Snipe (dinghy)

The Snipe is an American sailing dinghy that was designed by William F. Crosby as a one design racer and first built in 1931.[1][2][3][4]

Snipe
Development
DesignerWilliam F. Crosby
LocationUnited States
Year1931
No. built31,000
Builder(s)AX Boats
Chantier Aubin
Cantiere Nautico Lillia
DB Marine
Eichenlaub Boat Co.
Grampian Marine
Jack A. Helms Co.
Jibetech
Lofland Sail-craft
Nickels Boat Works
W. D. Schock Corp
Zeltic
RoleOne design racer
NameSnipe
Boat
Displacement380 lb (172 kg)
Draft3.25 ft (0.99 m) with daggerboard down
Hull
Typemonohull
Constructionfiberglass
LOA15.50 ft (4.72 m)
LWL12.67 ft (3.86 m)
Beam5.00 ft (1.52 m)
Hull appendages
Keel/board typedaggerboard
Rudder(s)transom-mounted rudder
Rig
Rig typeBermuda rig
Sails
Sailplanfractional rigged sloop
Total sail area128.00 sq ft (11.892 m2)
Racing
D-PN91.9
RYA PN1117

The boat is a World Sailing recognized international class.[5]

Sailboatdata.com summarizes the design as "one of the most popular sailing dinghies ever. (In its heyday, the largest sailboat racing class). Origins in the US. Built, sailed and raced around the world to this day."[1]

Production

In the past the design has built by Grampian Marine in Canada; Eichenlaub Boat Co., Jack A. Helms Co., Lofland Sail-craft, Nickels Boat Works and W. D. Schock Corp in the United States; Cantiere Nautico Lillia in Italy; Chantier Aubin in France and AX Boats in Spain.[1][2][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23]

W. D. Schock Corp records indicate that they built 165 boats between 1963 and 1970.[24]

Today the boat is built by Jibetech in the United States, Zeltic in Spain and DB Marine in Italy.[25][26][27][28][29]

More than 31,000 Snipes have been delivered.[1][2]

Design
A Snipe sailing

The Snipe is a racing sailboat, with early examples built with wooden hulls and more recent ones with hulls made from fiberglass. It has a fractional sloop rig, a spooned raked stem, an angled transom, a transom-hung rudder controlled by a tiller with an extension and a retractable daggerboard. It displaces 380 lb (172 kg).[1][2]

The boat has a draft of 3.25 ft (0.99 m) with the daggerboard extended and 6 in (15 cm) with it retracted, allowing operation in shallow water, beaching or ground transportation on a trailer.[1][2]

For sailing downwind the design may be equipped with a whisker pole to hold the jib out, but neither a spinnaker nor a crew trapeze are permitted in the class rules.[30]

The boat has a Portsmouth Yardstick D-PN handicap of 91.9 and an RYA-PN of 1117.[31][32]

Operational history

The boat is supported by an active class club that organizes racing events, the Snipe Class International Racing Association (SCIRA), which has a large number of Snipe fleets across many countries.[33][34]

In an August 1959 review for Sports Illustrated, Thomas Atkinson reported, "Unlike many class boats which were designed as pure racing machines, however, the Snipe offers more than speed and thrills. It is a miniature yacht as well as a racing boat, and despite the fact that newer and faster classes continually appear, the Snipe is more in demand than ever. Snipes, in fact, are so much fun they have become the most popular boat in the world. Today there are more than 8,000 of the little 15-footers in commission, sailing out of 250 active racing fleets from Trieste to Tokyo and even in such Iron Curtain countries as Poland, and last year over 400 more were added to the class."[35]

