Nordic Snipe Week

Motala, July 1-7, 2013. Results, photos and regatta report by Tobias Chroneer.

This year the Nordic Snipe Week included both the Nordic and the Swedish Championship. We sailed the regatta together with the Swedish Championship for OK-dinghy and the dockyard at the club was therefore full of boats, but as usual the organizers had found the room to set up a party tent and the bar called “Bodegan”.

On Monday the 1st of July the Nordic Snipe Week started with a two-day clinic, local sailor Patrik Jönsson was choaching the participating sailors this year.

 

On Wednesday the 3rd of July, the day before the championship started, we sailed the regatta “Vätternsnipen” which is a regatta filled with tradition. This is a distance race on Lake Wettern where you start outside the club and sail a course that ends up on the Varamon beach, here you anchor your boat with your centerboard and swim/walk ashore for a lunchbreak at a restaurant right at the beach. When everyone is fed and happy you sail the same course in reverse so you end up at the club again. This year we were11 boats sailing the regatta and the winner was Manu Hens and Dries Crombè (BEL).

At Wednesday evening we gathered at the club for the opening ceremony of the championship and were treated with some food and bubbly drinks.

On Thursday the 4th of July the championship started, unfortunately the wind wasn´t quite what we had hoped for and the organizers only managed to get two races done before the wind died completely. The first race of the regatta was won by the local sailors Patrik Jönsson/Filip Kruslock (SWE) and the second race was won by Jostein Grödem/Maj-Kristin Hansen Borgen (NOR).

At Thursday evening most sailors gathered for dinner and after- sail talk at a restaurant where Götakanal meets Lake Wettern.

The conditions on Friday offered more wind than the day before and the sailing became trickier with a short and choppy sea. The weather wasn´t very nice, with overcasts and almost cold conditions. The first race of the day was won by Jostein Grödem/Maj-Kristin Hansen Borgen (NOR), the second race was won by Manu Hens/Dries Crombè (BEL) and the third and last race of the day was won by Jostein Grödem/Maj-Kristin Hansen Borgen (NOR).

At Friday evening when the sun and the warm weather had returned we were treated with a nice regattadinner at the club so everyone gathered under the party tent and the traffic to the “Bodega” was frequent. Music entertainment did we get from the sailing brothers Robert and Martin (29349)

On Saturday morning when it was time for the last day of sailing, some of the sailors looked a bit tired due to the night before but everyone went out on the lake and were meet by beautiful conditions with sunny and warm weather and about 4m/s of wind. The organizers took advantage of the good conditions and were able to get three more races done. The first race of the day was won by Christian Skjoldvang Andersen/Celina skjödt (DEN), the second and third race was won by Manu Hens/Dries Crombè (BEL).

Jostein Grödem/Maj-Kristin Hansen (NOR) won the regatta and therefore became Nordic Champions, second place was taken by Manu Hens/Dries Crombè (BEL) and in third place we find Patrik Jönsson/Filip Kruslock(SWE). Congratulations to you all!

The Swedish Championship ended with Patrik Jönsson/Filip Kruslock (SWE) taking the gold, in second place we find Lucas Örn/Axel Edwall and in third place Tomas Berg/Olle Karlsson. The Swedish Masters division was won by Ola Sjöstrand/Mats Gustafsson. Congratulations to the Swedish podium.

The organizers and everyone involved making this regatta possible deserves a big THANK YOU! We are also grateful to everyone participating in the regatta and especially all of you who have travelled far to get to Motala.

Next year we do it all again, the only difference is that we probably “only” sail the Nordic Championship. Besides from that we will have the same schedule, we start with a two day clinic after that we sail the Vätternsnipen and then we sail the Nordic Championship for three days.

Hopefully we will see Snipefriends from all over the world next year so start planning for this event right away, week 27 as always.
SEE YOU IN MOTALA 2014!!!

Results