The Snipe Sailor of the Year

[above: “Narciso” – Caravaggio – Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Antica, Palazzo Barberini, Roma]

Do you miss the poll of the Snipe Sailor of the Year?

As you remember from 2011 to 2022, on SnipeToday, we had these winners:

2022 Alfredo Gonzalez & Cristian Sanchez (ESP)
2021 Martin Bermudez de la Puente & Angela Pumariega (ESP)
2020 not awarded
2019 Damian Borras, with Sara Franceschi (ESP), Alexandra Wang (NOR), Jordi Triay (ESP)
2018 Damian Borras Camps & Jordi Triay (ESP)
2017 Raul Rios (PUR) and Mac Agnese (USA)
2016 Birger Jansen & Janett Krefting (NOR)
2015 Raul Rios (PUR) with crews Fernando Monllor, Andre Guaragna (USA) and Kara Voss (USA)
2014 Manu Hens (BEL) with crews Victor Perez Campos (ESP), Maj Kristin Hansen Borgen (NOR), Enrico Michel (ITA) and Alexandre Tinoco (BRA)
2013 Tiago Roquette and Tiago Morais (POR)
2012 Raul de Valenzuela and Alejandre de Ona Antolin (ESP)
2011 Alexandre Tinoco and Gabriel Borges (BRA)

We had also the Snipe Fleet of the Year:

2022 Fleet 287 Las Palmas (ESP)
2021 Fleet 886 Cadiz (ESP)
2020 Fleet 187 Mahon (ESP)

Do you think this polls were interesting?

The names of the previous winners are certainly important names and deserved the victory.

What are the pros of a poll like this? It can attract more and different people not only of the usual viewers of the website and social media, but also sailors from other classes, and … relatives and friends of the nominees.

The risk is that it turns into a contest of popularity rather than in a competition that reward the best sailors for their results and victories.

In fact, we could argue that some big names (they would have deserved to win) are not in the list of the previous winners … just because they didn’t ask anyone to vote for them.

In the year of the Senior Worlds it is clear that the best sailor should be the skipper and the crew who won the Worlds.

Maybe, it would be more interesting to vote on the most deserving Snipe sailor for the promotion of the class, but also in this case the most popular Snipe sailor would win (and therefore the most popular would also be the most deserving).

For the years 2022 and 2023 a Racing Photo Award Snipe was created: also in this case a poll open to all the SnipeToday readers.

But even in this case, a doubt arose: did the voters reward the sailors portrayed in the photo or the photographer, author of a technically and artistically interesting photo? They clearly voted for their sailors.

In addition, some professional photographers complained that the photos selected by the editor were not of their liking (they would have chosen different photos).

Could a committee of experts (the “supersecretcommittee”) be the solution for these awards (Snipe Sailor, Snipe Fleet, Snipe Photo of the Year)?

Perhaps the solution is simply not taking these polls/contests/awards too seriously. After all, they are “games” to animate a class or community. Our motto is perfect: you cannot be serious!

Thus, to be provocative, we could promote a different and ridiculous poll: vote for the Snipe sailor who made the worst, ridiculous or embarrassing regatta, social event, trip, training etc. of the year.

And you, what do you think?

Note: So far, no poll “Snipe Sailor of the Year” on the former Snipetoday website.