US Snipe Sailor

Fall 2013

A Snipe is a Snipe is a Snipe, only as time goes by, some are more so. The rich history of the Snipe is happily being preserved by John Rose and others with “The Classic Snipe.” I like many of you have my own rich history of Snipes.

My first snipe experience was in our wooden Snipe at our summer place on Lake Belle Taine in Minnesota. My first rides on this Snipe occurred before we had electricity or plumbing up there. This boat had a pivoting centerboard (very heavy) and a kick-up rudder.

My dad bought a Lofland fiberglass Snipe in 1966. I remember distinctly his pulling it up from Muskogee to the factory in Wichita in an ice storm in January of 1967 to get Lofland to put a bailer in it. The whole family went, and my three sisters just knew everyone that saw us pulling that boat through the snow and ice thought we were crazy. The fact is, we were all going there anyway since we were going to Ineta’s and my wedding.

During the Vietnam era, when I was playing my way through the war with my oboe in the USAF at Offutt AFB, NE, my friends told me about Snipe race results printed in the Omaha paper. Within two weeks I had become the proud owner of a used Lofland Snipe 15951. I cut my racing teeth with the Iowa Nebraska Sailing Association for three years. With 25-30 boats on the line nearly every club race, and no 720 rule, protests were just part of the process; especially with sea lawyers like Past Commodore Paul Festersen. My two greatest memories from those times were beating Dave Haggart to win my first race, and squeaking out 10th place in the 1971 club 54-race series. After countless visits to their Missouri Valley Championships, I finally won the 50th Annual in 2000!

My second Snipe was Chubasco 17571 which I bought in 1976. My third was my current McLaughlin 25517 which I bought used in 1986. As of this year’s Don Q, I am the proud owner of a BRAND NEW Jibe Tech!

If a Snipe is a Snipe, why do we ever replace them, or in some cases, collect them? While the basic measurements have stayed nearly the same, innovations just keep coming. One obvious one is self-rescuing flotation. Masts and rigging improve. I was able to move the shrouds out and forward on my 1983 McGo, keep the bottom very fast, and actually qualify for 2013 Worlds in it. Of course, that was on my “home” lake with modest competition, plenty of wind shifts and no chop. Boats that are considered current today go through the chop better and are arranged better for hiking and for managing that bed of snakes we use to control everything.

For you who stay primarily on inland lakes and keep rigging and sails current, weight to the minimum, and a fast bottom surface, if your boat has been fast, it still will be. But if you haven’t taken a ride on a “current” model, try it. You’ll definitely like it.

Martin Bebb--US National Secretary

SCIRA USA2812 Canon Street

San Diego, CA 92106619-222-0252

Danielle Richards, Executive Administratordanielle@odmsail.com

Sherri Campbell, SCIRA Financessherri@odmsail.com

Jerelyn Biehl, SCIRA International Executive Directorjerelyn@odmsail.com

From the OfficeWelcome to the revived edition of the US Snipe Sailor!

By the time you see this our US Worlds team will be in Rio participating in the 2013 Jr. and Sr. World Championship. You can follow their progress by visiting www.snipeworlds.org. We wish them the best of luck and know they will make us all proud.

Just because Labor Day has passed does not mean that you need to pack up your boat for the winter. There are still plenty of great regattas this fall including the Frigid Digit in Annapolis (Oct 5-6), the Halloween Regatta at the Atlanta Regatta (Oct 25-27) and the Women’s Snipe Nationals in Ft. Lauderdale (Nov 22-24). These are all sanctioned regattas and great events to attend.

Speaking of the Women’s Nationals, all of our lady Snipe sailors should do whatever they can to attend. The organizing committee led by Sharon Seymour-Johnson and Connie Commette has a fabulous event planned. Don’t have a boat? not a problem, charters are available. Need housing? just ask. Can’t find a babysitter? they have that covered. You have no excuses. If you know a young female sailor who might be interested please direct them to the office. We would love to see some new faces at the event.

Are you interested in being a SCIRA USA Leader? The Board is seeking nominations for the Public Relations and Marketing Director, Director of Finance, Chief Measurer and District 7 Governor. This is a great way to get involved in the governance of the Class and give back to the sport. For more information contact Martin Bebb, Brainard Cooper or Danielle in the office.

