I invited Alberto Hackerott to write about the 5th year of the Copa Vela, a regata formula that he created analyzing the needs of the sailors, and that is a big success here at Guarapiranga.
“Serious Sailing, Seriou FUN!
Snipes have been part of his life since 1984 when 5 year old Alberto sailed with his father Frederico Hackerott for the first time.
Today, 35 years later he continues to sail Snipes, “in his opinion the best sailboat for Brazilian reality: competitive, technical, democratic (for the whole family) and locally produced (completely feasible for a normal guy)”.
Family spirit created by the snipe class is sincerely present in weekend regattas at the Guarapiranga dam in São Paulo, Brazil.
“In 10 years we could boost our Snipe fleet from 5 boats to 30 regular boats joining weekend regattas”. The recipe? Simple:
1) a fleet coordinator who was passionate for his duty (Mr Pedro Quezada), who taught many inexperienced sailors and stimulated them to join the Snipe Class between 2008 and 2013. His successor since 2014, Mr Alonso Lopez, was capable of keeping the good momentum.
2) the 311’s snipe fleet led by Alonso Lopez, Leonardo Prioli and Paola Prada, whose proactive spirit brought important championships to our location, like Southeast Regionals in 2017, Brazilian Nationals in 2019, and Women’s World Championship (to be held) in 2020.
3) The willingness of a yacht club to recognize its genuine purpose to organize regattas and host events which could bring up sailors together: between 2014 and 2017 Copa Vela YCP hosted at YACHT CLUB PAULISTA offered around 80 events for 18 different sailboat classes.
Can you think of which class grew quickly and sustainably with this move? Yes, the Snipe class.
“In 2014 we thought about an event format which could bring sailors together for some hours, aiming to make them socialize and recognize things in common besides saying “hello” at sailing course or shacking hands at prize giving, when everybody is rushing to leave quickly”, says Alberto.
“We found out that just regattas are not enough to sustain a good momentum and expectations of “what’s next”. Not everybody will win a regatta or a prize. 80% of Sailors in general sail for fun. And fun means competition, integration, socialization and knowledge transferring”.
The ideal sailing event should combine above ingredients, plus good food prepared to sustain the event’s image and a spokesman who will teach other sailors about his abilities to sail Snipes.
That means usually subscription fares are not enough to cover event’s marginal costs: “the events are responsible to keep yacht clubs alive. If clubs think an event must be profitable, they are not thinking BIG”, states Alberto. “20 additional Snipes mean 40 additional sailors which will support to sustain the heavy fixed costs usually a reality for yacht clubs in Brazil.
“We are conscious that the Snipe Class was responsible for saving our club’s economy in 2015 when a terrible economic crisis hit our country. Today we have at Yacht Club Paulista the biggest Snipe fleet in São Paulo with 35 boats and 20 regularly active”.
Text: Alberto Hackerott
Images: Will Carrara e Lidia Rossini
