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Raffle to Support Traditions Build Winners Documentary

You can go to almost any yacht club in the world and when you ask people about their sailing history, chances are that at some point in their lives they sailed as Snipe.  If you ask those over 60 it’s a virtual certainty that some of their earliest memories are of Sniping.  With more than 30,000 boats worldwide, the Snipe Class is one of the oldest and one of the strongest one design classes racing today.

The Snipe Class’ rich history is what keeps it so strong in today’s rush to high performance sailing.  Serious Sailing, Serious Fun: Traditions Build Winners asks the question “How does the snipe Class keep producing winners after all these years?”  To answer that, we’ll explore the traditions of competition, camaraderie and sportsmanship that are the foundation of the Class.

Here’s how you can help complete the documentary and win a race ready Snipe at the same time.

Win a piece of Snipe history.  Jerry Thompson, 1956 Jr. National Champion and stalwart of the Class ever since, has donated his 1997 Nickels Snipe  #29302 to be raffled off to help us raise money for the documentary.

Here’s how the raffle works.  Between now and April 15, tax day,  anyone who donates $250 to the Serious Sailing, Serious Fun: Traditions Build Winners documentary project will be entered in the drawing for Jerry’s boat.  If you donate $500 you get two entries. $2,500 get’s you 10 entries. Picture yourself sailing away on this piece of Snipe history – for as little as $250.

Jerry’s boat is in sail away condition at the Alamitos Bay Yacht Club in Long Beach California.  You can pick it up there, or we’ll help you get it to somewhere else, but it’s FOB at the club. It does not come with a trailer.

 

We’ve raised over $1,500 from 18 backers on Kickstarter and additional money through SCIRA International.  We have 56 days left and that puts us on track for raising the remaining $6,000 by the deadline.  The smallest contribution was $10 and the biggest was $250 – but each and every donation gets us closer to the goal.  Here’s the url for you to donate to the documentary on line:

 

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1719722064/traditions-build-winners-as-the-snipe-class-turns?ref=search

 

We only give away the boat if we reach the $7,500 Kickstarter threshold and I don’t get any money from Kickstarter if we don’t reach the goal.  We’re on track to reach that target but we’ll need your help to get there.  You can read the rules of the raffle here:

http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=144526568921783&topic=316

For those of you looking for a US tax deduction, you can send a check directly to SCIRA International,  2812 Canon St., San Diego, CA  92106.  Make sure you put “Snipe documentary” on your check so it get’s properly credited.  Donations to SCIRA International during this period will also get you an entry in the raffle.

The Serious Sailing, Serious Fun: Traditions Build Winners documentary reached two more milestones over the past few weeks.

First! We’ve gotten interviews with three outstanding Snipers.  Two of them are middle aged and have gone on to stellar careers as professional sailors.  The other is just out of college but he’s already been to the Olympics.  What do they have in common?  All three of them started sailing Snipes in their teens with members of their family.  They know that the Snipe was a big part of the reason they have succeeded in our sport.

 

Torben Grael – 5 Olympic Medals from 1984 to 2004

2 Snipe World Championships 1983 and 1987

Snipe Jr. World Championship in 1978

Star World Championship in 1990

 

Paul Cayard – 7 time America’s Cup competitor

6 time World Champion from Star to Maxi

2004 US Olympic Team – Star

Rolex Yachtsman of the Year 1998

 

Andrew Campbell – 2008 US Olympic Team – Laser

2006 College Sailor of the Year

Laser NA Champion 2005

4 time collegiate All American sailor

 

You’ll be able to see the highlights of their interviews up on my YouTube channel shortly.

http://www.youtube.com/user/VinceSail?feature=mhum

 

Second! The documentary has moved on to the second round of judging for the Arnold Sports Film Festival and is in consideration to be screened as part of the Arnold Sports Festival in Columbus, OH the weekend of March 4, 5, 6.

The video I produced on the 2009 Snipe Worlds in San Diego has moved on to the next round and we’ll know in two weeks if its going to be screened! You can see that regatta clip through the documentary’s facebook page:

 

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Serious-Sailing-Serious-Fun-Traditions-Build-Winners/144526568921783?ref=ts

 

Thanks for supporting the Snipe Class and this documentary that will help the Class keep growing for the next 80 years.

