Snipe Midwinters – Final

Clearwater, March 30, 2017. Results after 8 races (1 discard)

1. USA Arthur Blodgett & Julia Melton, 10

2. CUB Raul Miguel Diaz Herrera & Carlos Esposito Rodriguez, 13

3. CAN Christopher Hains & Alexandre Tinoco, 16

Report by Arthur Blodgett

There have been over twice as many Snipe Midwinter Championships as Americas Cups. Snipe plans came out in Rudder Magazine in 1931, and in the heart of the great depression, it became the popular home build for those who’d maybe owned bigger boats before the crash, had the requisite sailing passion and carpentry knowhow, and needed to downsize! The Snipe Class grew faster than the modern J70 and in 1937 the first Midwinter Championship was contested in the Gulf of Mexico. Clearwater native Clarke Mills, noted yacht designer of the Opti, gave the Clearwater championship special significance; he was an avid Snipe sailor and for a time builder of the world’s fastest Snipes. You could purchase a Mills Wooden Snipe for $3,000, or, at that time, attend Duke University for $2,500.

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But Clarke Mills would be rolling in his grave if he saw the low turn-out at this year’s 79th edition of the Midwinters. Perfect conditions, great race committee and support boats and…7 boats. Despite you muppets’ inability to get yourself there, we still had a great time and great competition at the top and for sailors against their own level throughout the fleet. 8 races were sailed over 3 days, in steady winds of 6-14kts, 80+ degree temperatures and blue blue waters.

We saw in warmups on the first day that the Cuban team of Raul Miguel Diaz Herrera & Carlos Esposito Rodriguez were a tick faster than us upwind and resolved to beat them in other ways. We had 2 good runs and entered the last beat with a 10 boat-length lead. We tried to loose-cover them into the corner but they managed to start a tacking duel and passed us just before the finish for the first bullet of the regatta. The next race the tacking duel actually worked in our favor, as Canadian Chris Haines, sailing with 2011 Snipe World Champion Alexandre Tinoco got between us and finished 2nd, putting the Cubans in 3rd. In the last race of Day 1 we were forced to contend for second and contented ourselves ending the day tied but loosing the tiebreaker.

Day 2 brought a wind delay on shore in the morning, but we got out and sailed three more races in light but building breeze and chop. Chris and Alexandre won the first light air race and we again trailed Raul and Carlos. For race 5 we saw that the weather mark was set to the right and slammed the Cubans, forcing them to the left. Alas, they caught a nice pressure line and rode it to a horizon-job win. We rounded the weather mark in 4th and the Colorado based team of Steve Tautz/Avery Zeiper sailed a great race solidly in second most of the way – we were fortunate to catch them on starboard just before the finish. The last race we won the start and led the whole way – narrowly surviving another tacking duel with the Cubans to hold on for the win. At then end of 2 days it was Raul and Carlos by a point over Arthur and Julia with both teams discarding their lone 3.

The Wednesday Grapefruits-full-of-liquor party was a great time. It was nice to mingle with the race committee, fellow competitors, and SCIRA rep Brained Cooper who contributed some of the inspiration and background for this article. Raul and I exchanged pleasantries but went to bed within 30 minutes of each other – neither willing to cede the other an advantage going into the last day.

The first race of the final day saw the breeze escalate quickly. The crews were inside the boat off the start, but full out hiking by the weather mark and working the boat to surf on the run. The Snipe’s controls allow you the ability to de-power with the cunninghams, outhaul and vang during the race, buy you have to be careful not to put on too much vang at base mast rake, or you can get leeward helm – really slow. At the second weather mark, the race committee threw a curveball and extended to a triangle. They of course acted within the guidelines of their sailing instructions and had a mark boat with change of course flag out. But most of the fleet, us leading and the Cubans in 2nd did not realize this and began a run as usual. Half way down, I happened to see the Canadians plaining off in the distance on a reach to a far off yellow mark. We immediately realized our mistake, and were the first to put away our pole and give chase. We got it planning pretty good, Julia doing some supercrewing, and closed on the Canadians and extended on the Cubans. On the final beat, we lucked into a couple shifts and Julia had some truly great tacks and we again picked off a boat (this time Chris) on starboard right before the finish. Chris spun his penalty so fast he still got 2nd!

What turned out to be the final race featured multiple lead changes and ended with a protest. The Cubans were a touch faster upwind and downwind, but we started slightly ahead and were again blazing fast on the reaches. For me, a practice in lauderdale last November against Ernesto and Peter with Carol Cronin crewing for me had really paid off. Carol broke my boat and I learned a lot about how to get planning! Just before the finish the Cubans caught up to and crossed us for the first time on that leg, but immediately tried to tack on us – a little close. We headed up as they were tacking, drew the rig contact, and won on protest. At the end of 3 days of intense competition with Raul I feel like I know him really well – his many strengths and few weaknesses. He is a GREAT sailor! He and crew Carlos were really fast and deserved to win just as much as we did. They did win the Zimmerman Trophy for the overall Winter Circuit -amazingly the first Cubans to do so in the Zimmerman’s 51 years of existence. In the end we were lucky to come away with the Midwinter Championship.

Next year, lets get more Snipes than Americas Cup’s to Clearwater for the 80th! Clarke is looking at you.

Pos,Sail, Skipper, Results, Total Points
1. 30473, Arthur Blodgett/Julia Melton, 2-1-2-[3]-2-1-1-1- ; 10
2. 29518, Raul Miguel Diaz Herrera/Carlos Exposito Rodriguez, 1-3-1-2-1-2-3-[9/DSQ]- ; 13
3. 30111, Christopher Hains/Alexandre Tinoco, 3-2-3-1-[6]-3-2-2- ; 16
4. 30568, Steve Tautz/Avery Zeiper, 4-4-4-6-4-4-5-[9/DNF]- ; 31
5. 29323, David Baker/Suzanne Baker, 5-5-6-5-5-5-4-[9/DNF]- ; 35
6. 31188, Mike Slouka/Robin Jackson, 6-6-5-4-7-7-6-[9/DNF]- ; 41
7. 29963, Steve Lang/Ali Deese, 7-7-7-7-3-6-[9/DNS]-9/DNS- ; 46
8. 31415, Andrew Pimental/None Yet, [9/DNC]-9/DNC-9/DNC-9/DNC-9/DNC-9/DNC-9/DNC-9/DNC- ; 63