The Naval Academy's Robert Crown Sailing Center and the waters of the bay near the mouth of the Severn River were filled with a slightly younger-than-usual crowd of sailors last weekend.
More than 110 top high-school-age competitors from across the country convened for the annual Mallory and Cressy Trophy competition, the national championships for high school sailors under the auspices of the Interscholastic Yacht Racing Association.
To earn one of the 20 slots competing for the Mallory, the teams had to do well their regional sail-offs.
Broadneck and St. Mary's high schools were two of the teams representing the Mid-Atlantic region, which includes Maryland.
At the regional sail-off last month at St. Mary's College, Broadneck placed first and St. Mary's was third.
Sailing in the Mallory for Broadneck in a very promising first year of competition were Geoff Schneider and Mike Zinkgraf, taking 13th in A Division; and Dave and Brad Julian, eighth in B Division, for an overall standing of eighth and an impressive outcome for a fledgling team.
Schneider has been both a Chesapeake Bay Yacht Racing Association Junior Single-Handed and Junior Double-Handed overall champion, while the Julian brothers pulled out a dramatic first place in the B division of the Mid-Atlantics last month to ensure Broadneck's position at the top of the fleet.
The St. Mary's sailors, who finished 13th overall -- up a solid five places from last year's 18th in the national event -- included Myles and Tracey Conway, eighth in A Division; and Karen Coe and Carolyn Manion, 16th in B.
The Conway brother-sister team clinched St. Mary's fine position in the Mid-Atlantics after a very tight final A Division race. Myles Conway, like Schneider and the Julians, has been active and successful in the Severn Sailing Association Junior Program for several years.
The double-handed Mallory Trophy event, which dates back to the 1930s, is managed like an intercollegiate regatta.
It includes competition for an A and a B team from each qualifying school, racing in separate divisions.
Overall final standings were determined based upon the combinedscores for each pair of A and B teams.
The A and B teams switchedoff between 420s and Flying Juniors at the mid-points of their respective 12-race series.
Competition for the Cressy was single-handedin Lasers, based solely on each sailor's individual finishes in a corresponding 12-race series.
"I was really pleased with everything this year," said Regatta Chairman Gary Bodie, director of the Naval Academy's Intercollegiate Sailing Program.
"The level of competition was really high," he said. "It was truly a
national championship. Even the last-place people are really good sailors."
Bodie said weather conditions favored the event. "We've run this regatta for over 10 years, and yesterday was the best day ever," he said of Saturday's conditions.
Sunday's air was somewhat lighter and shiftier, butstill provided good competitive conditions.
First in the Mallory competition for the fourth consecutive year was the team from St. Petersburg High School in Florida.
Headed by top junior Snipe sailor Mark Mendelblatt, the team beat the Naval Academy Prep School in Newport, R.I., by one point.
Floridian Brett Davis from Largo High School won the Cressy by a 38-point margin over San Diegan Brian Camet.
Up to 40 sailors can take part in the Cressy regatta.
Some are selected by sail-off competition, and others are invited based on sailing resumes and letters of application.
This year, 34 sailors joined the fray, including Severn School'sAndrew Scott, representing theonly county school for the Cressy, and fellow Annapolitans John Torgerson, sailing for Avon Old Farm School in Connecticut, and Robbie Deane, sailing for Pennsylvania's Hill School.
Torgerson, an SSA Junior ace who twice was CBYRA's Overall One-Design High Point winner, finished eighth in the Cressy competition, while Scott, relatively newto single-handed competition in Lasers but a veteran champion in theJunior Double-handed class, turned in a respectable 11th in the fleet.
Deane, another past CBYRA Junior Double-handed champion, was 23rd.
1991 Mallory Trophy Regatta
Overall (20 schools, 420s & Flying Juniors, 12 races each division): 1) St. Petersburg High School, St. Petersburg, Fla., 95 pts.; 2) Naval Academy Prep School, Newport,R.I., 96 pts.; 3) St. Stanlislaus School, Bay St. Louis, Mo., 162 pts.; . . . 8) Broadneck High School, Annapolis, 248 pts.; . . . 13) St. Mary's High School, Annapolis, 283 pts.
