Western Hemisphere & Orient Championship - Final - Snipe Class International

San Diego, September 12, 2014. Regatta report by Carol Cronin

(Photo: Raul Rios & Fernando Menllor – courtesy of John Payne)

Final results (10 races, 2 discards)

1. PUR Raul Rios & Fernando Monllor, 30

2. ARG Luis Soubie & Diego Mini Lipszyc, 31

3. BRA Breno Bianchi & Flavio de Castro, 45

4. BRA Rafael Gagliotti & Henrique Wisniewski, 49

5. BRA Alexandre Tinoco & Alexandre Niederauer, 57

The 43 teams are now heading home to their 12 countries, after a fantastic 2014 Western Hemisphere and Orient Championship hosted by San Diego Yacht Club. A combination of professional and volunteer organizers came together after two full years of planning, and the result was a weeklong reunion of our South American, North American, and Japanese Snipe family.

…

Serious Racing was of course the first priority, and many teams showed up early to prepare their charter boats and let their bodies adjust to the Pacific coast time zone. Only about a third of the boats came from “away”, and none of the international teams shipped boats, so the depth of the San Diego fleet and high quality of the provided boats were very important to the success of several teams.

Serious Fun was also very important, and the San Diego plan included something for everyone. The regatta opened with a parade of countries and music by Leapfrog, and closed with a party on the Yacht Club deck that offered a wide variety of food and a great rocking beach band. In between were house parties, model boat racing by country (won by Colombia), paddleboard fun, and snacks/beer for all the sailors after every day of racing. No one went home hungry, and some might have even gained a few pounds—in spite of five days of hiking.

Usually racing a big event in San Diego means ocean sailing, but for this regatta the organizers wisely decided to mix it up a bit. Six races were held in the swells, wind chop, and 8-14 knots of westerly that we all think of as “classic San Diego.” Four of the races were sailed in South Bay at tne bottom of San Diego Harbor, a flat water, shifty venue that often has a few knots more breeze than the ocean outside. When Hurricane Norbert decided to send some unusually hot and humid weather our way early in the week, South Bay gave us a great alternative to drifting around in the predicted kelp and big swells outside. And on day 4, this alternate sailing area guaranteed that the eventual winners would be forced to excel in a range of conditions. The result: no one was able to crack the top 10 in every race, and only one team (2nd place finishers Luis Soubie/Diego Mini Lipszyc) was unhappy about having two drop races by the end of the series.

When the locals were asked before the regatta started what the biggest obstacle to doing well would be, the answer was immediate: “Kelp.” But even in the ocean, the long strings and islands of green were pretty easy to avoid all week. That was a welcome surprise.

The least welcome aspect of the regatta was all the towing. South Bay was a 1+ hour ride for anyone but Jerry Thompson and Mandi Dufort’s fast tow of one boat (deserving former Commodores Jimmy Lowe/Don Bedford), and the ocean venue was only a little closer. When we totaled up the towing hours at the end of the week, it came to more than 10. It was a good week to have a fun teammate and/or fun towing neighbors. And fortunately, the great sailing and shoreside hospitality more than made up for that downtime.

The weather was also quite spectacular, and there was only one day of racing that required protection from anything other than sun. Spray tops were left onshore, along with warm hats and most of our neoprene. What a nice way to end the summer sailing season for those of us in the northern hemisphere!

The results? Well, the South Americans took three of the spots in the top five, but they couldn’t take the top prize this time. That went to youngster islanders Raul Rios/Fernando Monllor (PUR), who overcame a tough second to last day to take back their lead with a 6,3 in the final two races. 6th-10th overall was an almost all-American party, spoiled by only one Japanese team in the aptly named “Charter Boat.”

The regatta was also a country qualifier for the 2015 Pan American Games, which will take place in Toronto, Canada next July. The five countries who qualified out of this event were PUR, USA, COL, ECU, and CUB. The USA Trials will take place in mid-October, also out of San Diego Yacht Club.

