ELEVENTH ANNUAL SNIPE

December 28 - 30, 1997
St. Petersburg Yacht Club

Bill Welch's Report | Pictures | Results | St. Petersburg Times Article

All of those who came to St. Pete to play volleyball this D.O.W., went home disappointed. The weather was terrible for volleyball but quite good for sailing. Twenty three boats participated; a small fleet for DOW, but rich with talent. Saturday was for practice sailing; it was chilly, with a high of only 55° F for the day. The water was warmer than the air at 66° F, and the wind a steady 12-15 kts. The crowd gathered at the yacht club for a burger, early registration, and a hook up with their local housing. Sunday morning, was overcast and a bit colder, but it was up to 55° by race time. The wind was shifty from the north at 6-10 kts. The current was coming in after an extreme low tide, so the committee boat swung it's stern into the wind for the start. The committee, including Pat & Ralph Seidenspinner, Id & Ann Crook, Carole & Paul Bardes, Ken & Barbara Cowan, and Tom Farquar, had a handful keeping up with the shifts, and had to change the windward mark with every leg. The current was pushing the aggressive fleet over the line, but everyone caught on after a general recall and the races were on. Half way up the windward leg the fleet encountered a river of outgoing tide that meandered through the race course all day. This made the decision of selecting a favored side of the course either very easy or very difficult, depending on who you spoke to later in the bar! There were great variances in the wind strength, and big shifts, that were very difficult to see on the water. Those that went right won big the first leg, and the fleet was spread out. Three Olympic triangles were completed for the day, and the Italian buffet commenced at SPYC. The party was over by 11 pm, with all competitors charging home for their beauty sleep, with 20-25 predicted for Monday's races.

Monday dawned partly cloudy and cold (for Florida) again, with only about 8 knots of breeze. By 8 am it was blowing 30-35 with gale warnings forecast. Wisely, races were abandoned for the day and a group of snipers banded together for a trip to the TITANIC exhibit at the Florida International Museum and lunch afterwards. The Monday evening party at Lawren and George Louli's house was not abandondoned however, and the gang made their way to a terrific dinner, videos, and standard Snipe camaraderie, with much discussion regarding Tuesday's forecast of more big breeze.

Tuesday arrived with big breeze, but definitely sailable, at 18-20 with higher puffs (usually near the jibe mark!), still cold, but the sun was finally shining. The sun did little to improve the wind enhanced chill factor, and most competitors wore everything they had brought with them to the sailing center, and whatever extra they could borrow. Quite a few elected to sit out the last day, because of the temp and the wind velocity; some locals went to work, some out of towners packed up boats. The group that sailed was treated to some great rides on the reaches and some hard hiking upwind. Two triangle courses were sailed; the shifts were still a big factor, the incoming tide much less so. Ethan Bixby dominated the heavy air day, leading most of both races, but giving up the last race to Woody Norwood by a couple of boat lengths on the last beat. Birger Jansen was always at the top of the pack, keeping his points nice and low, to take the trophy for the first time after eight years of attendance. Woody and Ethan both took a hard hit on day one, each missing a big shift in one of the three races of the day, and getting stuck with a big number to score. They fought their way up from foruth and fifth respectively, at the end of day one, to second and third in the still shifty but big wind of Tuesday morning. John Sepanski sailed a consistently nice regatta to finish fourth overall. New local snipe sailors, Mitchell and Kirsten Rogers, rounded out the trophies in fifth place. Just out of the money, were new Snipers Allan Carscaddon and Tim Forderer - keep an eye on these new guys!

Of course, there is a STORY at every regatta. Woody had arrived at DOW crewless, but clueless of the fact. His crew was among the Carroll family, who ended up in a pile up on I-75. The people and the Snipe all survived the crash o.k., but the car was totaled. John Hill, who was also depending on the Carroll clan for a crew, just happened to drive by the crash site, saw the Snipe, pulled over and grabbed his crew from the melee, and continued on south. The Carrolls called later, during the registration party, to inform Woody of his crewless status. The search for local crew was on; but with the work week claiming many locals and the "Orange Bowl" regatta in Miami stealing all of the students, the pickings were slim. But Woody, being the lucky devil he is, got local sniper John Hagman to race with him on Sunday (he had to work Mon & Tues) and "once upon a time" sniper, Christian Obenshain, home from college, to sail with him on Tuesday. Both of them are top of the line skippers and as it turns out, dynamite crew. And Christian's 175 pounds didn't hurt one bit on our breezy Tuesday!

