Teams: Coed Sailing: Press Releases

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

TUFTS SOPHOMORE TOMAS HORNOS WINS SNIPE SAILING WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP

MEDFORD -- Sophomore Tomas Hornos (Swampscott, MA/Swampscott HS) of the Tufts University sailing team became the youngest skipper to win the Snipe class World Championships last week (Sept. 11-15) in Leixes, Portugal. Racing with crew Enrique Quintero, Hornos was crowned world champion on his 19th birthday (Saturday, Sept. 15).

Hornos won the title in difficult sailing conditions. Only three races took place due to a lack of wind. A total of 57 crews representing 18 countries raced overall. In the three races, the Hornos/Quintero team won once and added third-place and fourth-place finishes. Peter Commette, a 1977 Tufts graduate and a former Olympian, finished in third place.

"It is an honor and a privilege to conquer the title," Hornos said. "The light shifty winds we got are our preference, favoring us. On the last race, because we have a good speed, we managed to cover our closest adversaries till the end."

"I'm still in shock," said Quintero, Hornos' teammate. "We didn't expect this outcome because we have just started to sail together. At most we were hoping to make the top 20 because we sort of looked at the regatta as an opportunity to practice together."

"It must have been the hardest World Championship ever," said Miguel Lopes Cardoso, Chairman of the TMN Snipe World Championship. "The sailors are satisfied, the organization was excellent and the Race Committee was unrelenting. The weather was unfortunate since there is no memory of Leixes having a whole week without wind."

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