Snipe is cool

I think it's really a shame that in Italy the Snipe is not considered a great boat for young people. Personally I believe (and this is supported by the certainty of direct evidence) that the Snipe is a highly instructive boat for everyone, and especially for young people. The reasons that young athletes choose a new boat for competitive racing are very diverse. You choose a boat that is more cool than others, or because you have many friends who sail it, or because the National Federation (FIV) has invested in a certain class, or because your favorite coach advises you in a certain way, or because you post good results in a certain type of boat.... As the Federal youth program is currently conceived, organized, and managed, I think a kid who wants to show off himself, unfortunately, has very few boats on which to compete.

Snipe is cool Image

I think it’s really a shame that in Italy the Snipe is not considered a great boat for young people. Personally I believe (and this is supported by the certainty of direct evidence) that the Snipe is a highly instructive boat for everyone, and especially for young people.

The reasons that young athletes choose a new boat for competitive racing are very diverse. You choose a boat that is more cool than others, or because you have many friends who sail it, or because the National Federation (FIV) has invested in a certain class, or because your favorite coach advises you in a certain way, or because you post good results in a certain type of boat…. As the Federal youth program is currently conceived, organized, and managed, I think a kid who wants to show off himself, unfortunately, has very few boats on which to compete.

Almost all students start sailing in the Optimist. By 13-14 years old with the help of club coaches, FIV coaches or directors, and perhaps inspired by advice that comes from fellow young crews, the kids make their first choices in the sailing world:

Laser Radial 4.7 and then Laser Radial

If you like sailing by yourself and you have a strong body

L’Equipe and 420 (planing boats with spinnaker)

If you’re more lightweight and if you are not “afraid” to sail with a friend

29er (acrobatic boats with gennaker)

If you want to go really fast

(I omit for obvious reasons of context wind-surfing, multihulls, kite-surfing and match racing.)

If the main goal for every young sailor is to excel in the Olympic classes, the next choice is usually, but not always, obvious: singlehanded sailors will choose the Laser for males and Radial for females. For planing boats with spinnaker, the choice is the 470, and for acrobatic boats with gennaker it will be the 49er.

The Italian junior program or “growth chain” needs a different type of boat to widen the instruction for our kids, and a displacement boat like the Snipe is perfect. Why?

The Snipe is part of the family of boats like the Star, Finn, one design keelboats or (for bigger sizes) offshore boats where set up, adjustments, boat handling, and tactics become essential not only fro winning but sometimes, like on the Snipe, even for surviving.

This is the reason why the boat is so educational for young people. Unlike most of the other dinghies, the Snipe team’s weight is often less than the weight of the boat. Boat + crew can reach and often exceed 300 Kg. Very different from skiffs or Lasers!

You can imagine what this means sailing in waves. The increased weight (while reducing pure speed and acceleration) creates momentum, which allows for tacking and jibing without losing much speed. It’s quite common to see teams in important regattas tacking and jibing continuously on wind shifts of even a few degrees! Definitely this teaches all of us to pay close attention.

The Snipe needs a team of 115-140 kg, and a kid of 14-15 years old can already weigh 55-65 kg. Female teams can achieve the necessary size at an older age.

Unfortunately in Italy the Snipe is not considered a youth class. To change this we need to invest time and energy. Inside the FIV and also amongcoaches and trainers the Snipe is seen as class for adult and mature sailors, perhaps a class for former champions; this suggests a niche activity, even though it is well-rooted in many regions. The inherent qualities of the boat are often ignored. Teams under 25 years old are rare, and even more rare are junior teams.

Can the Snipe get closer to the youth sailors? That is the question.

Prior to identifying strategies and recommending possible actions to promote the Snipe as a youth class, I made an initial list of pros and cons of the Snipe:

PROS

CONS

 

 

It is a lasting boat

High price for new boats

The Class has a good second hand market

Lack of young sailors

Class Rules protect the equality of the boats

 

Activity not so visible in Italy

The Class is composed of good sailors who are available to help new sailors

The FIV ignores the youth activity in the Snipe

It is an international class widespread on many continents

It is not popular in all Italian sailing clubs

It is well organized in fleets

It is little known among coaches and trainers

It has a busy racing schedule

It is heavy for towing and launching

It ha a ranking list for selecting for the main events

 

The boat allows a wide range of crew size

 

The Class has good and updated nationals and international web sites

 

To achieve the goal of reinvigorating the class by trying to attract youth sailors, I believe we need a program that develops over a period of at least 5 years. The first 2 years should be devoted to preparatory work and remodeling the “cons” along with publicity and emphasis of those “pros” listed above. The next 3 years we should also work to further develop and consolidate the new strategy.

I would begin immediately, with great modesty and a touch of arrogance, by suggesting the following concrete actions:

•          Register Juniors in the Italian class for free (apart from insurance RCT)

•          Cover the registration fee for Junior teams to the national regattas and possibly to more races on the calendar

•          Appoint a director for the junior program inside the Class in support of the National Secretary, who will closely follow the development of a program for youth activities

•          Propose a set of gadgets (t-shirts, stickers, hats, bags, …) with the message “Snipe is cool” or similar

•          Collaboration of the Class to all FIV Under 16 regional meetings for multi class

•          Make the boat known to the FIV and clubs coaches and trainers

•          Once we have established the presence of junior teams, try to become part of the FIV under 19 preparation program and related meetings

•          Assist Junior teams (also from other classes) with international regattas, organizing transportation, van, trailers, coach, RIB

•          Make 3 boats owned by SCIRA Italy or boatbuilders available so the Junior teams can sail for free

•          Include specific content designed to attract kids on the class website

•          Encourage regional secretaries and fleet captains to develop a junior program with prizes to the fleets that invest in these programs. Also assign a National regatta to the best junior-supporting fleet as a prize

•          Encourage each fleet to have a tutor that supports the junior program

•          Ask owners of rarely used boats to loan them to junior teams of the club

•          Schedule the Junior Nationals the days before Senior Nationals. Offer technical and economic support as special prizes for the juniors

•          During winter regattas, local regattas, etc, invite Junior teams from other classes to race a Snipe

•          Promote the Class with quotes from champions saying why they sail the Snipe

•          Inform people in other countries about our junior activity (i.e. Spain, USA, South America or Japan)

•          Improve communications between the Class and FIV, other sailing media

•          Post on youtube and on the SCIRA Italy website video about technique, and interviews during regattas

•          Produce cool photos and videos and post them on the internet.

Finally, all of us were and are lucky to be sailing and racing Snipes and we know that the Snipe is fantastic. We have to make that known in an organized and coordinated way to the kids. It’s an effort that surely will not hurt the rest of the class.

Buon vento!

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1 comment

GIUSEPPE 65
02/27/2012 -

Ciao Alessandro!
Condivido pienamente le tue considerazioni riguardo la nostra Classe, ma soprattutto ammiro il fatto che appartieni a quella preziosa categoria di persone (ormai in via d'estinzione), che si adoperano per la diffusione dello Snipe con puntuale ed instancabile concretezza.
Per questo, te ne siamo tutti, infinitamente grati.
Questa volta sì, posso parlare a nome di tutti!!

Giuseppe Prosperi.

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