 

Sincerely,

Vince Casalaina

Fleet 12 Captain

Snipe 30569

Brought to you by Mauri Pro Sailing

By Jen Vandemoer Mitchell, Airwaves Senior Writer        Being a sailor, living in Minnesota is not the easiest thing to do.  Sailing season is pretty short here as the water is frozen from December to April (not to mention the air is pretty icy too), however snowkiting, offers a new alternative to frostbite sailing.  There are a lot of iceboats around, but because they require perfect ice it is more challenging to find an opportunity to get out on the lakes.  You could say the kiteboarding season is year round in Minnesota; you just have to substitute your gear.  It is a way to get a taste for sailing when you cannot be on unfrozen water.  I know, kiting is not for everyone, but when I saw snowkiters all over the lakes in the Minneapolis area, I had to ask around about it.  I have seen kiteboarders surfing waves in Hawaii and screaming around Hood River in Oregon, but I had not seen them on frozen lakes until I moved here.  One thing Minnesotans all know is that you have to just embrace the cold weather because there is nothing you can do about it, so why not get outside and enjoy it? Today, I bundled up and headed west of Minneapolis to Lake Minnetonka to get the scoop on snowkiting.

 

Lake Minnetonka offers snowkiters a wide-open space to glide across the snow.  It was 15° F and a pretty steady 17 mph southwest breeze.  In Minnesota this makes it feel like 4° F, which definitely makes for a cold outing.  Bundled up I met Eric Oppen, who sailed for Hobart College and the University of Hawaii.  His time in Hawaii got him surfing a lot, and although he admired all the kiters, he did not start kiting until he moved back to Minnesota.  He was able to teach me a bit about kiting; the equipment, and the kinds of events snowkiters participate in.  This was the equipment he had with him: 2 kites (a smaller kite for big breeze and a larger one for light breeze), harness, warm clothes, downhill skis and ski boots, helmet, goggles, iPod, and most critical a face mask.  In snowkiting you can use a snowboard or downhill skis, Eric was on his skis because he said you could move a little faster upwind with them.

 

Eric explained to me that snowkiting it is a little easier for beginners versus kiteboarding because you are not combating sinking in water or navigating waves.  This also means that you can get started in less wind.  Eric had a water kite with him that is partially inflatable and has some structure to it making it more manageable in water.  Typically, snowkiters use a “foil” kite that resembles a parachute; it has less structure than its water counterpart and is a little more high performance.

After watching Eric carefully inflate and lay out his kite, making sure the thin lines that attach to the kite are not tangled, I thought it was something I could just hop in and try.  However, Eric assured me that the kite can be powerful and it is best to start with a lesson on beginner appropriate gear.  Although it is a lot of fun and experienced kiters can make it look simple, it is important to learn about it first, so that you can kite safely.  The kite is powerful and it is important to use a kite that suits your weight and size.

 

Eric has been kiting for four years and one of the elements he really enjoys about it is learning the weather patterns.  You cannot see the wind on the frozen lake, so it becomes more about feel and learning other ways to detect wind and weather.  Eric describes kiting as “not as stressful as competitive sailing, you can head out there and be alone.” Despite being on your own with your kite, there is a friendly kiting community around here.  Everyone is willing to lend a hand and help out if needed.  If there is a steady breeze you can bet that kiters will be out ready to take advantage of it and that was certainly the case today. Michael Ford and Nathan Boer, who are experienced kiters were setting up with us as well as Jenn Barnett, who is still in her first year continuing to hone her skills on a smaller kite.

 

Much like kiteboarding, snowkiting offers a national circuit of long distance races.  The circuit did not stop in Minnesota this year, but Eric is looking forward to an endurance race not far from Minneapolis on Lake Mille Lacs, the Mille Lacs Kite Crossing.  It is a large event that will take place February 23^rd-25^th and is a total of about 22-28 miles round trip.  The weekend will also include a terrain park and some course racing.  Kiteboarding on water seems to be moving in the direction of course racing which is also the case with snowkiting.  In my ignorance, I imagined that the kites would overlap on the racecourse and end up in a tangle, however Eric and his friends assured me that although it can happen, it is avoidable and not common.

 

Once everyone launched their kites I was able to hang out in the cold for a while and observe them.  The sound of the swooshing snow under their boards or skis is reminiscent of the sounds of sailing smoothly in the water.  There is a calm and quiet out on the frozen lake that reflects the connection of sail and nature just like you would feel on your boat.  Like sailing, kiting takes physical strength, skill, and a quick mind.  While Eric and his friends cruised around Lake Minnetonka catching air here and there, it made me forget the cold for a minute and want to feel what they were experiencing…after a lesson of course.  The next time you drive by a frozen lake, take a moment and check out these snowkiters flying around.

By Jen Vandemoer Mitchell, Airwaves Writer