SPANISH ARMADA WIA double-anniversary regattaFinland's oldest sailing club, Segelforeningen i Bjorneborg

(BSF), celebrated its 150th anniversary by hosting the SnipeClass European Championships of 2006. The event coincid-

ed with the 75th anniversary of Snipe No.1, built in Texas in1931.An impressive fifty-five Snipe crews from eleven coun-tries showed up for the event in Pori, on the Gulf ofBothnia on the west coast of Finland.The impressiveturnout was no doubt aided by the persistent marketingefforts of avid Finnish snipe sailors Jussi Savela, commodoreof BSF,and Kai Saarhelo, board member of BSF and SCiRAnational secretary for Finland.

Spain had the largest team with a total of eleven boats inthe regatta. Italy and Norway were represented by nineboats each, while Finland mustered eight boats. Sizableteams were also fielded by Belgium, Russia and Sweden withfive snipes each. Portugal fielded two participants, while soli-tary crews came from Denmark, France, Poland andPortugal. Notable absences were Croatia, Germany and theUnited Kingdom.Spanish Youngster takes NordicsThe European Championships were preceded by the OpenNordic Championships. 42 boats were entered, using theopportunity to tune up on the waters of the Europeans.After six races over three days, the Nordic Championshipwent way south, to Spain.Young Jordi Triay with his crewJose Escudero gained a close-cut victory over some 'real'Nordics, the Norwegian brothers Jostein and AsbjornGrodern in second spot, followed by their countrymen UlrikSandvig and Henrik Grythe in third place. The strong Belgianplacings of fourth, fifth and eighth were a warning of thingsto come in the Europeans. Most of the Spanish were still'sandbagging', cruising around near the course area, but notreally showing their strength yet.Nordics, top ten:I) Jordi Triay - Jose Escudero, Spain, 19,5 p. 2) JosteinGrodern - Asbjorn Gr6dem, Norway, 22.5 p.3) Ulrik Sandvig - Henrik Grythe, Norway, 34 p. 4) BartBomans - Jill Ponet, Belgium, 39.5 p.5) Ben van Cauwenberg - Nadia Deferm, Belgium, 40 p.6)Tiago Roquette - Hugo Teixieira, Portugal, 43 p. 7) BirgerJansen - Cecilia de Faire, Norway, 46 p. 8) Thierry denHartig - Greet Jansen, Belgium, 49 p. 9) Perez Campos -Benitez Lazna, Spain, 51 p. 10) Andrea Borenius - CharlottaRenvall, Finland, 53 p.Enter the Spanish ArmadaOn the first day of the European Championship, the I 10sailors had to contend with shifty medium winds from thesouth-east, and a choppy sea of old offshore swells mixedup with fresh inshore waves. Rumors that the Spanish arma-da got shipwrecked in the English Channel were clearlyfalse, as the Spanish proceeded to raid the coast of Finland.Admiral Pablo Fresneda from Almeria won two battles, ablyseconded by his able lieutenants Ferrer de Alicante,Alvaresde las Palmas and Gonzales de Canaria. The Spanish shipsshowed blazing downwind speed, and the crews displayed ~many well executed roll tacks.At the close of day I, the

avant garthe Armacommandedfirst, third,sixth andeight placethe leader-board.

The sur-prise of theday was a receHenrikJorhised to winlead around .~ fr's:. ~- <, =.': -.::: ~o let a few boats past on thereachers. 1 e e, ,.es also scored within the top

:-<2... pionship started out with a

ditions off Pori were apparentlyere a fresh breeze from the

ceo t:€ s rrts a d flat water.~~e ~- = day, Piet 0 Fantoni and crew [acopo

Ferrari-Bra 'fere? _ably lustil singing 0 Sale Mia as theypulled aVIa :0 a s id lead. His co ntryman Roger Olivieri fromLago di Gar a kept e second sl for a lap or more, but finallyhad to be core t a fourth pee. In the first race of the day,fellow T 'est' ,0 Stefa 0 onghi, S IRA European Secretary, nabbeda good -. ir place. Giampiero Po i returned to his earlier formand grabbe a use' I eighth place. he geographical Italian boot gota well-deserved polishing up, with oggi and Fantoni climbing totenth and eleventh in the total sta dings.

On the Scandinavian front, the dwall brothers from Askim 00

the west coast of Sweden led the rrst race and finished in a very

Snipe Bulletin Fall 2006

satisfactory fourth place, while theeighth place was taken by the youngteam of Skjoldvang - Lowenberg, ablycoached by the Great Dane JanPersson, all hailing from Espergarde onthe strait of Elsinore.Spaniards take top five on finaldayThe final day started out with a flatcalm. Finally at 13:35 the starting gunwent off, on a line favoring the commit-tee boat end. When the rumble in thejungle on the starting line cleared, thesight was a familiar one: ESp, ESp, ESP ... The Ferrers came firstto the windward mark, with Pablo Fresneda and AlfredoGonzales snapping at their heels. On the second beat, Fresnedaread the motion of the ocean best, pulled away from the FerrerMovistars, put an open Gover on them, and that was that - thefate of the European Championship was sealed.

