2015 Snipe Junior World Championship – Heavy seas on Day 4

by Tessa Wiechmann on 17 Sep 2015 Cloudy skies, heavy seas and winds gusting well above 20 knots set the scene of the fourth day of racing at the Snipe Junior World Championship underway in Talamone. After five races with no discard, the provisional scoreboard sees Montoya-Cuenca (ESP) in the lead at 19 pts, followed by Meotto-Cassandro (ITA) at 27 points and by Noguera-Vallespir (ESP) in third place at 28 points. Winners of the day Sugiyama-Oki from Japan who are fifth overall with 30 points.

In the morning, after checking the sea and weather conditions in what is known as Snipe Bay, the Race Committee decided to hoist the postponement flag ashore and the 36 crews from 11 nations waited patiently for the wind to abate, lounging at the race village, inspecting equipment and walking along the pier of the ancient Etruscan harbor in Maremma.

When all hope of racing for the day seemed lost, at 4.30 p.m. the crews were called onto the water. Race Committee President Fabio Barrasso fired the gun for Race five of the Snipe Junior World Championship at 5.30 p.m. with wind measured at 18-20 knots, the triangle course set for 145 degrees and windward mark at 1.25 nautical miles from the starting line.

The first windward leg was quite a bouncy affair with a short 1,5 meter chop to tack through as the split fleet weaved its way up to mark one. On the first reach Italian Meotto-Cassandro are in the lead followed by Vergara-Alvarez (ESP) and by Pittani-Crevatin (ITA) and increase their margin at the leeward mark just off the walled town of Talamone. Up the second beat, the fleet favors the left side of the course sailing along the pristine beaches of La Giannella. Italian crew Meotto-Cassandro are still firmly in the lead with Sugiyama-Oki (JPN) in hot pursuit and Spaniards Noguera-Vallespir in third position.

Just when victory seemed within grasp, the Italians of ITA 29554 capsize at the end of the reach, in front of the Torre dell’Osa, an ancient tower in the Parco dell’Uccellina. Japanese team Sugiyama-Oki manage to overtake them and cross the finish line first, winning race five. Italian Meotto-Cassandro are quick to recover and try to close the gap during the last run, finishing in second place. Third on the finish line Noguera-Vallespir (ESP). The soaking, exhausted, grinning young sailors returned to shore a little before eight p.m., just in time to shower and change for the Junior Gala Dinner organized by the Circolo della Vela Talamone.

The Snipe World Championship is hosted by the Circolo della Vela Talamone in Tuscany and will take place from the 19th to the 26th of September 2015. Eighty-three teams from eighteen nations have entered the regatta. It is preceded by the Snipe Junior World Championship which will end on 18 September 2015.

The 2015 Snipe World Championship is organized by the Circolo della Vela Talamone, in partnership with: Rete IVO, DB Marine, Olimpic Sails, Viaggi Vacanze, Zeurino Barche, Nautica Toni, Autonautica Diglio, Consorzio LaMMA, VittoRomo IT, Paolo Cardoni, and Matteo Semprini Cesari.