats from your school. Afterward one group came to the award ceremony. I must tell you these young men and women did a tremendous job representing themselves, the Academy and you. Not only we they tremendous sailors, they were also very polite, poised and well behaved. We happened upon two of the cadet’s in search of food for their team’s return trip. I ended up giving them a ride to and from the local grocery. All in all, your group elevated The Greenwich Cup and were a very positive influence on all involved.
Congratulations on having such a good group.
Sincerely,
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