Rodriguez and Tocke Win Snipe Westerns

Olivos, Buenos Aires, Argentina (October 27, 2018) – It’s been a very even yet exciting Western & Orient Snipe Class Championship 2018, today before the two last races were sailed; there were five teams that could mathematically win the event. An easterly breeze of about 7 knots was blowing on the racecourse at the time of the start of the first race, the 42 boats were eager to get on with the competition.

The most eager of all were Ernesto Rodriguez and Kathleen Tocke (USA) that wanted to get at least one more race completed in order to discard both the “Did Not Compete” scores (DNCs) of the first day when they did not race for health issues. The race 9 winners were Augusto Amato and Constanza Alvarez (ARG) but right behind them there were Rodriguez and Tocke.

At the start of Race 10, the last of the series, the championship was still wide open. The wind was in the range of 7 knots from east but the leaders shifted. Edgar Diminich and Andrea Quebedo from Ecuador won the race, followed by Rene Torrecillas Abreu & Lorena Fundora Rodriguez from Cuba and in third spot Ernesto Rodriguez and Kathleen Tocke.

It took a while and a little math on the Race Committee boat before determining who the winners were, and by the time everyone was back ashore there were no doubts left. The 2018 Western Hemisphere and Orient Champions of the International Snipe Class were Americans Ernesto Rodriguez and Kathleen Tocke from Miami, with only two points over the second place team.

Rodriguez said, “Nobody wants to start a Championship like this, my crew was sick and we couldn’t sail at all on the first day, after that we just sailed and kept doing our best and as we didn’t have nothing to loose we took a lot of chances, and after a bad second race yesterday we went on the water today thinking we still could make it.

“We had clear and fast starts and even though it was shifty day we sailed pretty well, and everything paid off. We are very happy to have won this Championship, there are team that sailed a fantastic week, like Juliana and Luciano, but sometimes in sport is just like this, we got lucky at the end and we won’t complain about it.”

Juliana Duque with crew Rafael Martins, her husband, are from Brazil and have been leading this week’s ranking for the first three days, and finished the Snipe Western Championship as runners up with great honor. Luciano Pesci and Barbara Brotons (ARG), this morning’s provisional leaders, finished third just one point behind the Brazilians.

Lights went off at Western & Orient Snipe Class Championship 2018 after the prize giving ceremony at Club Nautico Olivos that brilliantly organized the event.

“I am very satisfied with this Championship”, said Snipe Class Commodore Pietro Fantoni, “both from the sport and the organization points of view. It’s great that we had such a competitive fleet, on the first day there were at least ten teams that could have won it, and still having five possible winners this morning it’s a sign of great equilibrium in the fleet.

“I am also very happy to have the top six teams sporting a mixed crew, showing that with moderate to light wind the men/women teams are just as competitive and it makes me think it could be the right direction to take.

“I am really pleased on how the event was managed, Club Nautico Olivos was very efficient and so nice and welcoming to both sailors and class officers, Teodoro Kundig, alias ‘Kiko’, with all of his Committee did a fantastic job, proving to be very experienced, no surprises as Kiko was PRO at the Olympic Games in Rio. Big thanks goes to the Argentinian Class for supporting all of this, to the class measurer and the jury, everybody did an amazing job in their position.”

This is the last big Championship for the International Snipe Class for the year, an intense 2018 with the European Championship, the Master Worlds, the Women’s Championship and the Western Hemisphere.

2019 will be very busy, with both the Junior and Senior World Championship in Ilhabela in Brazil and the Pan-Am Games in Lima, Peru, and the class is already focusing on the 2020 Europeans in Split, Croatia, and the Western in the USA.

Event Website – Results – Facebook

Source: Snipe Class International Racing Association, Rachele Vitello