2007 Snipe World Championship, Oporto Portugal

Tomas Hornos/Enrique Quintero Snipe World Champions

The North-American Tomas Hornos/Enrique Quintero are the new Snipe World Champions. The TMN Snipe World Championship's most outstanding feature was the hard sailing conditions allowing only three races to take place. Diogo Cayolla/Rui Castilho were the highest ranking Portuguese, finishing the Championship in 7th.

At last the wind showed up for the Championship and allowed the realisation of a desperately needed third race, hence ratifying the World Championship. The effort of the Race Committee finally paid off after waiting since 08 am. A total of 57 crews, representing 18 countries raced, raced today at Leixões.

Tomas Hornos/Enrique Quintero, from the United States, prooved to be the strongest, succeeding their compatriots Augie Diaz/Mark Ivey, the latter finishing the championship in 4th. In fact, the North-American fleet showed their might on the last race by having three crews among the first 4 at the finish line, with the crew Peter Commette/Sheehan Commette, winning bronze. Horno, turning 19 today ,had a very special anniversary.

The Portuguese also made good use of this last race. Diogo Cayolla/Rui Castilho and Gonçalo Guerra/Tiago Guerra, finished the TMN Snipe World Championship in 7th and 9th, respectively. They ended up making it clear that, had the Championship race schedule been kept, they could have made better rankings.

"It is an honour and a privilege to conquer the title. The light shifty winds we got are our preference, favouring us. On this last race, because we have a good speed, we managed to cover our closest adversaries till the end",
Tomas Hornos, New Snipe World Champion

"I'm still in shock. We didn't expect this outcome because just starting to sail together. At most we were hoping to make the top 20 because we sort of looked at the regatta as an opportunity to practice together",
Enrique Quintero, New Snipe World Champion

"It was a good result, considering that I haven't competed on any World or European championships for a few years and particularly since I qualified for this one in extremis. Weather did not help, making it a difficult Championship given the weak winds. Overall, ranking wasn't half bad for the Portuguese team. The organisation of the Clube de Vela Atlântico deserves to be congratulated an so should the Race Committee, recognising the relentless effort they put in validating the Championship",
Gonçalo Guerra, ranking 9th

"It must have been the hardest World Championship ever. The sailors are satisfied, the organisation was excellent and the Race Committee was unrelenting. Overall it was a very good championship, showing that Portugal is fully able to cope with organising major events. The weather was unfortunate since there is no memory of Leixões having a whole weak without wind. It's easier to do indoor competitions but we also treasure our wind and sea and, fortunately, all ended well".
Miguel Lopes Cardoso, Chairman of the TMN Snipe World Championship

Overall Results

1. Tomas Hornos/Enrique Quintero – United States
2. Kenji Abe/Hiroshi Yamachica – Japan
3. Peter Commette/Sheehan Commette – United States
4. Augie Diaz/ Mark Ivey – United States
5. Pablo Defazio/Eduardo Medici - Uruguay
6. Bart Bomans/Jill Ponet – Belgium
7. Diogo Cayolla/Rui Castilho – Portugal
8. Brian Bissell / Danny Pletsch – United States
9. Gonçalo Guerra/Tiago Guerra – Portugal
10. Pablo Fresneda/César Travado – Spain
11. Tiago Roquette/José Távora – Portugal
12. Martinho Fortunato/Tiago Marcelino – Portugal
13. Diogo Talone/Pedro Pintão – Portugal
14. Joaquim Moreira/Ana Champalimaud – Portugal

View the full results or the regatta website.