A Division: 1) St. Petersburg, Mark Mendelblatt/John Green, 50 pts.; 2) Naval Academy Prep, Tyler Moore/Steve Konzel, 59 pts.; 3) St. Stanislaus, Kevin Northrop/Owen Peneguy, 85 pts.; . . . 9) St. Mary's, Myles Conway/Tracey Conway, 124 pts.; . . . 13) Broadneck, Geoff Schneider/Mike Zinkgraf, 137 pts.
B Division: 1) Naval Academy Prep, Ryan Cox/Marie Bacayo, 37 pts.; 2) St. Petersburg, Jonathan Glauser/Kara Shadwick, 45 pts.; 3) St. George's School, Newport, R.I., Whitney Connor/Gately Ross, 67
pts.; . . . 8) Broadneck, Dave Julian/Brad Julian; . . . 16) St. Mary's, Karen Coe/Carolyn Manion.
1991 Cressy Trophy Regatta
ISYRA National Single-handed Championships
Overall (34 Laser sailors, 12races): 1) Brett Davis, Largo HS, Fla., 50 pts.; 2) Brian Camet, Univ. of San Diego HS, Calif., 88 pts.; 3) Rob Erda, Guilford HS, Conn., 94 pts.; . . . 8) John Torgerson, Avon Old Farm, Conn., 117 pts.; .. . 11) Andrew Scott, Severn School, 131 pts.; . . . 23) Robbie Deane, Hill School, PA, 259 pts.
*
The Magothy River Sailing Association played host to 21 PHRF boats in its first full-season event of the year.
The annual Spring Race, a 12.2-mile contest government-mark contest, took place in a pleasant southerly breeze that built from seven to eight knots at the 11 a.m. start to a substantial 10 to 12knots by the time the four-class fleet finished.
"It turned out to be a nice sailing day," said Race Committee Chairman Ron Conklin. "Everybody looked like they were having a good time out there."
Winning a very tight PHRF-C division were Andy and Sue Davis on their J/24 L*A*S*S.
In this class, the top three boats all corrected out to within 54 seconds of each other.
"We led the whole way," Sue Davis said. "It was too freaky -- things just don't usually go that wellfor us, and to elude Cold Duck, who's a High Point winner, well, that was great. Our fleet was really small, but we were all within striking distance of winning the whole time."
Magothy River Sailing Assn.
Spring Race results
PHRF A (5 starters): 1) Flying Colors, R. E. Michel Jr., Glen Burnie, 1:49:58.4 c.t.; 2) La Chasseresse, CarlGeyer, Severna Park, 1:53:02.2 c.t.; 3) Madame X, Orion Syndicate, Philadelphia, Pa., 1:53:44.6 c.t.
PHRF B (6 starters): 1) Full Cry,Robert Crompton, Coatesville, Pa., 1:47:57.2 c.t.; 2) Ovation, HenryPeacock, Rock Hall, 1:48:10.6 c.t.; 3) Early Riser, Michael Romey, Pasadena, 1:56:36.4 c.t.
PHRF C (4 starters): 1) L*A*S*S, Andy & Sue Davis, Annapolis, 1:53:01.2 c.t.; 2) Cold Duck, Charles Wright, Columbia, 1:53:52.4 c.t.; 3) Rebecca, William Paul, Pasadena, 1:53:55.2 c.t.
PHRF Nonspinnaker (6 starters): 1) Cayenne, Tony Sanpere, Annapolis, 1:51:46.6 c.t.; 2) Elusive, Richard Joklik, Gaithersburg, 1:55:53.6 c.t.; 3) Au Revoir, George Fox, Coopersburg, Pa., 1:56:57.6 c.t.
Nancy Noyes is a member of the Chesapeake Bay Yacht Racing Association and has been racing on the bay for about five years. Her Sailing column appears every Wednesday and Sunday in the Anne Arundel County Sun.