And for those of you who’ve never started on the same line with sailors from 11 other countries before, it’s, well—different. So much of our sailing comfort zone is related to knowing the habits and sailing styles of our competition, and especially at the beginning of a regatta like this, the faces and pre-start antics were sometimes completely unexpected. Learning a little more each day added a new and very fun dimension, and we even learned a few words of several different languages. We can’t wait for the 2015 Worlds to put our new communication skills to use.

Carol Cronin

Video: Interview with Luis Soubie and Raul Rios

Video: Rios and Menllor win the WH&O!

Video: First start of the last day at the Western Hemisphere and Orient Championship

Video: Start of the las race at the WH&O

WH&O: Boats & Equipment

Event’s website

Bow/Sail	Boat	Skipper	Yacht Club	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Pos
05 / PUR29841	PUR 29841	Raul Rios/ Fernando Monllor	FVPR/	9	1	1	3	3	4	[15]	[26]	6	3	30	1
15 / ARG28701	ARG28701	Luis Soubie/ Diego Mini Lipszyc	YCO/CNZ/	3	8	8	2	1	2	2	5	[25]	[10]	31	2
37 / BRA30997	Cachorrão	Breno Bianchi/ Flavio de Castro	Rio de Janeiro IC/	6	2	7	1	2	11	5	[12]	11	[13]	45	3
07 / BRA31004	Guarda Patrimonial	Rafael Gagliotti/ Henrique Wisniewski	Iate clube de santos/	[27]	[27]	10	4	5	5	9	4	3	9	49	4
42 / BRA31151		Alexandre Tinoco/ Alexandre Niederauer	RCRS Ribera/	12	4	5	10	[17]	9	3	6	[31]	8	57	5
43 / USA30759	30759	Brian Kamilar/ Enrique Quintero	Coral Reef YC/	[23]	6	14	5	6	[30]	11	15	5	4	66	6
47 / USA30288	Danilu	Augie Diaz/ Aine McLean Fretwell	CRYC/CGSC/	5	7	17	7	[20]	10	[28]	8	16	2	72	7
30 / USA29941		Doug Hart/ Ryan Hopps	MBYC/	1	5	15	[23]	[44/DNS]	18	20	14	7	1	81	8
18 / JPN31054	Charter Boat	Koji Kamiya/ Tatsuya Yamauchi	NTT East YC/	15	[31]	2	12	23	[44/DSQ]	4	21	2	6	85	9
32 / USA28687	C Cannibal BB-EE-JE	Chuck Sinks/ Robbie Dean	SDYC/SFYC/	7	[30]	6	17	4	20	19	7	10	[24]	90	10
06 / USA28854		Randy Lake/ Kate Sheahan	SDYC/	2	3	19	16	[24]	[44/OCS]	6	16	18	15	95	11
19 / CUB31038		Raúl Díaz Herrera/ Rafael García Granados	Cuba/	17	12	[21]	6	13	17	10	1	20	[27]	96	12
45 / USA31188	Jibe Tech	Andrew Pimental/ Nikki Bruno	Sail Newport/	21	9	4	30	22	[31]	1	3	[35]	7	97	13
27 / USA31130		Ernesto Rodriguez/ Eduardo Mintzias	NA/	16	[22]	[25]	20	18	12	14	9	4	5	98	14
39 / USA30860	Spidey	Carol Cronin/ Kim Couranz	Severn SA/	4	16	18	19	[30]	8	8	[31]	13	14	100	15
20 / BRA31066		Mateus Tavares/ Jonathan Lherke	YCe da Bahia/	25	19	13	14	11	7	[44/OCS]	11	1	[35]	101	16
34 / USA30109		David Tillson/ Rebecca McElvain	MBYC/	8	14	12	8	[31]	21	[24]	13	8	19	103	17
01 / JPN30924		Takuya Shimamoto/ Keisuke Kushida	Waseda U./	[28]	10	[28]	15	12	14	7	23	24	17	122	18
