Last weekend, the Canary Islands Sailing Cup of the Snipe class was held in the bay of Arrecife de Lanzarote, with great success in participation. A total of 27 boats from Tenerife, Gran Canaria and Lanzarote, competed in three races with demanding weather conditions.
The competition began on Saturday with a gentle south breeze of about five knots of intensity. At the head of the fleet, three boats maintained a beautiful fight: HSN-LIVVO Hoteles of Guti del Castillo from Gran Canaria and Cristian Sánchez from Lanzarote, the boat Spica of Nano Negrín and David Martín from Lanzarote, and Patera of Nete Armas and Miguel Bethencourt, also from Lanzarote.
Finally, after a tight last windward leg, the Del Castillo-Sánchez duo took the victory in the first race, followed by Armas-Bethencourt, while Nano Negrín with David Martín were third. A little further back, Chimo Botella from Tenerife entered in fourth position and Fernando León, gold medalist in Atlanta '96, was fifth.
After the first race, the wind began to roll and the fleet had to wait patiently until it stabilized. After almost two hours of waiting, the wind rolled to the north and the race committee had to change the location of the buoys. The intensity began to rise as is common on the island of volcanoes to exceed 20 knots.
With these harsh conditions, the second and last race of the day took place. This time it was the Spica of Nano Negrín and David Martín who led the race, but in the last leg the HSN-LIVVO Hoteles with Guti del Castillo at the helm and Cristian Sánchez, the current world champion, as crew, managed to pass their opponent by very little, being a finish of authentic photo-finish.
On this occasion, Miguel Naverán with Gonzalo Morales closed the course in third position, who had to withdraw in the first race because they touched a buoy and could not self-penalize in time. Fourth was the Lanzarote team of Miguel Ángel Lasso and Tomás Fuentes, while Fernando León repeated a fifth place.
The first day ended leaving a provisional podium formed by Gustavo del Castillo-Cristian Sánchez (HNS-LIVVO Hoteles), Nano Negrín with David Martín, and with more points, Fernando León with Antonio del Castillo was in the third drawer. Fourth were Nete Armas and Miguel Bethencourt and fifth Miguel Ángel Lasso with Tomás Fuentes.
Sunday dawned with a clearly established wind from the north and a strong intensity between 20 - 25 knots. The harsh conditions would force all the sailors to make the maximum effort, and many of them were forced to withdraw due to breakages.
In the third race of the championship, the snipe of Gustavo del Castillo and Cristian Sánchez was imposed with authority, who managed to reach the first windward buoy in first position with a certain advantage, but when opening sails and starting the leg, the windward shroud came loose due to a manufacturing defect, which caused the mast of the HSN-LIVVO Hoteles to bend in a matter of seconds and they had to withdraw forcibly. That race ended up being won by the Negrín-Martín team followed by Naverán-Morales and Lasso-Fuentes.
The wind continued to increase in intensity and the committee wisely decided to suspend the rest of the scheduled races, which meant that the discard of the worst race would not come into play. Thus, the final classification was headed by Nano Negrín and David Martín from Lanzarote, who were proclaimed champions with 6 points (3, 2 and 1).
The runners-up were Fernado León and Antonio del Castillo from Gran Canaria with 14 points (5,5 and 4) and the bronze went to Nete Armas and Miguel Bethencourt with 18 points (2, 10 and 6). One point behind and in fourth position finished Miguel A. Lasso and Tomás Fuentes with 12, 4 and 3. Gustavo del Castillo and Cristian Sánchez, saw how the triumph they were caressing slipped from their hands due to the breakage and had to settle for fifth place and a total of 30 points (1,1 and 28).
In sixth position finished the first team from Tenerife with Enrique Giménez and Luis de Ángel also with 30 points but very different results (11, 14 and 5). Others who left with a bad taste in their mouths were Miguel Naverán and Gonzalo Morales, who the retired from the first race weighed them down to seventh place despite two very good results in the other two races, 3rd and 2nd.
This Canary Islands Snipe Cup, with 27 boats registered and 54 sailors, shows the good state of health with which this class of light sailing has in our islands.
