2022 Graham Hall Team Race

Day one of the 2022 Graham Hall Team Race showed how shifty the Severn River and Annapolis Harbor can be. 63 races were completed in a breeze that consisted of everything with a "South" in it and ranged from 2-20 knots throughout the day. Tomorrow RC will push hard to complete the round of 16.

After a challenging day to run races on Saturday, Sunday arrived with an ambitious plan to complete the Round of 16. During race sixty-six (the third race of the day), FJ16’s centerboard cap peeled off, rendering one set of boats unusable. Races sixty-seven through seventy-one were allowed to finish since those boats were on the course. Since one set of boats was unusable the OA had to quickly change it’s plan for the day. Luckily, the Round of 16 is built with two mini Rounds of 8 inside it that takes place in the first 56 races. The results of these two mini Rounds are below:

Mini Group A

Georgetown 7-0, Yale 6-1, Pennsylvania 4-3, Brown 4-3, St. Mary’s 3-4, Tulane 2-5, Old Dominion 2-5, NY Maritime 0-7

Mini Group B

Stanford 6-1, Navy 6-1, Roger Williams 5-2, George Washington 4-3, Charleston 3-4, Fordham 3-4, Hobart 1-6, King’s Point 0-7

The top four schools from each mini group were placed into a Top 8 Round using three sets of Z420s, while the bottom four schools from each mini group were placed into a Bottom 8 Round using 2 sets of FJs. Three more FJs failed during the Bottom 8 round and different boats were subbed in. The scores from any races that “were already sailed” from the original Round of 16 through race seventy-one, were used as finishes for the Top/Bottom Rounds of 8.

After the Top/Bottom Rounds of 8, the goal was to sail a Final 6 Round. There was a three way tie for the last two spots in that Final 6 between Roger Williams, Brown, and University of Pennsylvania. These three schools met in a sail off that put University of Pennsylvania and Brown into the Final 6. After one flight of the Final 6, it was determined by the OA that there was not sufficient time to complete the round before the cutoff time of 3pm, and the Final 6 was converted to a Final 4.

After the Top/Bottom Rounds of 8 and the Final 4, four sail offs were used to break ties for 3rd, 5th, 13th and 15th places.

A HUGE thank you to Gavin O’Hare for being PRO along with his RC Team of Grant Garcia, Jamie Fontanella, Marissa and Brad Milliken, Mike O’Bryan and a squad of midshipmen. Another HUGE thank you to Chief Umpire Jeff Borland and his team of Jeff Woodard, Vicki Sodaro, Bill Simon, Carol Robinson, Bill Cook, Steve Sparkman, Doc Sullivan, and Pat Healy. Congratulations to Yale for winning the 2022 Graham Hall Team Race!