Lastly, if you have not heard, Martin Bebb, National Secretary of SCIRA USA has announced that One Design Management (ODM) of San Diego, CA has been appointed to take over management of Snipe US administration effective July 1. Danielle Richards of ODM will take over as Executive Administrator of SCIRA USA.

One Design Management is a sailing class management firm founded by Jerelyn Biehl and Sherri Campbell. ODM manages the administration of classes such as SCIRA International, Laser NA, the International 29er and Etchells Classes, High School Sailing, and others.

Danielle will be the primary contact for all Snipe US questions and business. Sherri Campbell will be the SCIRA US Treasurer and can assist with any questions related to dues payments, Perpetual Fund donations and other SCIRA US Financial Matters. Jerelyn Biehl is the SCIRA International Executive Secretary and will assist as another point of contact for our members as well as a great resource on all things Snipe.

See you on the water!

Fall 2013 2

Upon the recent passing of Francis Seavy, 1951 Snipe US National Champion, Class members were asked to send in photographs and memories of Francis

for inclusion in the Snipe Sailor and in our archives. Since this writer knew Francis for 61 years (when claiming to have known

Francis for 61 years, I wouldn’t wish to imply that he knew ME all that time. We were introduced at the 1952 Snipe Nationals, but that’s about it. It is doubtful that a 15 year-old boy made that much of an impression.), it seemed proper for me to see what I might find, but not much from a time over half a century ago has survived, except memories of following his Snipe 6995 around so many race courses for so many years and hearing Francis’ frequent, distinctive high-pitched laughter.

There is, however one photograph, a group shot of competitors, taken at the skippers meeting at the ‘52 Nationals in Green Lake, Wisconsin. And it takes this viewer back… back to a time of cotton and Orlon sails, wooden hulls and masts, and the larger-than-life characters who made up the fabric of the Snipe Class over half a century ago.

This 1952 National Championship is the very first Nationals, indeed the very first “big” regatta, that I’ve attended. I am part of the Privateer Yacht Club

“team” headed by young phenom Billy Roberts (he’s 13 years old), his father Dixie, and Ray Boswell. I have been Billy’s crew in the Junior Nationals, which finished just the day before we all pose for this photo, and will be Ray’s crew in the Nationals, while Dixie will crew for Billy. In later years Billy will win two Snipe Junior Nationals and will, as an adult, design, build, and sail very fast catamarans. Among other accomplishments, for a time he will hold the record for the fastest time around Holland in one of his designs.

Frozen in time, there Francis sits on the grass in the front row, defending National Champion, hugging his knees, white sox and tennis shoes (no “boat” shoes back then), jeans rolled up a turn or two. And his hair is the dark hair of a man in his 30’s. He’ll finish 3rd in this 1952 Nationals, and he sits next to his crew, Pete Duvoisin. In a couple of years from the day of this photograph, Pete and I are going to find ourselves in the same college freshman dorm. And some years later he’ll move to Chattanooga where we will remain friends into our late 70s. And beyond.

There’s Morrie and Rocky next to Pete. With 2 first place finishes and a second, Morris Whitney and Rocky Carrick have run away with the Juniors. Billy and I have managed to finish second, but Morrie and Rocky were so far ahead of us we couldn’t read their sail numbers at the finish of each race. Morrie and Rocky will also be runners-up in the Nationals by the end of the week.

Floyd Hughes is behind Rocky, a really nice man, and there’s the Great White Father himself, Ted Wells, and his crew Art Lippett. Ted and Art will win this regatta here in Wisconsin (it will be Ted’s last US Nationals win), and many years later Ted and I will frequently share correspondence, and he’ll tell me tales of his air racing exploits as a young man. And, in the end, I’ll write an obituary of him for one of the flying magazines when he passes.

All the faces! So many jump out of the photo. “Cousin” Eddie Williams, building “street cred” before anyone knew what that was, with his baseball cap on sideways. Wife Eleanor is right in front of him, mostly obscured in the photograph. “Beth “Downwind” Olsen and her husband Dennis are just in front. Beth will finish 4th, the first great female US Snipe sailor.

