September brought two national level and two local level Snipe regattas that were attended by Annapolis Fleet 532 members. The three day North American Championships in Mantaloking NJ was well attended by the Annapolis fleet with Robert Ramirez/Bryan Stout (4th), Robert Vann/Darby Capellin (5th), Lisa Pline/Alex Pline (6th), Brady Stagg/Fletcher Sims (8th), Preston Senior/Anna Flynn (9th) and Greg Virgin/Nikki Bruno (14th). The conditions were mostly light from the east – very atypical for northern Barnegat Bay – but the last day saw really nice sailing breeze in the mid teens. Full Results: https://mantolokingyachtclub.org/regatta/MrJT6p0MWh/results?class_id=EQhZLHtTA5
The second national event was the US Masters Championships held at Mission Bay Yacht Club in San Diego. For those who have never been there, Mission Bay is a small enclosed bay north of the city of San Diego and a perfect venue for a Masters Regatta with a quick sail from the very socially oriented club, flat water and gentle (but extremely tricky) breeze. Lisa Pline was the lone Annapolis skipper sailing with her “Snipe Son” former SSA member Carter Cameron. Nikki Bruno was also in attendance sailing with Dick Davidson, a local. Lots of Snipe legends (Jimmy Lowe, Vince Casalaina, Terry Tim, Chuck Sinks who won the overall as a Grand Master) and Snipe legacies (a young Krebs was the winning crew) and old friends who we see occasionally on the East Coast (Doug Hart, Aimee & Eric Heim, Don and Megan Bedford). Lisa and Carter finished a respectable 8th place in this star studded crowd, capping it off with a win in the last race. Full Results: https://snipeusa.com/regatta/2HdmWB0Y6E/results?class_id=tEUXFENCTA
On a more local level, Lisa Pline/Alex Pline, Darby Capellin/Nikki Bruno traveled up to Lake Quassapaug in Waterbury CT for the Board Of Governors regatta at the end of August. Lisa was hot off her lake-based US Women’s Nationals win and scored two firsts to win the regatta on Saturday. Sadly the breeze never materialized on Sunday so that was it.
The same weekend as the Masters was also the SSA Snipe Fall Series that ended up with much better breeze than expected with Easterly 5-8 knots in Area A. Robert Vann/Lydia McPherson were clearly on their game winning four of the six races followed by the long time duo of Lorie Stout/Alex Stout reunited for the first time in quite a while in the Snipe without fisticuffs as Alex put it. Eeeking out third by a point was Alex Pline/Wiktoria Pedryc over Preston Senior/Chole Hudgins followed by Eric Reinke/Jill Bennett who unfortunately couldn’t sail Sunday. Full Results: http://results.severnsailing.org/2024/2024SnipeFallSeries/2024SnipeFallSeries.html
Annapolis Snipe Fleet 532 