2022 Snipe World Championship at Clube Naval de Cascais - Day 2
by Jerelyn Biehl 22 Aug 14:18 PDT
21-25 August 2022
2022 Snipe World Championship day 2 © Matias Capizzano /
www.capizzano.com
Day 2 of the Snipe World Championship in Cascais, Portugal started with a delayed starting time, giving the sailors some time to reserve energy. As the sailors set off for the race course, the wind was light leaving the harbour, but began to build steadily with big shifts, causing the Race Committee to move the course 3 times to find suitable conditions for racing.
After 2 hours, the sequence began in 18 knots with the RC signaling a double triangle course, as recommended by the Snipe Class rules. The fleet started with the competitors headed to the weather mark and with the 2 Cuban teams caught on the course side. At the weather mark, 2001 World Champion Alexandre Paradeda/Gabriel Kieling (BRA) were revelling in the heavy conditions closely followed by the Belgian team of Sam & Daan Vandormael with 2009 & 2013 World Champions Bruno Bethlem & Dante Bianchi hot on their transom. The majority of teams chose not to put the whisker pole out due to the heavy wind.
With puffs to 20 knots, the sailors cracked off and flew to the reach mark with great speed with Bethlem/Bianchi moving into 2nd by the bottom mark and Alfredo Gonzalez & Cristian Sanchez (ESP) rounding in 4th followed by yesterday's race 2 winner Victor Perez Campos/Enric Noguera (ESP) in 5th. Large waves and big puffs challenged many but the top teams pushed harder. By the last leg, Paradeda/Kieling showed their experience winning with ease and countrymen Bethlem/Bianchi following close behind for 2nd.
Paradeda commented, "Today we had a very good start and managed to defend the right side that was favored. We managed to round the first mark in first place and when we saw that other Brazilians (Bethlem/Bianchi) put their pole out, we did it too, although the conditions were hard, but we managed to stay in front." The wind continued to increase and the Race Committee decided to send the competitors in for the day.
The new leader is Alfredo Gonzalez and Cristian Sanchez (ESP) who have sailed a consistent 4-9-3 to put them atop the leaderboard. Henrique Haddad/Gustavo Nascimento (BRA) posted a 6-14-8, Americans Enrique Quintero and Charlie Bess moved into 3rd overall with a 14-8-9, Perez Campos and Noguera move into 4th with a 27-1-5 and yesterday's leaders Mario Sergio de Jesus and Henrique Wisneiwski (BRA) falling to 5th overall due to a check-in failure when arriving back to shore.
Gonzalez commented when asked about their secret to success, "We are sailing in a new boat design and I'm very happy with our team including our coach Carlos Llamas (1992 & 1978 European Snipe champion) who has been working a lot with the settings of the boat and it's showing in our results." He further commented, "I had previously sailed in Cascais while doing an Olympic campaign in the 470 and I really like the championship here in Cascais. I love the race area and I have some local knowledge from sailing here as well as we have a lot of wind in Lanzarote, so I'm happy and comfortable with these type of conditions."
The championship continues tomorrow with two races scheduled and the possibility of a third since the schedule is behind one race. The discard does not factor in until 7 races are completed. The wind forecast for the remainder of the week looks to be more manageable. The final races scheduled for Thursday, August 25.
Provisional results can be found here...