Finding the perfect spot to watch the Blue Angels fly over Annapolis is a tradition that takes strategy. Mapping out where to anchor your boat, how to get access to that rooftop you’ve been eyeing or skillfully playing hooky takes some time.
But with coronavirus precautions canceling Naval Academy Commissioning Week and the Blue Angels flyover seemingly canceled, Annapolis residents let their guard down. Until the academy announced on Wednesday morning that the famous Navy pilots would perform to honor the Class of 2020.
In an hour.
The rush was on to plot out new viewing spots acceptable to social distancing measures that would still give a clear vantage point.
Judy Buddensick had just gotten off of a phone call in the middle of a busy morning running social media for the Naval Academy Alumni Association when she saw a post about the flyover on Facebook. She had 20 minutes.
She ran outside and banged her fist on her neighbor’s door.
“Get your clothes on,” she said. “The Blue Angels are coming in 10 minutes. I don’t have time to talk. I gotta get to First Street.”
When she got there and saw people wearing face masks, she realized she’d forgotten hers in the rush. And she wouldn’t be allowed down to Severn Sailing Association property at the end of the street without one.
So she improvised.
“You know those little free bags for doggy poopy? The things that you do when the Blue Angels are going to fly!” Buddensick said. “I put the poopy bag on, I put little holes in it so it would fit over my ears. I’m not the only one who did it. And we all paraded down to SSA.”
Watching the Blue Angels was a 22-year tradition for Jessica Pachler and her husband as they built their family in Annapolis. If it weren’t for the coronavirus pandemic this would have been the day her 12, 8 and 6-year-olds would have been let out of class to grab blankets and sit the field outside Eastport Elementary to see the show.
But just before the news broke, she got a text from a midshipman she sponsored that the flyover was a-go.
“As soon as I said the Blue Angels were coming, everyone was like, ‘Quick, get your shoes on, get your masks on!'” Pachler said.
The Blue Angels made three passes over the Naval Academy followed by a turn to the east across the Severn River and then flew south toward the Chesapeake Bay between each pass.
Each of the runs paid tribute to the Class of 2020 and the academy’s commissioning tradition: the singing of “Navy Blue and Gold,” the graduation cap toss and a “salute to the strength and resilience demonstrated by the class of 2020, as they join the fleet as Navy and Marine Corps officers,” the academy said.
The academy canceled its traditional Commissioning Week events due to coronavirus precautions. The academy has been privately swearing-in midshipmen in groups of 200 — about a handful of midshipmen from every company in each — before a video stream, including a keynote address from Secretary of Defense Mark Esper, officially marks commissioning on Friday.
Buddensick and her neighbor both got down to the water just in time to see the first flyby over the Naval Academy Chapel Dome.
“Everyone teared up. Everyone was sobbing. It was like, everything in the world is OK,” Buddensick said.
“Yes, it was three quick flyovers. It wasn’t a show. But everyone felt that positive sign. The Angels are here. That’s what’s supposed to happen on Wednesday of Commissioning Week. We were supposed to see the Angels and they were there.”
