2002 SNIPE WESTERN HEMISPHERE AND
ORIENT CHAMPIONSHIP
Sept. 24-28 / Alamitos Bay Yacht Club, Long Beach,
Calif.
www.abyc.org
Sept. 24, 2002 For Immediate Release
SNIPE WESTERNS SERVE UP LAKE-STYLE SAILING, SOUP
ON THE SIDE
 |
| Snipes sail upwind toward a U.S.
Navy ship shrouded by fog. Photo by Rich Roberts |
LONG BEACH, Calif.---This wasn't on
the menu for the 2002 Snipe Western Hemisphere and Orient
Championship: light air and pea soup.
"Very non-typical Long Beach,"
said Randy Lake of San Diego, who wasn't complaining Tuesday
after he and crew Piet Van Os won the first of seven scheduled
races of the biennial event when the wind never exceeded 8
knots and fog was so thick that even some of the committee
boats had trouble finding their way back into the harbor afterward.
Alexandre Paradeda, the reigning world
champion from Brazil, asked afterward, "This is not normal
here, no? Finding the marks was a big problem for us."
Lake, who placed third in the previous
Snipe Westerns in Argentina in 2000, said, "The light
air was what we were hoping for. We're not strong heavy air
sailors. If this regatta goes windy we're in trouble."
 |
| Winners Randy Lake and Piet Van
Os of San Diego cross world champions Alexandre Paradeda
and Flavio Fernandes of Brazil before the last leeward
gate. Photo by Rich Roberts |
Paradeda and crew Flavio Fernandes finished
second a few boat lengths in front of five-time U.S. national
champion Augie Diaz of Miami, sailing with Jon Rogers.
Six more races are scheduled for the
regatta based at the Alamitos Bay Yacht Club---two each Wednesday,
Friday and Saturday, with Thursday off. Racing will start
at 1 p.m., conditions permitting.
For the opener, the 25 boats from seven
countries sailed a 5.9-nautical mile, twice-around, windward-leeward
course set on the open ocean outside the breakwater. It was
shortened from 6.5 miles when the race committee calculated
that the winner might not meet the two-hour time limit. As
it was, Lake crossed the finish line with nine minutes to
spare.
 |
| Randy Lake and crew Piet Van
Os (28854) nailed a pin-end start to launch their opening
win. Photo by Rich Roberts |
Lake, a 31-year-old airline pilot, led
at every mark except at the first leeward gate turn as the
leaders groped in the fog for the yellow inflatable marks.
"They were off to the side by 200
yards," principal race officer Mark Townsend said, "so
they were all coming in on a reach."
Paradeda led through the gate, but Lake
passed him for good on the upwind leg. Lake and Van Os set
up their win with a perfectly timed pin-end start, then tacked
a minute later to cross the fleet.
Lake said the fog didn't bother them
except for the first downwind leg "when we didn't know
where we were going. [Otherwise,] you can still tell if you're
getting the shifts or not. The biggest problem is I haven't
sailed a Snipe in six months. I didn't even know that I'd
qualified for this regatta until four weeks ago. I think the
guy to watch is Augie [Diaz]."
Diaz recovered from 15th place at the
first mark by falling into a favorable shift as what wind
there was swung through 40 degrees.
"We were very fortunate,"
Diaz said. "Jon [Rogers] did a nice job of keeping us
settled down, but I can tell you that Randy sailed real well
today. In these conditions and this strong a fleet, he was
not lucky."
 |
| Santiago Silveira and crew Nicolas
Shaban of Uruguay lead world champions Alexandre Paradeda
and Flavio Fernandes at the windward mark. The Uruguayans
placed sixth Tuesday. |
Rogers said, "He covered both sides
[of the course] very well."
Returning to the heavily shrouded harbor
was another matter, but only one boat went seriously astray.
The veteran Bibi Juetz of Brazil sailed her red boat up the
San Gabriel River channel adjacent to the Alamitos Bay entrance
jetty before finding her way back.
Complete results, photos and other information
are available at www.abyc.org. High-resolution photos suitable
for print reproduction are available upon request.
CHAIRMAN
Gordon Brown
(562) 434-9955
abcy@abyc.org or browgrdn@aol.com
PUBLICITY
Rich Roberts
Cell phone (310) 766-6547
Richsail@earthlink.net
