US Snipe Sailor If your e-mail is like mine you have just been covered up recently with e-mails concerning the Snipe Midwinter Circuit. Perhaps too many. Left unattended for a couple of days over the Thanksgiving holiday, my inbox filled up and shut down. And I’m told Facebook exploded with comments. Whew!!
In the meantime, stay tuned. It is a healthy sign that so many of our fellow sailors care as much as they do and take the time to express their opinion. May it always be so. For the coming year, dates and events are unchanged, so make your plans to be in Clearwater March 18 for the start of the bestever Midwinter Championship and as many of the Circuit events as you can make.
For those fortunate enough to have missed the electronic exchanges of ideas, here are the basics in a nutshell: for 25 years or more And if the winter blahs make you feel you can’t the Midwinter Championship, a regatta that wait that long, there other regattas in sunny has been held for 75 years, has led off our Florida including the Miami Snipe Invitational annual “Spring Vacation,” followed by the Brainard Cooper, on New Year’s Day and the Gaspar/Florida State Don Q Regatta in Miami. After this boats US National Secretary Championship in St. Pete on Jan. 10. would be shipped to Nassau for the Bacardi and Gamlin regattas, giving Snipe sailors the opportunity Not to be outdone, Snipers in District 6 are getting to compete in a truly international event almost on our an early start on the year by holding their District doorstep. The Circuit is and has been a bellwether event Championship in February. that other classes envy, and it has attracted the very best Snipe sailors in the country year after year, as well as So, as we wrap up another great Snipe year, the Board of Northern Europeans escaping the snows at home. In SCIRA USA wish all Snipers everywhere a Happy Holiday recent years, however, entries in the three venue, four Season and the Best Serious Sailing-Serious Fun New Year regatta Snipe Midwinter Circuit (the Southern Circuit) ever! - bc have been somewhat less than we would have hoped, especially for the two Nassau regattas which draw the Europeans, but few US sailors. Thinking to “change the equation,” District 4 Governor Steve Lang has floated the idea that perhaps we should alter the schedule by holding the two Nassau regattas first, followed by the Don Q in Miami and then the Clearwater Midwinters, leaving the dates unchanged. The response to this proposal has been nothing short of overwhelming. Many have written in support of the change, while the minority of the respondents object. In fairness to those who support the change, change simply for the sake of change can frequently lead to a positive outcome. Those opposed, on the other hand, cite hard fact to support their position, the most germane of which is the unreliability of ship borne transportation from Nassau to Miami, a situation which has become worse in the years since the tragedy of 9-11-01 with the addition of TSA screening in addition to customs and security. If SCIRA USA is going to support then proposed change in schedule, it goes without saying that this transportation problem must be worked out.
SCIRA USA 2812 Canon Street San Diego, CA 92106 619-222-0252 Danielle Richards, Executive Administrator danielle@odmsail.com Sherri Campbell, SCIRA Finances sherri@odmsail.com Jerelyn Biehl, SCIRA Executive Director jerelyn@odmsail.com or scira@snipe.org
Winter 2015