As the field kept slowly creeping in, the clock kept tickingtowards the 15:00 deadline after which no start could be made.The mutinous sailors decided en masse to vote with their tillersby heading directly into port. The PRO Ari Ahonen on the start-ing vessel Joella must have felt like Captain Bligh on the Bounty,watching his crew sail away into the sunset. Thus, nine raceswere completed, reaching the magic limit for allowing two dis-cards.After crunching the numbers for the 55 boats, the leader-board read like a Spanish-Belgian spaghetti western: fiveSpaniards in front, chased by two top guns from 'the gang ofAntwerp'.The Spanish keys to successHow can Spain be so dominant? We put the question to PepePerez, the National Secretary of the Spanish Snipe class. - "Wehave active Snipe fleets with some 200 boats all over our coun-try. For our EC team, we have picked the cream of the cropfrom Almeria,Alicante, Cadiz, Madrid, the Baleares and theCanary Islands. The Spanish Yachting Federation supports theSnipe as a feeder channel to the Olympic classes. For example,Pam Sanchez belongs to the National 470 team, while his sisterMarina crewed on the Spanish Yngling in the Athens Olympics.We are especially supportive of our juniors. We pay their entryfees, we organize good boats for them, and we drive them tothe championships.A successful move has been to arrange thenational Junior Championship one week before the seniornationals, in the same venue. The juniors can borrow qualityboats, and may find supporters and mentors among the sen-iors."The 'gang from Antwerpen'

To the surprise of many, the Belgians were clearly the runner-upteam in the Europeans, beaten only by the Spanish. BartBomans, how is this possible, with a tiny Snipe fleet of only 22boats? - "We have a friendly group, the 'band from Antwerp'.Most sail with mixed teams, our girl crews are nimble and agile.They contribute their experience from light, sensitive craft suchas Europe dinghies. The band meets in the winter for gym train-ing and tactical discussions. In spring, part of the band headsnorth, part south to the major regattas. After returning, we poolour observations and experiences, and try to grow wiser. Wepractice boat handling and race tactics on our little lake, but for

next year we ill train more on the openNorth Sea."

Blue and hite bluesThe results of he blue-and-white Finnishhome team w re a disappointment Best

boat in 30th pi ce, a far cry from the silverof 1974 and b nze of 1991 when theEuropeans we previously held in Finland.The two top F nnish teams were young,agile, gym-train d and experienced in otherdinghy classes. he old Snipe masters arecurrently cont mplating how to shed 20+kilograms from the total crew weight and

20+ years from the total crew a e.Arrangements on the waterConsidering the tricky and shifty conditions, the Race com-mittee performed its work well. arks were shifted andcourses changed when the need rose. Starting times wereupheld punctually, and after som late arrivals, competitorslearned to leave port in time to each the course area. Theworkboats and jury boats were f suitable size and speed tofit their task. On the light-weath days, the media boat some-times kicked up some disturbing aves, for which thisreporter hereby apologizes.Press & mediaThroughout the event, daily press releases with results wereprepared in English, Swedish and inn ish, and distributed towebsites and newspapers in the ome countries of the partic-ipants. Stories and pictures were ublished, not only on theEC and SCiRA websites, but in e otic media such as the ISAFMaking Waves site, the Skota.se s ling website in Sweden. theClubracer website in Belgium. Bu stikken newspaper inBarurn, Norway and the Diario S r daily in Malaga, Spain. Bothlocal and national TV were out 0 the course. videotaping theaction.Shore arrangements, social Ii eUpon returning to port from the ay's racing, the sailors weremet by the blast of 'Hard Rock H lIelujah' as performed byLordi. the first (and last?) Finnish roup ever to win theEurovision Song Contest. The boa s were then parked on thepaved ramp. which fit all 55 boats ell. each boat having itsown space. marked by nation. Bee and food were served in atent close to the water's edge.

The traditional North-South fo tball game was cancelleddue to poor attendance. This was nderstandable, as the longdays spent on the sea. waiting, dri ing and racing caused mostsailors to retire rather directly to their rented cottages. quitea distance from the BSF clubhous .

The social events included a rec ption at City hall. a grillparty in the hotel garden. and the mal prize giving event inthe hotel restaurant. At the final p rty, the winning Spanishteam gave a sporty impression in heir matching team clothes.The many presiding SCiRA officer. including ExecutiveDirector Jerelyn Biehl and Europe n Secretary Stefano Longhi,were duly acknowledged for their contributions to the suc-cess of our dear Snipe class.