46 / USA30800	Green Flash	Rick Arneson/ Diana Waterbury	San Diego YC/	13	[32]	22	22	9	19	13	20	12	[30]	130	19
31 / ECU31027	El Desleal	Edgar Diminich/ Eduardo Viteri	CVL/FEY/MDD/SYC/	19	[36]	16	[28]	8	28	22	10	19	11	133	20
03 / JPN28732	HITACHI Sailing Team	Ryohei Doi/ Keiichiro Itagaki	Japan SF/Hitachi/	32	13	3	11	15	3	[36]	29	33	[36]	139	21
26 / BRA30996	La Maquina	Felipe Sabino/ Bernardo Sarzedas	rio yatch club/	[37]	25	26	24	7	[44/DSQ]	18	2	30	16	148T	22
22 / ECU31037		Jesus Bailon Reyes/ Iberth Constante	Manta YC/	10	18	[31]	18	[33]	26	21	22	21	12	148T	23
08 / CUB29517		Raúl Faura Nieto/ José Piña Nieto	Cuba/	[36]	21	20	[37]	19	1	12	25	28	26	152	24
24 / BRA31113	LORD	Helio Lyra de Aquino Jr./ João Pedro Moreira	ICRJ/IC Rio de Janeiro/	29	28	[30]	9	10	15	[37]	28	14	22	155	25
23 / USA30337	Quantum Racing	Eric Heim/ Aimee Heim	San Diego YC/	22	23	9	13	[28]	27	23	24	15	[33]	156	26
14 / JPN30353		Kosuke Demichi/ Shun Yanagibayashi	DUYC/	18	15	23	36	[44/OCS]	13	17	19	[39]	21	162	27
10 / JPN31134		Motoharu Nishii/ Tomohisa Nakamura	CYUBU/	11	20	11	32	[34]	[36]	16	17	32	29	168	28
25 / JPN30722	JPN30722	Genya Ozaki/ Kawano Motomichi	Konan Univercity/	14	29	35	[38]	21	6	29	36	17	[41]	187	29
04 / USA29778	Batura	Roberto Guaragna/ Andre Guaragna	Miami/	[40]	11	29	33	14	32	26	18	26	[39]	189	30
28 / COL30718		Esteban Echavarria/ Juan Esteban Restrepo Vera	Federation Colombia de Vela/	20	[44/DSQ]	27	25	16	29	[35]	33	22	18	190	31
33 / PER31150		Diego Figueroa/ Alonso Collantes	Club Regatas Lima/	33	17	32	[38/ZFP]	25	22	25	27	[37]	25	206	32
21 / JPN30844		Kento Hashimoto/ Kazuki Murayama	Ritsumeikan Univ/	24	33	[40]	26	37	16	30	[40]	23	20	209	33
09 / USA28858	Seagle	Nicholas Kaschak/ Krystal Treiberg	San Diego YC/	26	24	[39]	34	26	24	39	[44/OCS]	9	31	213	34
41 / USA30903		Cameron Fraser/ Elizabeth Glivinski	Medford BC/	31	[35]	34	21	29	25	31	30	[36]	23	224	35
36 / USA29013		Chris Wright/ Lauren Wright	Mission Bay YC/	30	[34]	24	27	[35]	33	34	34	34	32	248	36
17 / BAH28811	Breaking Wind	Jimmie Lowe/ Don Bedford	Royal Nassau SC/	34	26	36	[40]	36	23	33	35	[44/OCS]	38	261	37
35 / COL29651		Carolina Ponton/ Nicolas Hernandez	Club de V. Cartagena/	[42]	[38]	37	31	27	35	27	37	38	37	269	38
11 / BRA31159		Matheus Franca/ Daniel Seixas Claro	Rio YC/	39	37	38	39	32	34	[44/DNF]	32	27	[40]	278	39
40 / MEX30330		Alfonso Garcia Bringas/ Javier Garcia Bringas Rivera	Porto Bravo/	38	41	41	35	38	[44/DNF]	41	[42]	29	28	291	40
44 / ARG31222	Quimera	Alejandro Triggiano/ Mariana Safar	CR Guemes Salta/	35	[42]	33	42	[44/DSQ]	38	32	38	40	34	292	41
02 / USA28470	Red Lady	Stephan Irgens/ Monica Irgens	CCSA/	[43]	40	42	41	40	37	40	39	41	[43]	320	42
38 / CAN29318	Mister Bear	Christopher Hains/ Barbara Mann	Guelph Comm. BC/	41	39	[43]	[43]	39	39	38	41	42	42	321	43