WILLIAMSBURG, Va. -- The Christopher Newport sailing team earned it's first win of the 2021-22 campaign when it turned in a strong showing at the Kingsmill Cup hosted by the College of William & Mary. The Captains won the eight-team event while also taking 17th at the Chesapeake Invitational at St. Mary's College of Maryland.
In Williamsburg, six races were completed in both A and B division over the two days of racing and Christopher Newport finished with 27 points. The Captains won the event by 11 points ahead of Virginia Tech while both the A and B boats finished first in division.
Sailing in A division,
Brian Fox paired with
Emily Learn for 13 points in six races. The pair earned a couple of bullets while adding one second and three third-place finishes. Hampton's A division tandem took second by just one point as the Captains edged out their foes from the Peninsula. In B division, it was again a one-point advantage for CNU at the end of the racing as
Daniel Hodges and
Liam Orr finished with 14 total points, just ahead of William & Mary's 15. Hodges and Orr had three victories and never crossed the line out of the top five.
The team win is the first doublehanded victory for the Captains since the Grant Regatta on April 13-14, 2019.
While the wind did not cooperate on Saturday in Maryland, it came strong for a full day of racing on Sunday at the Chesapeake Invitational. After just one race was completed on Saturday, the 18-team fleet took the water for seven races in each division on Sunday.
Luke Hayes and
Julia Burns sailed together in A division and finished with 123 points to best Washington College. In B division,
David Grace and
Ellie McFall finished tied for 15th with 115 points. Grace and McFall posted the finish for the Captains on Sunday with a ninth place showing in race 6B. Hayes and Burns started strong with an eighth-place effort in their lone finish on Saturday.
Christopher Newport has announced the remainder of the Captains fall schedule, with the next regatta coming on October 2-3 at the Tom Curtis Invitational in Washington, D.C.