Right in the middle is new Snipe Commodore Carl Zimmerman. Zimmy has been commodore for about 24 hours in this photograph following the unexpected death of Commodore Owen Duffy of my home club. Billy and I, sharing a bedroom a few doors from the club, have been up most of the night, boys learning to deal with the realities of far more import than sailboat racing, one of which has taken Owen just 24 hours ago at age 39. When we left for Green Bay, we departed from the Duffy residence. Four days ago he was helping

Remembering Francis Seavyus pack up the boat, and now…Billy is 13 and I am 15, and the sudden death of someone in the prime of life is oh so new to us.

I can see “Capt.” John Hayward, decked out in a captain’s cap, and his long-time crew Otto Weisner. In 1952, Billy and I think him an old man. Strange, but 61 years later he doesn’t look so old! Two years after this skippers meeting photograph, I’ll be looking through a Life magazine in my college dormitory room in Durham and will be taken aback when I come across a full-

page photograph of “Capt. John.” The photograph, which shows him sitting at a drafting table, illustrates a feature article which paints “old” Capt. John, to my great surprise, as a revolutionary figure. According to the article, all he has done is to revolutionize the oil industry, and his work will affect the United States and the world from that time until now in the 21st century. According to the Life article, John T. Hayward is the inventor and designer of the “Texas Tower” oil drilling rig, the man who took off-shore oil drilling out of the shallows and into the deep sea! That college freshman will still be impressed all these years later.

Right behind John and Otto are Mimi and the irrepressible Sam Norwood.

We have just met, but they will be friends until their passing. Hattie Carver and Jill Zeratsky are front and center. They’re from Green Lake, and where is Jill’s little brother Gibby? Oh, there he is down on the left sitting on the grass next to Rocky.

Up top, here’s Buzzy and Harry Levinson. More than almost anyone in the Snipe Class, these two along with their brother Frank are responsible for our continued existence as a class, since they led the fight (and “fight” is the proper noun) in the 1970s to reduce the weight of the boat from its original 425 pounds to our current 381 pounds. And there are Jack and Dick Tillman and the O’Brien brothers (are they from Council Bluffs, I can no longer be sure). Terry Whittemore is right behind then, partially hidden. And next to Sam Norwood and just in front of the O’Briens is Ray Boswell, my skipper in the Nationals.

Way in the back is Julie Kroeger from Buffalo. Julie is, to put things mildly, unconventional. He has hitch-hiked from Buffalo with his clothes in his sail bag. He borrows a boat from the Zeratskys and asks around for a crew. Somewhere in my attic there is a snapshot of Julie and his crew. He has decided that he does not like the shape of the boat’s pivoting centerboard, has careened the boat over on the shore, and is busily grinding away on the leading edge of the board. His crew sits disconsolately on shore holding the mast head down while Julie, knee deep in the water, works on the board. Julie will win the first-ever Atlanta Halloween Regatta a few years from this photo.

There are a couple of dinosaurs in the photo, too. One of them, a young imp standing right behind Zimmy, has trailered his boat to Green Bay behind a pre-war Ford and will grow up to be John Rose, who over 60 years later busies himself searching for and cataloging wooden Snipes from this time long ago and promoting their restoration and use.

With a couple of bullets in the last three races, John will take 3rd in the inaugural Wells Series when these 1952 Nationals are over. His story of suffering regatta-ending damage while on port tack in front of Francis Seavy, and then finding that Francis repaired his boat overnight is one of the better Snipe stories, illustrating as it does the life-long sportsmanship that Francis embodied.

The other dinosaur is standing next to Billy Roberts and his father, Dixie. He has a shock of unruly dark hair and, to be kind, “prominent “ears. He has a perplexed look as though he doesn’t really know what’s going on, and in truth, that may be the fact. He will never finish higher in a major championship than the 2nd place finish in the Juniors here in Green Bay with Billy Roberts , but will in later years find himself in many different SCIRA leadership positions where if he is still somewhat perplexed by it all, he will try not to show it. And on an afternoon 61 years later, he will sit down at a computer and write about all of

Francis Seavy and Bruce Cochran

Left to right: Ned Lockwood, Buzz Levinson, John Borum (Atlanta Fleet Captain), Sam Norwood, Francis Seavy, Guy Roberts

Fall 20133

SCIRA US Racing Calendar

the Snipe people in this photograph, so many of them no longer with us. The ones he remembers so fondly, and those he wishes he could recall from so long ago.

