The Strength of the Snipe Class

More than 32000 boats have been built since 1931, when the naval architect Bill Crosby published the plans of the Snipe on the magazine “The Rudder”. In 1932 the Snipe Class International Racing Association was formed. As someone noticed, this means almost one boat built per day.

Many classes have been born and died within a few decades or a few years.

Especially in recent recent years, companies with big economic resources (compared with class associations budgets) invested a lot in marketing and media promotion. They launched new captivating models that have seen a quick growth and an equally fast disappearance. Why? Usually because these boat builders moved their interest to promote and sell a new model/class, not to promote a real class association.

It is quite interesting to look at the List of Sailing Boat types on Wikipedia (which is probably incomplete) and at this other list of classes designed before 1960. So many classes, some totally unknown and some forgotten.

There are few classes with a story like the Snipe, still with a lively racing activity: Star, Dragon, Lightning, Finn, Contender, Europe, FD, 420, Optimist and some others, normally located in a specific geographical area.

These are all one-design boats. What does one-design mean? According to US Sailing. “One design is a form of racing where all boats are virtually identical or similar in design. Class-legal boats race each other without any handicap calculations, start at the same time, and the winner is the first to cross the finish line. “

Having a rigid one-design specification keeps design experimentation to a minimum and reduces cost of ownership.

In reality there are two different meanings of one-design. In the first meaning (and it is our case … fortunately), the one-design boats are linked to a class organization, which emanates the class rules, with strict technical specifications and narrow tolerances; in the second meaning the tolerances are specified in a confidential Building Specification and often everything is designed and produced at the same factory or a very few factories (licensees).

In the first case there is a strong and well organized class organization, with class rules and other rules to manage the organization (i.e. constitution and by-laws) and the regattas (rules of conduct, deed of gifts). Potentially anyone can build boats, or produce sails, masts and other equipment respecting the class rules. There is no monopoly or a closed list of licensees. The changes to the class rules and other rules are approved in the interest of class members.

In the second case, the company/boat builder who designs, builds and sells the boat is the main actor on the scene. There are no class rules written to allow participation and competition between different boat builders or sailmakers. Without mentioning specific classes or boat builders, some negative situations are known, with changes in the denomination of a class, controversies for royalties, for violation of the European antitrust law, cheating and problems on boats modified by unauthorized boat builders, etc.

The strength of the Snipe Class

The Snipe Class has boat builders and sailmakers in all the continents where there are Snipe sailors (North and South America, Europe and Asia). In the last three Senior World Championships (2019, 2022, 2024) we had three different winning boat builders and three different sailmakers.

There is a Technical Committee and there is an International Board that have introduced gradual changes in the Class Rules, balancing the innovation and stability of the rules. Materials, weights have changed, but the Snipe has remained a popular, not expensive boat in many regions of the world, for juniors, women, master, seniors with different sailing skills, for families or Olympians, for club regattas or super competitive international events.

The object is “To promote racing of sailboats of the International Snipe Class properly regulated to ensure that all boats have identical racing capabilities to as great a degree as possible.” “Constitution, Section 3).

The class is organized in fleets, districts, countries and hemispheres, so the sailing activities can be held in different region, according to the needs and peculiarities of each of them. At the end the class member is a sailor (not a client of a company), part of a large community of sailors, who want a fair competition with other sailors. The boat/class is “just” the tool to guarantee fair competition. The most important tool.

And you, what do you think? What is the strength of the Snipe Class? What are its weaknesses? How can the Snipe Class remain competitive and attractive in a sailing world that is changing quickly?

Note: The “Exchange of Views and Reading” section of this website hosts the views of the Snipe Sailors.

This article represents a personal opinion, which may not coincide with the official opinion or view of the Class or other sailors. We deem it useful to discuss (naturally avoiding offensive content) various topics relating to our Class, to allow for an open and democratic discussion, as has always been the case on SnipeToday for more than a decade.

Dear readers, if you want to reply to this article, agreeing, or disagreeing, or proposing different solutions, I will be happy to host you in this section of the site (email to: [email protected])