Two Years as Commodore

by Pietro Fantoni

On December 31st, my two full years as Commodore end.

First of all, I would like to thank all my colleagues on the Board, our Executive Director, the Technical Committee, the National Secretaries, the Fleet Captains and all the sailor friends who supported me.

It has been an honor and a pleasure for me to serve the Class as Commodore and as Board member. Also, it has been great to travel and meet Snipe sailors in so many countries and share ideas and discuss about our boat and our organization.

It is not up to me to say if I have done my job well or badly. Our Class organization is very well structured and tested, with so much history behind it and with capable people. Therefore, for a Commodore it is easy to follow the route without losing the bearing, supported by solid collaborative people.

Anyone who wants can read my 2018-2019 Commodore’s report (SCIRA Commodore – Report 2018-2019), presented at the Board meeting during the Snipe World Championship, last October. It lists all the decisions made, the objectives achieved (until October), and the problems still to be solved.

The sailing world has changed a lot in the last several years and the Snipe Class has been affected by these changes. New classes appear each year, people perceive leisure and sport differently than in the past, marketing and communication are constantly evolving, competitive sport is seen in an increasingly exasperated way, especially at a youth level, while there is also a decline in participation in almost all classes. These topics have all been analyzed by sociologists, sport analysts, and sailing experts.

The task of the Commodore and the Board is, in addition to performing the ordinary administration, to understand these changes and adapt the Class to them, without distorting our DNA.

Another task of the Commodore and the Board is to support and guide fleets and countries that are experiencing difficulties. In some cases, at National Secretaries meetings, I perceived distrust: “our Sailing Federation does not support us, there is no interest in the clubs, the numbers go down …”. But we cannot hope for something to happen from the outside; we must rely on our own tools and enthusiasm.

The Board and the Promotion Committee try to provide ideas for the promotion of the Class. Obviously, it is up to the Fleets and countries to implement those ideas.

Visiting other countries, I see that the class is very lively and growing in many places. This is an excellent result. Not only are the numbers of members and boats growing, but in many fleets the desire to organize regattas and promotional events has grown.

The success of our class depends on the quality of our people. I have made many enthusiastic and competent new friends who have excellent ideas and are able to implement them. The Snipe Class can still improve in the coming years, but it is thanks to them that we are going through a good time.

Good luck to the next Commodore Luis Soubie and to the whole Board. I wish them all the success possible! The Class is in good hands!

See you (back) on the race course,

Pietro Fantoni

SCIRA Commodore 2018-2019

(SCIRA Secretary 2012-2015; SCIRA Vice Commodore 2016-2017; Promotion Committee 2014-2017)

P.s. I will continue to work for the Class as SnipeToday editor, don’t worry ?

(Below a nice photo gallery with a lot of photos with friends, great sailors, Board mates, funny moments and great memories in so many countries)