Snipe Varalyay “Pesja” Y 15006

Lou Varalyay, in the chapter dedicated to him in the book “Snipe Tales”, published in 1996, and which we recently re-proposed (“Lou Varalyay reminisces”), told of a Snipe Varalyay sold in Yugoslavia:

“During the Cold War, a letter from Yugoslavia came about an order, I asked how to deliver it. When it was nearly finished I sent a letter. The reply was that on a certain day, take it down in a dock in Long Beach and leave it. We did that and noticed a Yugoslavia freighter tied up. The next day the boat was gone.”

Now we know the whole story. Yesterday Milko Volaric, Snipe sailor and President of the Yacht Club Galeb, in Kostrena, Croatia (near Rijeka) wrote to us:

“In Yacht Club Galeb monograph on page 90, Anton Grego mentions that in 1964 they finished at the second place at the European Championships in San Remo, Italy. The reason why they lost the first place was an old Snipe with old sails. The management of the Club decided to buy a new Snipe and sails, all according to the choice of the Vice-Champions of Europe.

At that time, Americans were the most famous builders for the Snipe class. At the end of 1964, Anton Grego and Simo Nikolic decided to order a new Snipe at  Varalyay Snipe builder, in San Pedro, California, the rest is history ….

With the new Varalyay Snipe, number 15006, called “Pesja” and the new sails of North sails from San Diego, Anton Grego and Simo Nikolic became champions of Europe in 1966 in Karlshamm, Sweden and vice-champions of Europe in 1968 in Izmir, Turkey.

At the Worlds 1967 in Nassau, Bahamas, Anton Grego and Simo Nikolic won  the bronze medal with a charted boat because the famous Lou Varalyay Snipe “Pesja” was in transit for Nassau, stuck in the port of New York due to a strike by port workers.”