2014 Snipe US Nationals: Full of Surprises

By Carol Cronin

When we drove into Okoboji, IA, home of this year’s US Nationals, I didn’t know much about the state or the lake for which the town is named. And since we didn’t know the state motto, we made one up: “It’s full of surprises.” It seemed to fit, both on shore and on the race course.

One surprising fact about Lake Okoboji is that it is one of only three “blue” lakes in the entire world—and the other two are in Switzerland. Since it’s spring-fed, the water is crystal clear and clean enough to drink. At the bottom left of the race course where a point jutted out into the lake (a point that also happened to be the campground home of Team San Diego), I actually thought we were going to run aground a few times since the rocks looked so close to the surface—even though the water was actually quite deep.

Since it is the largest lake for hundreds of miles, vacationers of all stripes flock there in the summer to swim, fish—and yes, race sailboats. The lake was crowded with powerboats of all shapes, sizes, and speeds, making the sailing a bit challenging at times as the waves were usually bigger than the breeze.

Okoboji Yacht Club is well-respected in midwest sailing circles, and the Race Committee did a great job fitting in the maximum possible number of quality races. The wind committee did not do such a great job and failed to whistle up a sailable breeze at all for the last two days. Fortunately, the RC had correctly predicted this and started off with three races on Monday. (The third was after a leisurely lunch break on shore.) Two races each on Tuesday and Wednesday gave us a very respectable seven race series. And somehow the expected heat and humidity never appeared, though the extremely pleasant conditions for sitting around were undoubtedly related to the lack of wind.

Anyone who followed the event will already know that the results were dominated by Raul Rios/Henry Dumke, who won five races. (Their other two finishes were thirds.) Shoreside, however, was a bit more egalitarian. The local fleet members (most of whom are from Omaha, Nebraska, about 3 hours away) shared information about places to eat and showed us how to drive a Snipe around on a trailer with the mast up. The San Diego and Florida sailors put together an impromptu tuning/sailing clinic on Thursday morning, once it was clear that the predicted morning breeze would not materialize. And Snipe sailors from across the country had a chance to meet new friends, catch up with old ones, and admire various generations of Snipes, all without leaving the well-shaded Yacht Club lawn. Snipe Camp, at its finest.

For me there were two special boats on site: 28099, which (along with skipper Ed Adams) taught me how to sail a Snipe. That boat also taught me (and Ed) some humility, when we ended up winning the Wells Series in 1990. The second special boat was 28444, which has what is still my favorite custom paint job to come out of Jibetech: a blue overspray/faded edge that looks different depending on the heel angle. Builder Andrew Pimental and I finished second at the 1992 Nationals in that boat, and it still looks great. The rail-less Jibetechs might be mostly out to pasture in the flat water sailing of the Midwest, but their latest owners are keeping them alive and well.

Oh, and the actual motto of Iowa? Disappointingly serious: “Our liberties we prize and our rights we will maintain.” After a week of sailing on Lake Okoboji, the Great Lake of Iowa, I prefer ours: “It’s full of surprises.”

2014 US Nationals – Final

Place	#	Country		Skipper & Crew	Division	Fleet	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	R7	Total
1	29841		PUR	Raul Rios & Henry Dumke	Junior	591	1	– 3	1	1	1	1	3	8
2	29941		USA	Doug Hart & Ryan Hopps	Master	495	2	– 4	3	2	4	3	2	16
3	30288		USA	Augie Diaz & Aine McLean	Master	7	3	5	2	3	3	– 6	4	20
4	30473		USA	Ernesto Rodriguez & Kate Sheahan	Senior	7	4	1	5	7	2	4	– 10	23
5	30860		USA	Carol Cronin & Kim Couranz	Master	17	5	– 8	4	4	5	2	5	25
6	30904		USA	Lee Griffith & Hillary Noble	Master	256	– 14	2	7	5	9	5	7	35
7	29778		USA	Roberto Guaragna & Andre Guaragna	Master	7	7	6	6	10	7	– 19	1	37
8	30089		USA	Andrew Klein & Jessica Claflin	Master	77	6	9	9	– 18	11	8	8	51
9	30088		USA	Will Crary & Lara Dallman-Weiss	Junior	309	9	10	13	6	8	10	– 16	56
10	30618		USA	Don Bedford & Eric Heim	Senior	495	– 16	7	10	14	6	9	11	57
11	30336		USA	Gonzalo Diaz & Patti Bess	Master	7	8	12	– 15	11	14	12	6	63
12	30568		USA	Peggy Tautz & Steve Tautz	Senior	640	11	– 15	14	9	10	11	9	64
13	29109		USA	Stuart Robertson & Adam Elshahawry	Master	495	12	14	– 34 dsq	8	24	7	13	78
14	30262		USA	John Coolidge & Christian Cyrul	Senior	142	10	– 18	12	12	16	16	15	81
15	30600		USA	Kevin & Maxwell Hetherington-Young	Senior	77	– 20	11	11	13	18	18	12	83
16	29972		USA	Michael Bowers & Belinda Barnes	Senior	77	13	13	17	16	17	15	– 18	91
17	28472		USA	Cliff Wright & Hannah Graham	Master	444	15	– 23	18	17	12	13	19	94
18	28099		USA	Laura Dalgleish & Daniel Dalgleish	Senior	1	– 22	16	20	15	13	17	14	95
19	30477		USA	Gene Soltero & Laura Dahl O’leary	Master	1	– 25	17	8	19	21	20	21	106
20	31157		USA	Martin Bebb & Anne Rusnak	Master	68	21	25	26	– 27	19	14	17	122
21	28482		USA	Chris Scofield & Courtney Zurek	Senior	309	17	20	19	22	22	22	– 25	122
22	29323		USA	David Baker & Andrea Slouka	Master	640	19	19	21	24	26	– 27	22	131
23	29738		USA	George Rood & Jan Churchill	Master	309	24	22	16	20	– 28	24	27	133
24	28900		USA	Doug Swenson & Sarah Thomas	Master	210	23	21	23	23	20	– 28	26	136
25	28444		USA	Guy Thomas & William Thomas	Junior	567	26	27	25	– 34 dnf	15	21	24	138
26	27731		USA	Rick Scofield & Natasha Mason	Master	309	27	– 34 ocs	22	25	23	29	20	146
27	31188		USA	Mike Slouka & Steve Kurtz	Master	640	– 28	24	28	28	25	25	28	158
28	29692		USA	Carl Mattson & Julie Mattson	Master	640	– 32	29	31	21	27	26	30	164
29	27523		USA	William Brush & Tina Brush	Master	309	29	28	24	30	30	31	– 34 dns	172
30	28470		USA	Stephan Irgens & Monica Irgens	Master	705	18	26	27	– 34 dnc	34 dnc	34 dnc	34 dnc	173
31	30221		USA	Steve Avery & Harry Whittenburg	Master		30	31	29	26	29	– 34 dnc	34 dnc	179
32	31244		USA	Eliot Payson & Tyler Payson	Master	640	– 31	30	30	29	31	30	29	179
33	30680		USA	Philip Lee & Damaris Cano	Master	309	– 34 dnc	34 dnc	34 dnc	34 dnc	34 dnc	23	23	182

Results, race details, and lots of great photos (courtesy Roberto Guaragna) are available on snipeusa.com.