New leader at Snipe Worlds

Ilhabela, Brazil (October 9, 2019) – Day two of the Snipe World Championship was very similar to day one, with cloudy skies and the threat of rain, resulting in just one race but a new overall leader.

While the teams were getting ready at the Escola de Vela Lars Grael, the wind was blowing nicely at about seven knots from East, so the fleet was out on the water right on time for the scheduled 12 o’clock start. But after four general recalls before the actual start on the fifth attempt, there were many casualties which received starting penalties.

“Since there are a lot of boats, the sailors don’t want to get in the so called ‘dirty wind’ and so they push it a little too much,” said Fabio Bodra, organizer of the 2019 Snipe Worlds. “In low wind conditions and with a large fleet, a good start is very critical, it might represent 50% of a good result.”

The first team at the upwind mark was the Brazilian former Snipe World Champion Alexandre Tinoco with Matheus Gonçalves followed by two Japanese boats. The downwind was very fast, and the first boat to reach the gate were Luis Soubie with Diego Lipszyc (above) from Argentina. They had a decent margin over the Brazilians Tinoco/ Gonçalves and were able to keep it to the finish, winning the race and claiming the provisional leadership of the 2019 Snipe Worlds.

“We had a really average start and we slowly had to work our way through the fleet,” says Soubie after race two. “With a 70 boat fleet it’s absolutely not an easy task. Nonetheless we were able to get clean air at the top of the beat and managed to round fifth at the upwind mark.

“Then with a great downwind we were able to be first at the gate and keep the position till the end. The trick for the next races is to start clear, avoid collisions, and the huge mess that is the fleet.”

The AP flag was hoisted at the end of the race, and the Alpha followed after a long wait on the water. No more racing for the day and an earlier start tomorrow (11 am local time) to try and make up for the missed races.

Up to 9 races with two discards are planned for the 70 teams from 11 countries on October 8-12.

Event details – Results – Facebook

Day Two Results (Top 10 of 70; 2 races)

Source: Rachele Vitello