Events
Snipe sailing in northern Spain

See also

References
  1. McArthur, Bruce (2022). "Snipe sailboat". sailboatdata.com. Archived from the original on 10 August 2022. Retrieved 10 August 2022.
  2. Sea Time Tech, LLC (2022). "Snipe". sailboat.guide. Archived from the original on 10 August 2022. Retrieved 10 August 2022.
  3. McArthur, Bruce (2022). "William F. Crosby 1891 - 1953". sailboatdata.com. Archived from the original on 22 March 2022. Retrieved 10 August 2022.
  4. Sea Time Tech, LLC (2022). "William F. Crosby". sailboat.guide. Archived from the original on 22 March 2022. Retrieved 10 August 2022.
  5. World Sailing (2022). "Boat Class Snipe". sailing.org. Archived from the original on 10 August 2022. Retrieved 10 August 2022.
  6. McArthur, Bruce (2022). "Schock W.D." sailboatdata.com. Archived from the original on 18 July 2020. Retrieved 10 August 2022.
  7. Sea Time Tech, LLC (2022). "Schock W.D." sailboat.guide. Archived from the original on 23 December 2021. Retrieved 10 August 2022.
  8. McArthur, Bruce (2022). "Grampian Marine". sailboatdata.com. Archived from the original on 3 March 2022. Retrieved 10 August 2022.
  9. Sea Time Tech, LLC (2022). "Grampian Marine". sailboat.guide. Archived from the original on 23 July 2022. Retrieved 10 August 2022.
  10. McArthur, Bruce (2022). "Nickels Boat Works, Inc. (USA)". sailboatdata.com. Archived from the original on 9 September 2020. Retrieved 10 August 2022.
  11. Sea Time Tech, LLC (2022). "Nickels Boat Works, Inc". sailboat.guide. Archived from the original on 10 August 2022. Retrieved 10 August 2022.
  12. McArthur, Bruce (2022). "Lillia (Cantiere Nautico Lillia)". sailboatdata.com. Archived from the original on 14 November 2021. Retrieved 10 August 2022.
  13. Sea Time Tech, LLC (2022). "Cantiere Nautico Lillia". sailboat.guide. Archived from the original on 10 August 2022. Retrieved 10 August 2022.
  14. McArthur, Bruce (2022). "Helms - Jack A. Helms Co". sailboatdata.com. Archived from the original on 18 October 2020. Retrieved 10 August 2022.
  15. Sea Time Tech, LLC (2022). "Jack A. Helms Co". sailboat.guide. Archived from the original on 8 August 2022. Retrieved 10 August 2022.
  16. McArthur, Bruce (2022). "Aubin (Chantier Aubin)". sailboatdata.com. Archived from the original on 10 August 2022. Retrieved 10 August 2022.
  17. Sea Time Tech, LLC (2022). "Aubin". sailboat.guide. Archived from the original on 10 August 2022. Retrieved 10 August 2022.
  18. McArthur, Bruce (2022). "AX Boats (ESP)". sailboatdata.com. Archived from the original on 10 August 2022. Retrieved 10 August 2022.
  19. Sea Time Tech, LLC (2022). "AX Boats". sailboat.guide. Archived from the original on 10 August 2022. Retrieved 10 August 2022.
  20. McArthur, Bruce (2022). "Lofland Sail-craft Inc.(USA)". sailboatdata.com. Archived from the original on 30 October 2021. Retrieved 10 August 2022.
  21. Sea Time Tech, LLC (2022). "Lofland Sail-craft". sailboat.guide. Archived from the original on 10 August 2022. Retrieved 10 August 2022.
  22. McArthur, Bruce (2022). "Eichenlaub Boat Co". sailboatdata.com. Archived from the original on 10 August 2022. Retrieved 10 August 2022.
  23. Sea Time Tech, LLC (2022). "Eichenlaub Boat Company". sailboat.guide. Archived from the original on 10 August 2022. Retrieved 10 August 2022.
  24. W. D. Schock Corp. "Boats built by W.D. Schock". wdschock.com. Archived from the original on 21 February 2010. Retrieved 9 August 2022.
  25. McArthur, Bruce (2022). "Jibetech". sailboatdata.com. Archived from the original on 18 October 2020. Retrieved 10 August 2022.
  26. Sea Time Tech, LLC (2022). "Jibetech". sailboat.guide. Archived from the original on 10 August 2022. Retrieved 10 August 2022.
  27. Jibetech (2022). "Snipes". Archived from the original on 11 August 2022. Retrieved 10 August 2022.
  28. Zeltic (2016). "Snipe". zeltic.es. Archived from the original on 10 August 2022. Retrieved 10 August 2022.
  29. DB Marine. "Snipe". dbmarine.it. Archived from the original on 10 August 2022. Retrieved 10 August 2022.
  30. Snipe Class International Racing Association (1 January 2021). "Class Rules" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 7 May 2022. Retrieved 10 August 2022.
  31. "Centerboard Classes". US Sailing. Archived from the original on 16 August 2012. Retrieved 10 August 2022.
  32. "The RYA Portsmouth Yardstick Number List for 2004" (PDF). Royal Yachting Association. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 10 August 2022.
  33. McArthur, Bruce (2022). "Snipe Class International Racing Association". sailboatdata.com. Archived from the original on 10 August 2022. Retrieved 10 August 2022.
  34. Sea Time Tech, LLC (2022). "Snipe Class International Racing Association". sailboat.guide. Archived from the original on 10 August 2022. Retrieved 10 August 2022.
  35. Atkinson, Thomas (3 August 1959). "For Hustle And Plain Fun". Sports Illustrated. Archived from the original on 2 November 2012. Retrieved 10 August 2022.
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