Snipe Women's World Championship 2025 at Enoshima, Japan - Day 1
by Alex Pline 24 Jul 18:01 BST
22-27 July 2025
After a practice race yesterday, racing got under way today in a quintessential Enoshima southwester with big waves and breeze starting about 14 knots and building to 16 or 17 with a few higher puffs as the hot afternoon sun beat down on the island. Typically by the end of the afternoon, the breeze is close to a sustained 20 knots. This has been the pattern every day since competitors arrived at the venue.
Race 1 started with a general recall and then a U Flag start. The Japanese Team of Ai Yoshida/Honoka Miura lead pretty much wire to wire to win the race. The second place across the line by the Croatian Team of Marija Andela De Micheli Vitturi/Maj Kristin Hansen Borgen was negated by the U Flag and The USA Team of Sarah Alexander/Charlotte Carroll moved into second followed by the Japanese Team of Ayaka Yamazaki/Aina Hokuto. The race lasted about 50 minutes and the rest of the top 10 finishes were close.
After a brief rest, race 2 got under way with a U Flag, but ultimately a clean start with no OCS. While it looked like the Croatian Team might walk away as they had a big lead half way through the race, the two Japanese teams of Ai Yoshida/Honoka Miura and Ayaka Yamazaki/Aina Hokuto made a strong comeback on the last run to nearly close the gap. Again the race lasted about 50 minutes and the rest of the top 10 finishes were close.
Ashore, after putting their boats away, the competitors enjoyed international camaraderie, cold beverages and chocolate covered bananas a welcome treat after a hard day of sailing. After some discussion by race officials later in the day, it was decided that racing on day 2 would start one hour earlier to insure they did not bump up against the upper wind limit of 18 knots sustained by the second race of the day.
Results after two races:
1. JPN Ai Yoshida & Honoka Miura, 4pts
2. JPN Ayaka Yamazaki & Aina Hokuto, 5pts
3. USA Sarah Alexander & Charlotte Carroll, 7pts
4. JPN Yuka Akamatsu & Sayaka Komada, 11pts
5. USA Lisa Pline & Lexi Pline, 11pts