New Leader(s) at the top of the Snipe WHA Championship
Only one race was held on Wednesday, March 15 due to very light winds. Although the forecast was for freshening breeze as the day wore on, it did not materialize and the Race committee did their best in the 5-6 knots they were given.
All competitors headed out for the normal start time but were postponed on the water while the race committee searched for wind. After moving the course closer to the Club, a race was off in a double windward-leeward course around 3pm local time.
Juliana Duque/Rafael Martins (BRA) started in the middle of the line and punched out to an early lead rounding the weather mark first and extending in the light air. The pair recently won the very competitive Brazilian Nationals and are poised to earn the Brazilian Pan Am entry while also working on a 470 campaign. Second in today’s race were Matias and Constanza Seguel, local Chileans who were ready to move up after yesterday. Nicolas Garcia with son Juan Cruz Garcia (ARG) crewing crossed 3rd followed by Pablo Defazio and Mariana Foglia (URU) enjoying being back in the Snipe after their own Olympic campaigns. Rounding out fifth in the race was Julio Alsogaray and Malena Sciarra (ARG) with Alsogaray an Olympian in the Laser.
Being consistent in these 3 races has now put Luis Soubie/Diego Lipszyc (ARG) tied for first with Rafael Gagliotti/Matheus Goncalves (BRA) both with 15 points. Team Seguel moves into 3rd overall with Randy Lake/Alice Schmid (USA) in 4th and Raul Rios/Lexi Pline (PUR) in 5th. Yesterday’s leaders Rodriguez/Tocke (USA) posted a 19 in today’s race pushing them to 6th overall in the standings.
SCIRA Representative Paola Prada commented that “today was a challenging day not only for us but for the sailors too, but we managed to get the right timing for one good race and we hope to make up the lost race tomorrow.”
The WHA serves as a country qualifier for 2 nations for the Pan Am Games to be sailed in these same waters October 25-Nov 5, 2023. The Snipe is a mixed dinghy for the Pan Am Games with 21 of the teams registered as mixed.
Racing continues on Thursday with 2 races scheduled per day, although 3 can be held to make up for today’s missed second race, with the final day on Saturday, March 18. The regatta can be followed on the Championship website for results and additional information with photos by Matias Capizzano.
RESULTS
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