Locals Rule but Soubie/Lipszyc maintain lead after Day 4 of the Snipe WHA Championship

A promising start to day 4 for the Snipe Western Hemisphere & Asia competitors in Algarrobo, Chile after a day spent on land yesterday. The day started overcast, which is a better chance for wind, which arrived for the Race Committee to complete 2 races.

The first race of the day was held in 5-6 knots with a clean first start as the sailors drag raced to the favored left side with Luis Soubie/Diego Lipszyc (ARG) rounding first, followed by Ricky Fabini/Silvia Tourn (URU) with Nicolas Grael/Felipe Barado (BRA) in third. A slow downwind found many changes with Juliana Duque/Rafael Martins (BRA) making up ground and Toni Poncell/Carolina Martinez (CHI) moving into the top 5. At the finish, Soubie/LIpszyc took the win followed by Duque/Martins, Pablo Defazio/Mariana Foglia (URU), Poncell/Martinez and Grael/Barado.

Not waiting around, the Race Committee got the next start off in 7 knots with a 20 degree shift to the south. This race found the locals at the top with Matias & Constanza Seguel, Agustin & Cristian Segovia and Poncell/Martinez taking the top 3 positions as the fog rolled in. Duque/Martins crossed in 4th, moving them up in the overall standings to 2nd. Ernesto Rodriguez/Kathleen Tocke (USA) pulled a 5th in the last race keeping them to 4th overall followed by Randy Lake/Alice Schmid (USA) in 5th overall.

The fog remained on the course with the wind dropping such that the Race Committee sent the fleet in for the day, unable to make up for the lost races from yesterday.

Tomorrow is the final day of racing and after 6 races a drop race will factor in, which will bring a very close regatta as the top 5 teams all have a high race to drop. Up to 3 races can be held tomorrow but no start after 4:30pm.