Light winds, heavy competition at Snipe WH&O Championship

A strong pack has emerged from the 43 teams that took to the water after day one of the Snipe Western Hemisphere and Orient Championship. Of the top six scoreboard leaders, no team has a double-digit finish in either of the races. The competition is tight with only a seven point spread across the top six teams.

Though wind conditions at the start of the first race were one or two knots lighter than the race organizers had been hoping, the winds started to pick up throughout the race and ultimately the regatta featured some incredible sailing. Those winds came just in time for skipper Doug Hart and crew Ryan Hopps, who finished in first place in Race One. “Probably the best thing that happened was at the very end of the run. The wind went hard left and we were on the opposite side so we really came into the mark hot,” said Hart. “It was really a one in a million race. I’ve never had a race like that before.” Hart and Hopps finished the day in second place after landing in fifth during the second race of the day.

Leader of the scoreboard Randy Lake had a different training tactic than the rest of the 42 teams. “I had a baby, there wasn’t any preparation,” said Lake. Ready or not, the new dad of a six week old son combined a second place finish in Race One with a third place finish in Race Two to end in the first position at the end of the first racing day. What he lacked in preparation he certainly made up for in company, as his crew Kate Sheahan recently finished 2nd in the SCIRA World Championship of Masters in Japan.

Two races are scheduled daily over the next four days, but with two different course locations in consideration, competitors are never sure which of the two courses the next day will bring. The Organizing Authority will announce each morning whether racing is set to take place inside the bay or on ocean waters. The next race is set to start at noon on Tuesday, September 9.

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Race Day 1 Photos (courtesy of Bob Betancourt)
Regatta Results