Snipe Western Hemisphere & Orient Championship arrives in San Diego

SAN DIEGO, CA – It’s an international affair at the San Diego Yacht Club as 43 teams from 12 different countries gear up to compete in the 2014 Snipe Western Hemisphere & Orient Championship. The regatta has been contested biennially since 1950, when the first WH&O took place in Havana, Cuba. With its year-round sailing facilities, San Diego was the perfect place for the 2014 competition to take place.

We’ve done our best to prepare some great sailing,” regatta chair Joanne O’Dea said of the 2014 course. There are two race courses for the event, the first inside the bay in South San Diego and the second outside of the bay in the Pacific Ocean. O’Dea expect that competitors will find both courses to be challenging.

The competitors are ready for that challenge as some of the best Snipe sailors in the world prepare to take to the water in this upcoming regatta. “Due to the depth of the fleet in the Americas as well as in Japan, it’s a regatta on par with the world championship in terms of competitiveness,” snipe sailor Rick Arneson says.

The Opening Ceremony took place on Sunday, Sept. 7 as teams from around the world proudly represented their countries and the global spirit of sailing. Racing is scheduled to start at noon on Monday, Sept. 8 and will continue every day until Friday, Sept. 12.

For more information or to set up any interviews, please see the contact information below.

Event Website: www.snipewho.org (results posted after each race)
Facebook: SnipeToday
Twitter: @SDYC1886

San Diego Yacht Club
The San Diego Yacht Club encourages and fosters an environment that helps and continues to produce the best in the world of yachting-related activities. Founded in 1886, SDYC has become a world renown yachting community recognized for its success in bay sailing, ocean racing, cruising, angling, and its world class youth sailing program. SDYC is consistently ranked among the top 5 yacht clubs in the U.S. and is recognized by the Club Leadership Forum as one of the finest facilities of its kind in the world.

Snipe Class International Racing Association (SCIRA)
The Snipe Class International Racing Association (SCIRA) is a widely popular and well run organization all over the world. There are active fleets in 32 countries across 4 continents and over 31,000 registered boats. The Snipe is based on a 1927 design that has been modernized over the years to keep it relevant and exciting to today’s sailors. The Western Hemisphere & Orient Championship is held in even numbered years with the European Championship to offset the Sr. & Jr. Worlds held in odd numbered years. It was first sailed in Cuba in 1950.