Speaking of crewless, a few tough souls stuck it out to New Years Eve day, to race in the second annual "CREWLESS IN ST. PETE" . The wind was predicted to build all day, but at the 10:00 a.m. skipper's meeting, a nice 10 knot breeze was blowing, with warm (finally) sunshine and a bright blue sky. A perfect race day! The R.C. ran four short (the boys couldn't have stood courses any longer!) modified olympics (split weather leg, open gate, downwind finish) giving them a single throw-out. Woody took advantage of the throw-out race right off. A little mishap (not Woody's) caused an unscheduled tack with about thirty seconds to go before the first start. With puffs to 12, a sudden backwinding with cleated sails is a very nasty thing. Oh, for a crew at a time like this! Woody ended up with a slow motion capsize, which got rather damp before it was all settled. John Sepanski missed the first shift of the day, putting him in catch-up faze, but better off than Woody. Gary Beck was doing great, looking like a second place finish, except that he forgot to finish downwind, and kept on going, giving the second place spot to Tim Forderer that race. Colin Park, another new Sniper fresh from the Lighting fleet, decided he was not going to be able to hold down the snipe at his weight (145, dripping wet) and sailed some very nice races with just the main, but with the jib rolled neatly on deck and ready to go, just in case the wind eased up. Matt Bryant had a couple of real nice starts, but just couldn't seem to get up to speed. Painfully, he finally noticed he was sitting VERY low in the water. Not only was he crewless, he was plugless.

By the time the third race rolled around the boys remaining on the course were hitting their strides. Some very bold mark roundings ensued, with all except the jibless entry looking like one armed paper hangers at the leeward mark (of course they all carried the boards and poles till the last second!). New Sniper, Tim Forderer was consistently 2nd across the line. Local, Chris Klotz, was consistently first around the track winning CREWLESS IN ST. PETE, and having his name engraved on " The Captain Bligh Admiration Cup" (which isn't really a cup at all, but a mounted belaying pin from the HMS BOUNTY). This helped a bit to take the sting out of retiring from the DOW regatta in second position at the end of the first day, due to an unyielding work schedule on Monday and Tuesday. The competitors retired to the SPYC bar for the trophy presentation, still crewless, for the most part.

But the crews and most of the competitors turned up Wednesday night at the Welch's boat for partytime and New Year's Eve fireworks. THE BLENDER was in high gear for the entire evening, at least until the champagne began to flow at midnight. The party continued New Year's day at the Bryant's Open House; most had departed for parts north, but the few most hardy partyers, including the Canadian snipe connection, the Crooks, the Bermuda Snipe connection, the Pitmans, and the Norwegian snipe connection, Birger Jansen and crew Liv Ulveie, were there to keep up appearances and do their part to represent all the other "visitors" at DOW. The locals, even those who had to work Monday - Wednesday found their way to the party. If this sounds like a party regatta to you, it's true. We even throw in an occasional volleyball tournament, and sometimes, some really great racing! Be here next year!