Brainard Cooper

That regatt a (the 1952 Snipe Nati onals) was my fi rst big Snipe regatt a away from home. I was 16 yrs old and drove my 1936 Ford sedan with the boat trailered behind from Grand Rapids MI to Manistee MI where we loaded aboard a ferry to WI and then to Green Lake, and back. We were the fi rst Grand Rapids Snipe team ever to compete in a Snipe Nati onal Championship (the fl eet was chartered in 1941).

While getti ng prepared to start in one race in the qualifying series (before the Crosby Series was inaugurated), we got mixed up in a port-starboard situati on with Francis Seavy (we were on port, neither of us saw the other), and Seavy rammed into our starboard bow which resulted in a large hole in the starboard forward

Francis Seavy, Augie Diaz & Gonzalo (Old Man) Diaz, 1970 Midwinters.

topsides planking. We dropped out of the race before it started, as we would have sunk and we were in the wrong anyway.

I thought that was the end of our sailing in the Nati onals, and that night we went by boat to a great seafood dinner by Norton’s Marine Dining Room (great fi sh chowder!) at a remote lakeside park locati on on Green Lake. The next morning we got up and went to the boat storage yard to pack up our boat and head back to MI.

To my surprise, the boat was all fi xed up, ready to sail. It seems that Francis Seavy and his crew Pete Duvoisin (60 years later Duvoisin would say it was “mostly Francis”) went to a boat supply store and picked up epoxy or polyester repair materials, climbed inside the boat and repositi oned all the broken secti ons of planking, and the topside repair was completed for racing. That was the greatest display of good sportsmanship that I’ve ever seen - I always held Seavy in highest esteem aft er that, especially glad that we did not aff ect his performance as defending nati onal champion.

We won two back-to-back races in the Wells Division (new series that year) and fi nished third overall, right behind winner Mike Jaeger and second place Harold Griffi th.

John Rose

Month Date Sancti oned Regatt a VenueOctober 5-6 CGSC Annual Regatt a Coconut Grove, FL

5-6 S Frigid Digit Annapolis, MD12-13 Southerns Birmingham, AL26-27 S Halloween Atlanta, GA26-27 Carolyn Nute Memorial Mission Bay, CA

November 16-17 Florida State Championships St. Petersburg, FL22-24 S US Women’s Championship Jacksonville, FL

December 7 Gator Bowl Jacksonville, FLJanuary 4-6 Miami Snipe Invitati onal Coconut Grove, FL

11-12 Gaspar Pirate St. Petersburg, FL25-26 Las Vegas Regatt a Mission Bay, CA

Spooks and goblins from all over are returning to Lake Allatoona for the 59th annual Halloween Regatta at the Atlanta Yacht Club. The essence of Serious Sailing – Serious Fun, competitive sailing, down-home cooking, and the most awesome costume party of the year with a live band. It’s a family friendly event so gather all your witches, snitches, and hobgoblins and come see the brand new Clubhouse and enjoy a great Fall weekend Snipe Fleet 330 style - y’all come!

Online registration and general information:www.atlantayachtclub.org/halloween

Atlanta Yacht Club7120 Yacht Club DriveAcworth, GA 30102(770) 974.9189

Courtney BradleyRegatta Chairmansnipe12021@mindspring.com

October 25 - 27, 2013 / Atlanta Yacht ClubThe Halloween Regatta - A Southern Sailing Tradition since 1953

