US Snipe Sailor - winter 2016

US Snipe Sailor For you northerners, Snipes should already be stored for the winter.

For you southerners, the season simply continues on or is either just getting started. I am especially envious of the latter group at this time of year. I always look forward to SnipeUSA, SnipeToday or Facebook updates from those who can still sail to Art Rousmaniere help chase away the New incoming US National Secretary England winter blues.

Regardless of your geographic location, I urge you all to reflect on what simple things can be done by each and every one of the 500+ US Snipe Class members that can lead to even more serious sailing and serious fun.

I encourage all of us to consider how we can help ourselves by making a tax-deductible contribution to the US Class Perpetual Fund (http://snipeusa. com/about/perpetual-fund/). Also, please consider reaching out to crews and/or friends and gift them a membership for 2016 (http://snipeusa.com/2015/12/ snipe-usa-2016-gift-membership-program/). For all such gifts (click on the box on the on-line form), we will send the new member a card welcoming them to the class that includes an abbreviated regatta schedule for the year as well as useful links. I am confident that

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 jerelyn@odmsail.com

the membership ($30 or $20 for juniors under 22) will be more appreciated than the equivalent cost of Santa socks or that bottle of wine that won’t last nearly as long. They will thank you for it with each Snipe Bulletin they receive all year.

Also, I could use your help for a project that I am taking on, and this is to get a sense of how much fleet racing is going on around the country. Specifically, I’d love to get my hands on as many fleet racing final results as I can that include numbers of races and competitors – whatever you have whether it be a handwritten form, a spreadsheet, whatever. I would also appreciated whatever comments / observations / stories from your fleet racing season that you would be interested in sharing. I will appreciate whatever you can e-mail me and will report back what I find.

Cheers, Art Rousmaniere e-mail: art.rousmaniere@gmail.com

Interested in hosting a SCIRA USA Qualified or Nationals? We are looking for hosts for the following events 2016 Qualifiers for the 2017 Worlds & Jr. Worlds – East & West 2017 US Nationals - District 1 2017 US Jr. Nationals – Anywhere 2017 US Women’s Nationals – Anywhere 2017 US Masters Nationals – Anywhere 2017 Qualifiers for the 2018 Western Hemisphere Championship – West & Midwest/South East Contact the office or a SCIRA USA Board Members today

to learn about hosting requirements!

In Memoriam

Ken Rix - Fleet 98 John Lally - Fleet 77 Dr. Bob Jackman - Fleet 495 Tom Leger - District 1 Winter 2016

2015 Snipe District 2 Regatta Series District 2 is a big district with fleets in Texas, Kansas, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Iowa, and Colorado. To travel to a regatta often means you have a 12 hour drive in front of you. To encourage more participation in the regattas hosted by the many clubs around the district, District 2 started the Best Fleet Award. Five of the District 2 regattas were selected from May to September to be included in the series. Mary Buckley, of the Lincoln fleet, developed a scoring system to encourage boats to attend the regattas. Every boat that attended was able to earn points for their fleet, regardless of where they finished.

The 2015 regatta series attracted 47 skippers and over 60 crew members. The largest regatta was the Firewater in Lincoln with 20 boats and the average regatta attracted 15 boats. The Bow Mar Yacht Club, fleet 640, just managed to beat Dallas fleet number 1 for the Best Fleet Award. A summary of the results are below. The higher the fleet score, the better.

Regattas

Bow Mar

Dallas

Rky Mtn

INAS

Lincoln

Wichita

Windycrest

Houston

1.

Southwestern

8

28

0

0

0

0

0

0

2.

Firewater

48

36

0

41

50

15

0

0

3.

Norm Tanner

44

17

30

0

0

0

0

0

4.

Rocky Mtn Champs

34

45

60

0

14

0

0

0

5.

Missouri Valley Champs

15

17

7

55

26

0

0

0

149

143

97

96

90

15

0

0

Total

Since the Bow Mar Yacht Club won the Best Fleet Award for the first year, it was tasked to come up with a trophy. The trophy was designed by commodore Mike Slouka and built by Fantastic Sailing Trophies in Australia. The trophy has several boats on it to represent the fleet that helped win the award. The photos below show the trophy and some of the fleet members that participated in the win.

Winter 2016

2

Bow Mar also decided to further encourage boats to participate in all the District 2 Series regattas, by awarding a trophy to the top skipper in the District 2 Series. Martin Bebb and Steve Tautz were the only skippers to make all five regattas this year. The hope is that next year there will be more incentive to go to all the regattas.

Place

Skipper

Southwestern

Firewater

Bow Mar

Rky Mnt

Missouri

Total

1

Steve Tautz

1

2

1

1

1

6

2

Martin Bebb

7

3

7

2

8

27

3

Gene Soltero

2

1

4

5

16

28

4

Pat Flood

9

4

15

18

3

49

5

Mike Slouka

9

6

10

8

16

49

The photo below shows the winning skipper trophy. The trophy has the District map with some of the more active fleets shown.

District 2 welcomes all sailors and is working to bring the Snipe sailing family together to build life time relationships. At the fleet level the sailing might not be so serious but we are having serious fun so come join us in 2016.