Photos courtesy of Dennis Kelly and Sherry Welch, scanning by Bill Welch

Final Results

Pos Sail# Helmsman Crew Race 1 Race 2 Race 3 Race 4 Race 5 TotPts Pos
1 NOR 29210 Jansen Ulveie 7 3 0.75 2 3 15.75 1
2 USA 29200 Norwood Obenshain/Hagman 10 2 3 3 0.75 18.75 2
3 USA 25948 Bixby Bixby/ Welch 2 5 12 0.75 2 21.75 3
4 USA 29017 Sepanski Stahl 3 6 4 5 4 22.00 4
5 USA 27231 Rogers Rogers 12 7 2 4 7 32.00 5
6 USA 28142 Carscaddon Bradley 15 0.75 5 10 6 36.75 6
7 USA 28361 Forderer Szambecki 16 8 6 7 5 42.00 7
8 USA 23971 Hull Batchelor 11 11 16 8 9 55.00 8
9 USA 30000 Beck Ehrhart 4 13 9 9 24DNF 59.00 9
10 USA 27270 Klotz Louli 0.75 4 8 24DNC 24DNC 60.75 10
11 USA 27273 Mendelblatt Jacobson 8 24OCS 7 12 10 61.00 11
12 USA 25128 Bryant Bryant 18 16 15 6 8 63.00 12
13 USA 27380 Park Park 6 10 13 24DNC 24DNC 77.00 13
14 USA 14888 Pitman Pitman 13 9 10 24DNC 24DNC 80.00 14
15 USA 28628 Hill Carroll 20 17 24DNC 11 11 83.00 15
16 USA 24020 Parks Robertson 9 15 14 24DNC 24DNC 86.00 16
17 USA 27772 Welch Rogers 14 14 11 24DNF 24DNC 87.00 17
18 USA 27253 Linehan Johnson 5 24DNC 24DNC 24DNC 24DNC 101.00 18
19 USA 28045 Lang Lang 17 12 24DNF 24DNC 24DNC 101.00 19
20 USA 25951 McCoy McCoy 19 18 24DNC 24DNC 24DNC 109.00 20
21 USA 27271 Lang Logan 21 24DNC 24DNC 24DNC 24DNC 117.00 21
22 USA 25172 Hackstaff Hackstaff 24DNC 24DNC 24DNC 24DNF 24DNC 120.00 22
23 USA 24600 Andraitis Keeler 24DNC 24DNC 24DNC 24DNC 24DNC 120.00 23

Jansen Ends Regatta Drought
By DORAN CUSHING

©St. Petersburg Times, published December 31, 1997
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Birger Jansen has been coming from Norway to the United States to compete in regattas for 12 years -- including numerous trips to St. Petersburg -- and he finally will go home the winner after capturing top honors at the Snipe Dead of Winter Regatta, which concluded Tuesday.

"I have been here eight times. This is the first time we've won it," Jansen said.

Sherry Welch, filling a dual role as race chairwoman and crew on the final day of the regatta, said, "He's been a bridesmaid here many times. And he's sailing with new crew.'"

Racing with Jansen was Liv Ulveie, a downhill skier who began sailing only last summer in Norway.

Woody Norwood's team finished second, three points behind Jansen after five races. Sharing the crew job with Norwood were John Hagman and Christian Obenshain.

Ethan Bixby finished third with crew responsibilities shared by Trudy Bixby and Welch.

The three-day regatta opened Sunday with mild weather but not much wind. Three races were completed, but the light and shifty breezes often turned the tactical elements of sailing into a crap shoot. Some sailors were more lucky than others.

Jansen and Ulveie turned in their worst finish in the first race, seventh place, but ended the day with a win and the lead in the regatta. Monday's violent winds sank all hopes of racing, so instead many of the sailors visited the Titanic exhibit.

The final day presented a challenge for most of the fleet as winds gusted close to 30 knots on the course. Race safety worker Dave Ellis said: "Just before the start of the second race, the water turned white. The wind was measured at 27 knots."

The wind dropped almost immediately, but it stayed in the teens for most of the race. Half the fleet elected not to sail the final race because of the cold and wind. Returning to the dock early after a capsize, a wet but smiling Gordon Hackstaff said, "We've had enough fun."

Snipe Dead of Winter

1. B Jansen/L Ulveie 15.75; 2. W Norwood/J Hagman-C Obenshain 18.75; 3. E Bixby/T Bixby-S Welch 21.75; 4. J Sepanski/C Stahl 22; 5. M Rogers/K Rogers 32; 6. A Carscaddon/E Bradley 36.75; 7. T Forderer/S Szambecki 42; 8. D Hull/T Batchelor 55; 9. G Beck/J Ehrhart 59; 10. C Klotz/L Louli 60.75; 11.D Mendelblatt/C Jacobson 61; 12. M Bryant/L Bryant 13. C Park/K Park 77;14. R Pitman/N Pitman 80; 15. J Hill/S Carroll 83; 16. T Parks/B Robertson 86; 17. B Welch/A Rogers 87; 18. C Linehan/B Johnson 101; 19. S Lang/D Lang101; 20. T McCoy/M McCoy 109; 21. S Lang/M Logan 117


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