H

ALLOWEEN REGA

TTA

Final Results - 2013 US Masters

Fall 2013

O’Hare’s Claim 2013 US Masters

The Snipe Masters is always more than just a Snipe regatta – it is more of an experience. It is more than a bunch of old friends competing at a high level, or even regaling long-ago tales with slightly exaggerated content. No, it is much more…..• - It’s about having one skipper (The Old Man) who could

race with a newborn and still have 3 years margin to make the minimum total team age - and who still can cut loose on the dance floor with Carmen, his wife. Still, three others (Jerry Thomson, Lanny Coon and Norm Dahl) would require no more than a 6 year old as a crew;

• - It’s about Norm Dahl from Newport YC in Rochester NY sailing with his Dallas-based daughter Laura, who collectively had to strain their memory banks to recall the numbers of the four boats Norm has had since his first Snipe numbered 12767;

• - It’s about the jolly Korkosz family making it (including parrot Captain Flint). John and daughter Adrienne placed with a perfect straight of finishes (9, 10, 11, 12) - time to hit Vegas, guys;

• - It’s about our fearless leader US National Secretary Martin Beeb belting out the last verse of Elvis Presley’s “Jailhouse Rock” after the band cut the dancers off one verse prematurely, and then grabbing the mic to lead sing Okie from Muskogee later that Saturday night;

• - It’s about the first and second-time Masters, including the Ohio teams of Carey and Shirley Jay from Cowen Lake and Neil Gerren and Stephanie Stephens from Portage Lake;

• - It’s about all the stories from the past that make this class what it is, including Jerry Thompson’s ever-revolving fleet that include the first Chubasco (16333) and the first Persson in the US: the sea foam green beauty he raced at the event with Mandi. Or The Old Man pining about how he capsized his beloved wooden Gerber in a race soon after moving to the US, only to watch his young son Augie capsize coincidentally, but quickly right it and continue racing - it was then that he reluctantly realized he would have to “trade up” to a self-rescuing snipe;

• - It’s about the top notch Erie Yacht Club support crew continuously feeding and beer-hydrating the sailors and the flawless army of race committee, headed by Principal Race Officer Bill Lasher, who pulled out all the stops despite the three days of light-air conditions to make this a SUPURB event;

• - It’s about 20 teams of friends from the corners of the US: from Southern CA, the entire Atlantic coast, Midwest and even some with Scandinavian accents (St. Louis - based Stephan and Monica Irgens);

• - It’s about a past SCIRA Commodore and a woman skipper finishing in the top 3;

• - It’s about Gavin and his wife, regatta chair and Erie YC junior sailing alumnus Holly O’Hare claiming the championship in the last leg and a half if the series.

All these add up to yet another case of …. .Serious Sailing, Serious Fun.- Art Rousmaniere

US Masters Competitors gather for a group photo

Camp Thompson at the US Masters

Skipper/Crew Sail # total

1 Gavin/Holly O’Hare 30629 5 1 4 1 11

2 Lee Griffith/Nikki Bruno 30904 3 2 1 5 11

3 Jennifer/Art Rousmaniere 29499 1 4 5 2 12

4 Don Hackbarth/Nancy Gilreath 30942 4 5 2 7 18

5 Pedro Lorson/Mimi Berry 30304 6 3 3 10 22

6 Lanny Coon/Maria Magin 29702 8 6 8 3 25

7 Paul-Jon Patin/Felicity Ryan 28383 10 9 11 4 34

8 Joel Zackin/Kara Morris 29111 7 15 9 8 39

9 Gonzalo Diaz/Greg Saldana 30336 2 7 10 21 40

10 John/Adrienne Korkosz 28648 11 10 12 9 42

11 Martin Bebb/Dave Shaw 25517 13 11 13 6 43

12 Jerry Thompson/Mandi Smith 24702 9 8 6 21 44

13 Carey/Shirley Jay 29148 17 19 7 11 54

14 Norm Dahl/Laura O’Leary 28443 12 13 18 13 56

15 William/April Worster 30110 14 14 14 15 57

16 Mark/Monica Bloomstine 28272 16 12 16 17 61

17 Neil Gerren/Stephanie Stephens 24087 15 17 19 12 63

18 Matt Heywood/Leslie Hill 28714 18 16 17 14 65

19 John Detinger/Ken Fourspring 29008 19 20 15 16 70

20 Stephan/Monica Irgens 28470 20 18 20 21 79