The Snipe Fleet 330 website info has been moved to The Atlanta Yacht Club website.
This website will be removed on 12/31/09 ... please update your bookmarks.
www.AtlantaYachtClub.org/snipe
Classic/Wooden Snipe Rally
The Good Ol' Days Revisited
October 21-23
Snipe Fleet 330 Proudly Presents the Classic/Wooden Snipe Rally
This is a chance to step back in time when boats were boats. Come join us for the Classic Snipe Symposium as well as the boat show where these craftsmen will display their labors of love. The Rally will run in conjunction with the US Masters.
If you have a wooden Snipe, either one you built or a restoration, or even one which is just lucky not to have become firewood, plan to bring it for everyone to enjoy. A classic Snipe is defined loosely as one 30 years old or more, or any Snipe with wood trim. They don't have to be beautiful, and you don't have to sail. The $75 participant fee covers all meals Wednesday through Friday. Wednesday night will feature a Southern hoedown in the Davis's barn with Washtub John and his band. Please wear appropriate southern country clothes. Thursday night is the banquet for the US Masters Championship. You are asked to dress as you did in high school with sock hop music provided.
A Brief History
Excerpt from an article by John Rose that first appeared in the 75th Anniversary edition of the "Snipe Bulletin"
Snipe
fleets originally developed in local areas centered around high
population areas where suitable bodies of water existed and wooden boat
builders were concentrated. Many of the early Snipe fleets were located
in the eastern half of the country. Over the years, there have been
more than 250 Snipe fleets in the United States. The states of
New York (39 fleets), Michigan (30 fleets) and California (28 fleets)
topped the list. Snipe activity in the United States is currently
focused in four of these districts in the eastern, southeastern,
Midwest/south-central and western regions.
The popularity of the Snipe was enhanced when several large wood boat-building companies with nation-wide advertising and a distribution/dealer network began to produce Snipes, both family day-sailing and racing models. Snipe racing became widely popular and competitive with certain builder’s versions becoming successful in regional and district racing.
In 1952, former
SCIRA Commodore Hub Isaacks encouraged the building of fiberglass Snipes
to keep pace with boating market trends. He contracted for a prototype
fiberglass Snipe to be built in Wichita, Kansas. Francis
Lofland, Ted Wells and Harold Gilreath combined efforts to build a
fiberglass Snipe. The first fiberglass Snipe (#9753) was produced in
1954. The hulls were lightly stiffened and had relatively low torsional
rigidity as compared to wooden hulls Their speed potential was
compromised and wooden-hull Snipes continued to out perform the
fiberglass-hull versions.
In subsequent years, other builders of fiberglass Snipes entered the market. One of the major improvements was to build the hull with a fiberglass-foam core system, which made the hulls both stiff and torsionally rigid. These improvements finally resulted in a fiberglass-hull Snipe winning the 1967 Snipe National Championship, 13 years after the first fiberglass Snipe was built. This ended a reign of championship wins by wooden-hull Snipes that had continued since the first International/National Snipe Championship.
1954,
specifications were developed for plywood-hull Snipes. Harold Gilreath
Sr. built a plywood Snipe (#12345
)
to the latest specifications and documented construction with
improvements in deck construction in a booklet “Building A Plywood
Snipe,” published in 1960. It is still used as a reference manual.
These boats proved to be fast and competitive. The 1960 and 1961 Snipe
National Championships were won with a plywood-hull Snipe.
Snipe activity in the United States has continued at a high level of interest. Competition is keen at national and regional events. The organization is well run, and younger sailors are being encouraged to join the class. An increasing number of successful racing skippers and crew come from this group.
