Snipe Worlds – Day 3

by SnipeToday 08/23/2022

Cascais, Portugal, August 23, 2022. Results after 6 races:

ESP Alfredo Gonzalez & Cristian Sanchez, 33
BRA Henrique Haddad & Gustavo Nascimento, 49
USA Ernesto Rodriguez & Kathleen Tocke, 51
BRA Alexandre Paradeda & Gabriel Kieling dos Santos, 52
BRA Juliana Duque & Rafael Martins, 55
BRA Bruno Bethlem & Dante Bianchi, 74
ESP Victor Perez Campos & Enric Noguera, 88
USA Enrique Quintero & Charlie Bess, 103
POR Mafalda Pires de Lima & Jaime Urdangaray, 113
ESP Miguel Angel Lasso & Tomas Fuentes, 117

CONSISTENCY IS KING – or QUEEN

Day 3 of the 2022 Snipe World Championship in Cascais, Portugal was an exercise in consistency with teams making giant moves to put them into contention. Today the organizers had the 174 competitors on the water for 3 races, playing catch-up to the 1 race day prior. While yesterday was a challenge, today was much more civil for the Race Committee team with only a 5 degree shift in the course all day. The first race of the day (race 4) began in 15 knots and after several attempts the black flag was shown keeping the fleet in check. Henrique Haddad/Gustavo Nascimento (BRA) lead from the start and extended on his downwind leg to take the win comfortably. Alexandre Paradeda/Gabriel Kieling (BRA) began their consistent day posting a second followed by Ernesto Rodriguez/Kathleen Tocke (USA) also sailing well.

The wind began to increase for the 2nd race of the day (race 5) in the 15-18 knot range with a windward-leeward course signaled at the start, but changed to a triangle for the 2nd lap. Paradeda/Kieling started well and went right with them rounding the weather mark first followed by Rodriguez/Tocke. Alfredo Gonzalez/Cristian Sanchez (ESP) sailed their best race of the day moving up through the fleet and finishing second, passing the Americans who would cross 4th.

For the last race of the day (race 6), the wind began to subside a bit to signal and windward-leeward with the start under a U flag. Haddad/Nascimento, recovering from a tough race (finishing 19th), won the race convincingly followed by the consistent teams of Paradeda/Kieling and Rodriguez/Tocke. Mario Sergio de Jesus/Henrique Wisniewski crossed the finish line second, but were caught under the U flag and now have 2 deep scores to discard, pushing them back to 14th overall.

Reflecting on the day in a dual interview with Haddad and Paradeda, Paradeda (Xandi) commented “We came to this championship without great expectations so I’m super happy with today and in reality I’m actually rooting for the younger generation. Henrique & Gustavo won the last worlds…” with Haddad responding, “Xandi had a great day today scoring a bullet and two seconds and Alfredo is sailing super well, and there are some more teams fighting close for the title so it won’t be easy to win, but I wouldn’t mind to repeat the score of the last worlds.” Paradeda continued, “I think this was the best sailing day of my life. Three windy races, not as windy as yesterday though, and we had an incredible day with a win and two second places, climbing lots of places on the scoreboard!” When asked about their 19th place in the 2nd race of the day, Haddad said, “in the second race I didn’t start next to Xandi, so that was the problem. For tomorrow I already know the strategy; in doubt, always start next to Xandi!”

The consistency award for the day must be awarded to Juliana Duque/Rafael Martins (BRA) who posted a 5-5-5 and moving them to 5th overall in the standings. Duque is the current reigning Snipe Women’s World champion, but has her husband crewing for her in Portugal. Also of note is Mafalda Pires de Lima with Jaime Urdangaray (POR) who sits 10th overall. While there are plenty of females in the event, there are 6 female skippers with 2 in the top 10.

The discard comes into play after 7 races and it looks like the competition is on to see who can remain consistent over the next 2 days of racing.