Florida State Championship/SCIRA USA WHO Qualifier St. Petersburg Yacht Club, St. Petersburg, FL November 20-22, 2015

Florida State Championship Racing

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19

3

USA 31130 USA 30282 USA 2944 USA 29442 USA 8653 USA 30027 USA 30473 USA 29781 USA 28814 USA 30288 USA 30904 USA 29782 USA 29681 USA 25721 USA 30281 USA 28470 USA 29324 USA 29963 USA 26763

Ernesto Rodriguez 1-1-5 7 Cara Vavolotis 2-6-6 14 Carol Cronin 4-7-4 15 Peter Committe 6-10-1 17 Hal Gilreath 3-5-11 19 Jensen McTighe 5-2-13 20 Arthur Blodgett 11-9-2 22 Sean Cornell 8-3-12 23 Nicholas Voss 10-13-3 26 Kathleen Tocke 7-11-8 26 Lee Griffith 9-8-9 26 Zack Kelchner 13-4-14 31 Kristen Walker 15-17-7 39 Benjamin Mohney 14-15-10 39 Andre Guaragna 12-12-OCS44 Stephan Irgens 17-14-15 46 Chris Klotz 16-16-16 48 W. Steve Lang 18-18-17 53 Kristen Herman DNC-DNC-DNC60

18 Snipes sailed out to the starting line Friday morning in St. Petersburg, Florida in a nice 9-12 knot northeasterly. For many, it was the first view of an empty St. Pete Pier (here’s a link to the time lapse of the demolition: https://www.squaremouth.com/st-petersburgpier-cam/). Otherwise, Tampa Bay delivered its familiar challenges: square waves, shifty winds, and seaweed patches.

From the results, it looks like Ernesto Rodrigues/Eddie Mintzias have it all figured out, but what they have is the speed to come back when needed. Otherwise only nine points separate 2nd from 8th place, and with five more races planned over the next two days there’s a lot more work to do.

After happy hour at the tiki bar, the fleet enjoyed a grill night dinner on the front deck of the St. Petersburg Yacht Club.

Saturday dawned with no wind, and stayed that way all day robbing the fleet of any chance of racing. To try and get back on schedule the Race Committee moved up the start time for Sunday morning.

In spite of the race committee’s best attempts (and the fleet sitting through a quick rainstorm), the breeze never stabilized enough to complete any additional racing on Sunday, so Friday’s results stand.

Congratulations to Florida State champions Ernesto Rodriguez and Eddie Mintzias, who have earned the right to go to the 2016 Western Hemisphere and Orient Championship in Cabo Frio, Brazil!

Winter 2016

SCIRA USwww.snipeusa.com Racing Calendar Month

Date

Jan Jan Jan Feb March March March April May May May June June June June July August August August August Sept Sept Sept Oct Oct Oct Oct

23-24 23-24 30-31 27-28 13-15 18-20 27-28 9-10 7 21-22 29 3-5 11-12 18-19 25-26 9-10 7-8 13-14 20-21 27-28 3-4 14-17 17-18 1-2 15-16 29-30 29-30

Event

Gaspar Regatta Las Vegas Regatta Comodoro Rasco Georgia State Championship Midwinters 50th Don Q Rum Keg Ironman Regatta Earl Elms Memorial Regatta Ron Payne Memorial Ocean Race Herb Shear Memorial Goombay Regatta North Americans/Colonial Cup Atlantic Coast Championships Jr Atlantic Coast Champs Whittemore St John Winchester Invitational Make-a-Wish Oxford One Design Briody Board of Governors Florida Juniors US Nationals Mystic Lake Open Frigid Digit Southerns Halloween Regatta Carolyn Nute Memorial

SCIRA USA Gift Membership Program Membership is good for the class as well as for new Snipers.

So how about giving a year’s membership to your crew or interested junior or friend as a year-end holiday gift? It is simple and sure to be remembered all year long with each Snipe Bulletin. And by clicking on the box when on-line ordering, the recipient will receive a card notifying him/her of the gift. It’s a great way to help spread the joy of serious sailing, serious fun! https://snipeusa.com/joinrenew-online/

Winter 2016

Host

St Petersburg YC Mission Bay YC Miami, Coconut Grove SC Valdosta YC, Lake Park, GA Clearwater, Florida Miami, Coconut Grove SC Birmingham SC, Birmingham, AL Mission Bay YC Lauderdale YC, Ft. Lauderdale, FL Mission Bay YC Miami, Coconut Grove SC Severn SA, Annapolis, MD Surf City YC, Surf City, NJ Severn SA, Annapolis, MD Quassapaug SC, Middlebury, CT Winchester BC, Winchester, MA Cottage Pare YC, Winthrop, MA Oxford, MD Newport YC, Rochester, NY Quassapaug SC, Middlebury, CT Coconut Grove SC, Miami, FL Rush Creek YC, Rockwall, TX Medford BC, Medford, MA Severn SA, Annapolis, MD Birmingham SC, Birmingham, AL Atlanta YC, Acworth, GA Mission Bay YC