The Buccaneer sailing team participated in three separate events this weekend, the Shields Trophy at the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, the Nicholas Barnett Trophy at Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine and at the Round the Bay event at the Mattapoiset Yacht Club.

Following 22 months of no big boat intercollegiate racing at the Naval Academy, Navy kicked off the 2021 fall season with day one of the Shields Trophy Regatta today. Ten teams, including the Bucs, were on hand in Annapolis to contest for the trophy which is a championship for service and maritime academies aboard Navy's fleet of 44 foot sloops.

Conditions started off grim with little to no wind and overcast skies on Saturday. PRO Sharon Hadsell took the fleet out with the hope of a southerly filling in. After a 3 plus hour postponement, enough breeze had filled in to start a race.

On Sunday, the conditions were nothing short of perfect for the teams with gusts up to 20 knots from the NNE which compelled most to start with J3 jibs, and soaking any unprepared crew with rail spray. After a short postponement the teams began the first race of the day.

The Bucs put in a solid weekend of work finishing fifth overall in the standings behind Coast Guard in fourth. Navy was victorious overall with three first place finishes on the weekend. In the final race of the trophy the wind had veered right about 20 degrees and diminished in to single digits. The Bucs led at the first mark with Coast Guard and Navy following closely behind. Positions were held on the run but on the second upwind leg, Navy passed Coast Guard and the Buccaneers to take first place while the Bucs held on to second in front SUNY Maritime who passed CGA down the stretch.

At the Nicholas Barnett Trophy, with a field twice the size of the Shields trophy, this group of Buccaneers were unable to get anything going early. Though they compiled three top five finishes in the 28 heats, including two fourth place finishes, the Bucs finished 15^th ahead of Maine Maritime.

At the Around the Bay hosted at Mattapoisett Yacht Club, a little closer to home, the Bucs finished eighth in the Red Shift with a time of just under three hours.

Next weekend, the Bucs will travel to Tufts University, the University of Rhode Island and Boston to take part in three more weekend events to close out the September portion of their Fall schedule.