Published in the November eSSAy
Snipe Frigid Digit – Fall Sailing Paradise!
The 2021 Frigid Digit came on the heels of a very busy Snipe sailing season with the Colonial Cup in June as a warm up for the Nationals SSA hosted two weeks later followed by the Great Lakes Championships and Womens Nationals in July, a few club regattas and clinics in August and the North Americans and Western Hemisphere/Orient Championships in September. All of these events were well attended by Fleet 532 and other Snipe sailors from the east coast. Given this very busy east coast schedule especially since the two weeks of NAs and Westerns just ended, we did not expect the usual travelers. However, we had a great turnout (19 boats), a testament to the great energy we have in the local fleet. In addition to the fleet regulars, we had some newer Snipers Andrew Bates, sisters Devon and Lauren Feusahrens sailing the loaner boat (who bought a Snipe by the end of the weekend!) and Matt Lalumiere sailing with Nikki Bruno in new fleet member Paul Greene’s boat.
Saturday was a beautiful sunny 75-degree day with 8-10 knots which eventually built to almost 15 by the end of the day. The breeze was perfect for 4 shorter (30-40 minute) W/L races. Hal Gilreath/Trevor Long from Jacksonville/Boston dominated the day with 3 firsts and a third. Sunday brought another beautiful morning that PRO Charlie Krafft wisely maximized by waiting onshore an hour for the breeze to build to 6-8 knots by noon. Hal & Trevor could not sail on Sunday, opening up the opportunity for Gavin and new crew Erica Kraft to win the day and the regatta with a 1-2-1. SSA member Rob Ramirez w/crew Martin Hermida took second, followed by Andrew & Kristen Keane from CT in third, SSA members Eric Reinke/Alex Damley-Strnad in fourth, and the Plines rounding out the Top 5. Sarah Alexander/Hollis Barth won Top Womens team.
Other Snipe Fleet News:
So proud that Sarah Alexander/Hollis Barth (photo above on left with SCIRA Commodore Luis Borba and Jessica Claflin/Kathleen Tocke on right) traveled to Sao Paulo, Brazil to compete in the largest Snipe Women’s Worlds in the past 20 years (40 teams/6 countries). With super-tough conditions and competition full of country champions and Olympic hopefuls, Sarah and Hollis ended up 19th. We are looking forward to hearing the stories!
In a happy/sad transition, we are sad the Sam Septembre decided to sell his beautiful blue Snipe, but so happy the Devon & Lauren Feusahrens were able to buy it the next week!
We are also sad to be losing our Snipe Son Carter Cameron to the San Diego Quantum loft next year. We hope he will be back soon, but glad that he still plans to come out to sail our Invitationals. We also hope he will bring his awesome energy to the San Diego fleet!
Still More Sailing Season Ahead, Then the “Birds” Migrate South!
The fleet is planning to do a small “newbie” clinic on November 6 (or 7th weather-dependent). If anyone wants to learn some Snipe 101 skills, let us know! Also, we plan to do some organized practicing the following weekend before packing up the boats and heading to Florida. At this point it looks like there are 10+ boats from our area looking to do the whole Winter Circuit, including Snipe Masters in December, the Miami U30 regatta in January, the Rasco in February, and the DonQ and Ron Payne in April.
Join us! We have boats to loan, charter, and lease-to-own, so contact us if you’d like to join the fun!
Lisa Pline, Fleet Captain
lisa@teampline.org
Annapolis Snipe Fleet 532 