Snipe Women's World Championship 2025 at Enoshima, Japan - Day 3
by Alex Pline 26 Jul 15:26 BST
22-27 July 2025
Weatherwise, day three was pretty much a carbon copy of day two with a strong thermal that built into the afternoon. Racing got under way a half hour earlier, again to start before the breeze built over the regatta limit.
After a general recall and on UFD the fleet was away on a Windward/Leeward course. The favorites again opted for the pin end of the line, but shortly after the start, Yoshida/Miura (JPN) tacked away to the right and when they all came back together at the top of the beat, Vitturi/Borgen (CRO) were in the lead with Yamazaki/Hokuto (JPN) in second and Tocke/Buzzetti (USA) and Yoshida/Miura (JPN) back a number of places. The starboard tack was again the long tack on the run and at the leeward mark, Vitturi/Borgen (CRO) decided to split from Yamazaki/Hokuto (JPN) by going to the farther away left gate resulting in Yamazaki/Hokuto (JPN) taking the lead which they held to the finish for a new race winner. On the second run Yoshida/Miura (JPN) showed good downwind speed in the waves to overtake Vitturi/Borgen (CRO) for second.
Like yesterday, the second race was a double triangle and the breeze and waves were definitely on! Yoshida/Miura (JPN) and Yamazaki/Hokuto (JPN) again chose the pin end while Vitturi/Borgen (CRO) and Tocke/Buzzetti (USA) opted for a midline start. Yoshida/Miura (JPN) timed the start very well and jumped out to an immediate lead which they held. Behind, there were a number of position changes depending on who caught the best surfing waves. For most of the second beat, the top three stayed as Yoshida/Miura (JPN), Vitturi/Borgen (CRO) and Yamazaki/Hokuto (JPN). Near the top mark, second and third places changed around a bit with both Tocke/Buzzetti (USA) and Alexander/Carroll (USA) closing in the last few tacks. Since the breeze was steady near 20 knots at the top mark the Race Committee decided to shorten the course after three legs, the minimum length allowed. In the end Vitturi/Borgen (CRO) finished second and Alexander/Carroll (USA) third.
As was the case yesterday the waves were very steep making for challenging conditions upwind and fun surfing conditions off the wind but with several capsizes deeper in the fleet, several boats needing assistance and the steadily increasing breeze and waves, the decision to shorten the course and send the fleet in was a good one. With six races completed the worst score is discarded and as expected, the top of the score sheet are the boats who have won at least one race: Yoshida/Miura (JPN) in 1st, Vitturi/Borgen (CRO) in 2nd, Yamazaki/Hokuto (JPN) in 3rd followed by Tocke/Buzzetti (USA) in 4th and Alexander/Carroll (USA) to round out the top five. With two scheduled races tomorrow and only one point separating first and second places, the 15th Snipe Women's World Champion will come down to who sails best tomorrow.
Results after Day 3: (top five, 6 races)
1 JPN Ai Yoshida & Honoka Miura, 8pts
2 CRO Marija Andela De Micheli Vitturi & Maj Kristin Hansen Borgen, 9pts
3 JPN Ayaka Yamazaki & Aina Hokuto, 17pts
4 USA Kathleen Tocke & Arianna Buzzetti, 21pts
5 USA Sarah Alexander & Charlotte Carroll, 27pts