SCIRA Canada

The Snipe Canadian Championship was held September 18,19th on Guelph Lake, with eight crews vying for the national title.

Faced with dropping water levels, the competitors first task was to lash two docks together in order to make a single one long enough to launch from.

Day one, with a variable six knot breeze, was all about finding the wind on the course and staying out of the holes. Harri Palm and Stacey Hatleled managed to do this better than anyone else, and finished the first day with a four point lead over defending champions Julian and Oliver Inglis.

The battle for the Howie Richards trophy was being fought between defending junior champions Lucas Conrad and Mason McGrath, and newcomer Ali Çalgici and crew Leo Stephens.

Ali is new to the snipe class and new to Canada, bringing a wealth of Laser Radial experience with him from his native Turkey.  It was great to see two strong junior crews at the regatta. Both crews had strong races on the first day, but Calgici and Stephens pulled ahead with a first-place finish in the last race of the day.  

Day two brought a 180 degree shift in direction, and a knot or two more breeze at times, but still remained light and shifty.   For the juniors, Calgici and Stephens, despite some technical challenges,  continued to sail well and edged further ahead of Conrad and Mcgrath to take home the Howie Richards Trophy. to  Palm and Hatleled, once again demonstrated their light air mastery, and continued with strong finishes through the day, in the end holding their four-point lead to win the regatta.

Thanks to all the competitors, and a special thanks to our fearless PRO Andrew Rowlinson, who has been supporting the Snipe Class and racing at GCBC all summer. We can’t thank him enough for his commitment to racing at the club.

https://theclubspot.com/regatta/VguMq9WrKk/results

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The Canadian Snipe Championship took place this past weekend with two fantastic days of racing on Guelph Lake.

On Day One, the wind direction (and shiftiness) combined with a shrinking lake made it a challenge for PRO Dave Sprague to find a wide enough spot to set a course, but he managed to find just the right spot. The light breeze held through the day, and after eight races, defending champion Harri Palm was in the lead with former Canadian Champion Chris Hains close behind. After blowing out a halyard in the 5th race. Julian and Oliver Inglis finished the day strong with three consecutive wins. Edging them up into third place.

Day 2 presented sailors with typical Guelph Lake challenge: 7-10 knot lulls punctuated randomly by 15 to 18 knot shifty gusts rolling down the lake.

Julian and Oliver Inglis continued their momentum from the previous day and won the first two races, bringing them up to within a point of the leaders, Palm & Hatlelid.

In the final two races the frequency and intensity of the gusts continued to build, throwing some chaos into the races with several boats capsizing on the tricky downwind legs. Juniors Lucas Conrad and Mason McGrath pulled off a second place finish in Race 12 demonstrating some serious heavy air chops and edging ahead of former Canadian Junior Champions Inessa Townsend Fish and Krisina Harris in the standings. Inglis & Inglis pulled off a 3rd place finish and another win, edging into the lead.

With several boats capsized and the wind continuing to build, PRO Irene McNeil called the boats into the dock after the twelfth race.

Results after 12 Races:

Julian & Oliver Inglis 1st

Harri Palm/Tracy Hatlelid 2nd

Chris Hains/Adam Caldwell/Simone Maksym 3rd

Lucas Conrad/Mason McGrath 1st Junior Crew

Full results

On behalf of all the sailors, a special thanks goes out to our two PRO’s Dave Sprague and Irene McNeill, and to all the volunteers that helped out through the weekend.

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The first snipe regatta of the 2020 season kicked off this past weekend (three months later than usual) with the much vaunted and highly coveted Palm D’Or.

On Saturday, a puffy shifty breeze gave us some classic Guelph Lake racing, which was often close and intense, with the top four boats exchanging the lead through the day. After seven races Harri Palm/Stacey Hatlelid edged ahead with consistent finishes and ended the day with two point lead over the nearest crew.

Sunday unfortunately saw crews sitting on shore for most of the morning waiting for wind that never came. Travis Raw the PRO eventually made the call and cancelled the day’s racing, and the 2020 Palm D’Or was awarded to Palm and Hatlelid.

Great racing everybody, and we look forward to the National Championship next weekend.

See the Final results here.

https://theclubspot.com/regatta/z4Z6r9jRfb/results

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