Henry EricssonEvent Press Officer

5 Fall 2006

Pablo Fresneda/Cesar TravadoFrancisco Sanchez Ferrer/Marina SanchezJordi Triay/Jose EscudereAlfredo Gonzalez/Cristian SanchezRayco Tabarez/Gonzalo MoralesThierry Den Hartigh/Greet JansenEmmanuel HenslThomas Van SchaftinghenEduard Skornykov/Pavel KarachevGiampiero Poggi/Silvia BoccatoPietro FantonilJacopo Ferrari-BravoAlejandro FresnedalBorja LlopisUlrik Sandvig/Henrik GrytheJuan Castaneda Gonzalez/Felipe CanteroBart Bomens/]tll PonetChristian S.Andersen/Andreas LowenborgJustin FrebaultlJean Jacques FrebaultVictor Perez/Rafael BenitezHenrik Jorhov/Ebba FriisGiovanni Galeotti/Floris MortelmansBen VanCauwenbergh/Nadia DefermTiago Roquette/Hugo TeixeiraStefano Longhi/PaoloLambertenghiJostein Grodem/Asbjorn GrodemFrancisco Ibanez Gonzalez/Juan Merayo

. Fabio Rochelli/Daniela SemecRobert Winther/Emil SvenssonBirger Jansen/Cecilia de FairePer/Axel EdwallJaime Miranda/Francisco JimenezAndrea Bornius/Charlotta RenvallMaxim Kuzmin/Aleksander ShirokovVille Aalto-SetalalJussi NevasHenning Balzar/Heinz BalzarAndrey Astashev/Andrey SamoilovClaus Carpelan/Risto ValjusOla Nygard/Hans Magnus NygardOla Sjostrand/Mats GustafssonMagnus HedemarklAsne BernerPiotr ManczaklPrzemyslaw PlazkaStefan WinqvistlAlf RenvallBernhard RostlNicklas TorlegardMiguel Graca/Ana MarquesAlessandro Rodati/Barbara BonniniRoger Olivieri/Silvia PederivaMagnus Christiansen/Michael IrgensTimo NurmilT mmi IsotaloAmelia Gomez/Carmen MateoJussi SavelalKari TqornalaAndrea Zaoli/Francesco FilippiKai Saarhele/Markus Wikar

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Snipe Bulletin

2006 European ChampionshipAugust

Pori, Finland1-1-3-2-( I0)-1 0-(25)-1-13-8-1-6-3-( 13)-(dsq)-4-38-(ocs)-9-1-4-( 12)-7-6-415-4-4-13-1-1-(20)-( 19)11-5-6-(32)-9-15-3-( 16)-8(27)-6-10-3-11-6-6-(37)-1816-(20)-2-10-2-(30)-2-15-2020-16-13-7 -8-7 -(29)-2-(23)13-2-7-(43)-16-24-(dsq)-5-1112-24-19-(26)-5-32-1-8-109-13-21-1 1-13-(48)8-(22)-519-3-5-12-17-(22)-21-(32)-1610-17-17-(39)-(28)-14-11-7-172-7 -I 6-28-6-1 6-23-(ret)-(ocs)7-15-(33)-16-18-8-22-(31 )-1423-21-8-14-(24)-(26)-14-17-622-(32)-8-7-23-4-(39)-136-12-1 1-25-15-(38)-16-20-( dnf)I8-(30)-25-4-(zfp)-2 1-27-3-914-18-27-20-22-5-(28)-10-(34)17-(ocs)-39-5-(ocs)-28-10-12-722-(32)-(49)-17-12-3-32-13-224-11-(35)-30-20-(42)-30-11-2126-10-15-(41 )-(ocs)-18-15-18-224-9-12-22-(26)-(27)-17-23-2430-14-14-(34)-19-9-(41 )-27-3129-27-23-15-25-20-9-(41 )-(36)21-31-22-24-27-4-(36)-21-(41 )33-(dsq)-18-29-(zfp)-17-34-24-135-34-38-9-21-(45)-12-(50)-19(42)-37-24-23-36-19-18-(47)-2538-(ocs)-26-36-14-29-24-35-(3943-29-(51 )-(50)-31-11-35-28-2634-28-(50)-38-47-2-13-(53)-4331-33-(54)-46-(ocs)-37-19-25-125-35-31-33-33-(43)-(40)-29-27(51)-19-36-31-23-31-33-(42)-405-38-45-44-32-( ocs )-44- 9-(ocs)(53)-44-29-18-37-25-43-26-(ocs40-(49)-(44)-21-30-35-42-14-4232-29-(43)-19-40-33-38-30-(46)37-(40)-30-37 -35-34-39-( 46)-2946-25- 20-35-43-(49)-(49)-43-33(50)-36-41-48-(49)-47-5-34-45(48)-23-42-40-41-39-31-(45)-44(49)-45-37-27-46-40-(51 )-38-3836-41-40-45-42-(53)-37{dnf)-3539-46-(47)-(53)-44-46-4.6-3J.-32(52)-50-28-42-(52)-44:4fu.51- a~5-43-46-47-38-36E47: 9}k9)''f1-26-(53)-49-39- ~2L- -51~55)-48-48-<'.51)-4.8-51-26-36""48

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Fall 2006 6