Western Hempisphere & Orient Championship – Day 1

Olivos, Buenos Aires, October 23, 2018

by Rachele Vitello

The 2018 Western Hemisphere & Orient Championship of the International Snipe Class kicked off on the water today, October 23rd, in Buenos Aires with two races sailed in quite windy conditions. 15-18 knots gusting up to 20 created some thrilling starts with a couple of general recalls and a zulu flag start and mark rounding on the Olivos racecourse.

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The event officially started yesterday with the practice race and the Opening Ceremony at the yacht club, Nautico Olivos Club, that organizes the event alongside the Snipe Class Argentinian Association with the cooperation of the International Snipe Class. At the ceremony the army band played for the international teams that came to Argentina for the Championship and the Club Commodore and Class officials welcomed the whole fleet. Racing will go on from today, Tuesday, until Saturday October the 27th, with a fleet of 43 teams representing ten countries: Uruguay, Brazil, Chile, Perú, Ecuador, Cuba, Canada, Japan, United States, and Argentina.

The Western Hemisphere & Orient Championship is the last event to qualify the Nations to the 2019 Pan Am Games that will be held in Lima, Peru, from July 26ht to August 11th. At the moment only Cuba and Canada are left to qualify, but the Canadian team is not sailing Mixed, so the spot will go to Cuba.

Two races are scheduled per day every day until next Saturday, when the winners will be crowned during the prize giving and closing ceremony. Prizes will be awarded to the overall top ten skippers and crews, the first skipper and crew for the Master, same for the Junior and for the first ladies.

The top five in the provisional ranking (some protest are being discussed by the jury regarding some measurement issues with some of the leading boats):

1 – Tiago Brito – Antonio Rosa
2 – Juliana Duque – Rafael Martins
3 – Ricardo Fabini – Florencia Parnizari
4 – Luis Soubiè – Brenda Quagliotti
5 – Luciano Pesci – Barbara Brotons

* Results (after protests):

1. BRA Juliana Duque & Rafael martins, 9

2. URU Ricardo Fabini & Florencia Parnizari, 11

3. BRA Tiago Brito & Antonio Rosa, 11

4. ARG Luis Soubie & Brenda Quagliotti, 15

5. ARG Luciano Pesci & Barbara Brotons, 18

(full results attached)

Every day updates are available on the FaceBook page Snipe Today
https://www.facebook.com/SnipeToday/

Official Event’s website:
https://2018.snipewho.com/

Results – Day 1