Recognizing excellence in Cuba

by Craig Leweck, Scuttlebutt Sailing News
The International Snipe Class recognized five people as 2024 Hall of Fame Inductees, advancing its sixth class of individuals who made made outstanding contributions to the competition and organization. Among the group is Cuban Nelido Manso who was the 1999 Snipe World Champion.

I raced against Manso in the 80s and 90s but we never spoke, not that we could have. I didn’t speak Spanish, though I’m not sure conversation was permitted. He and his crew were heavily watched, as Cuban athletes had been known to defect, and his security detail was likely warned about my “après sailing.”

I did have to protest him at the 1988 Snipe Western Hemisphere Championship in which he was disqualified for failing to give room at a mark rounding. Knowledge of the racing rules seemed thin at that time, and my hails were clearly lost in translation. But Manso was a stud and a machine on the race course.

The Snipe Class has an important history in Cuba, and I applaud Manso as the first Cuban resident on the island to enter the Snipe Class Hall of Fame.