Sailing at the 1932 Summer Olympics – Snowbird

Snowbird[1] at the Games of the X Olympiad
Line drawing of the Snowbird
Venue	Los Angeles Harbor
Dates	First race: August 5, 1932 Last race: August 11, 1932
Competitors	12 from 11 nations
Teams	11
Medalists
Jacques Lebrun   France   Bob Maas   Netherlands   Santiago Amat Cansino   Spain

Sailing at the  1932 Summer Olympics
Snowbird			Open
Star			Open
6 Metre			Open
8 Metre			Open

The Snowbird was a sailing event on the Sailing at the 1932 Summer Olympics program in Los Angeles Harbor. Eleven races were scheduled. 12 sailors, on 11 boats, from 11 nation competed.^[2]

Race schedule^[1]

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Event competitions

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Event finals

Date	August
	5th Fri	6th Sat	7th Sun	8th Mon	9th Tue	10th Wed	11th Thu
Snowbird	●	●	●●	●	●	●●	●●●
Total gold medals							1

Course area and course configuration

The courses had been well prepared. The marks were laid by the United States Lighthouse Service in the form of large Government. Visiting yachts were kept at a safe distance from the racing boats by the US Coast Guard. Tows were arranged by the US Navy to and from Los Angeles Harbor to the race area. The Snowbird stayed inside the breakwater to protect them from the ocean swell. Unfortunately no documentation is found about the course configuration(s) yet.

1932 Olympic Course Areas

Open street map view of the current map of Los Angeles. Projected are the 1932 Olympic courses of the Snowbird (Red Area).

Weather conditions

The correct historic weather data for Los Angeles during the Snowbird races can be obtained for about US$20.- at http://weather-warehouse.com/index.html.

Due to the normal afternoon sea breeze in Los Angeles Harbor it was decided to race the Snowbirds in the morning. However it turned out that in various morning there was no wind at all. This made it necessary to run the Snowbirds races in the afternoon in windy conditions. It also made id difficult for several sailors to sail the races in the Snowbird as well in one of the other classes.^[1]

Final results^[1]

Rank	Country	Helmsman	Race 1		Race 2		Race 3		Race 4		Race 5		Race 6		Race 7		Race 8		Race 9		Race 10		Race 11		Total
			Pos.	Pts.	Pos.	Pts.	Pos.	Pts.	Pos.	Pts.	Pos.	Pts.	Pos.	Pts.	Pos.	Pts.	Pos.	Pts.	Pos.	Pts.	Pos.	Pts.	Pos.	Pts.
	France	Jacques Lebrun	6	6	7	5	7	5	4	8	1	11	3	9	1	11	3	9	4	8	4	8	5	7	87
	Netherlands	Bob Maas	2	10	1	11	2	10	3	9	3	9	6	6	4	8	8	4	2	10	7	5	9	3	85
	Spain	Santiago Amat Cansino	5	7	8	4	4	8	5	7	2	10	4	8	2	10	1	11	8	4	10	2	7	5	76
4	Germany	Edgar Behr	10	2	2	10	3	9	2	10	6	6	5	7	6	6	4	8	DSQ	0	2	10	6	6	74
5	Canada	Reg Dixon	7	5	10	2	9	3	1	11	5	7	1	11	7	5	9	3	1	11	6	6	4	8	72
6	Great Britain	George Colin Ratsey	1	11	5	7	1	11	7	5	4	8	9	3	8	4	7	5	9	3	9	3	3	9	69
7	United States	Charles Lyon and, Joseph Jessop	3	9	3	9	8	4	DNF	0	8	4	7	5	3	9	6	6	7	5	1	11	8	4	66
8	Italy	Silvio Treleani	4	8	9	3	11	1	10	2	10	2	8	4	5	7	2	10	5	7	5	7	1	11	62
9	Sweden	Sven Thorell	8	4	6	6	6	6	6	6	7	5	DNS	0	DNF	0	5	7	6	6	3	9	2	10	59
10	Austria	Hans Riedl	9	3	4	8	10	2	9	3	9	3	7	5	9	3	10	2	3	9	8	4	10	2	44
11	South Africa	Cecil Goodricke	11	1	DNF	0	5	7	8	4	DNS	0	DNS	0	DNS	0	DNS	0	DNS	0	DNS	0	DNS	0	12

Legend: DNF – Did not finish; DNS – Did not start; DSQ – Disqualified;

Daily standings

Graph showing the daily standings in the Snowbird during the 1932 Summer Olympics

Notes

• For this event one yacht from each country, manned by 1 amateur maximum (maximum number of substitutes 1) was allowed.^[1]
• This event was a gender independent event. However it turned out to be a man's only event.

Other information

During the Sailing regattas at the 1932 Summer Olympics among others the following persons were competing in the Snowbird:

Snowbird sailors at the 1932 Olympic Games
Jacques Lebrun (FRA)   Bob Maas (left) (NED)

After the finish of the last race, Maas seemed to have won the gold medal. His French opponent Jacques Baptiste Lebrun, however, successfully had a protest re-opened about an earlier penalty after the competition had ended, which moved him into first place, and put Maas back to second place.^[3]

Further reading

• "Digital Library Collection (Official Olympic Reports 1896 - 2008)". Digital Library Collection at la84.org. la84foundation. Retrieved 7 May 2015.
• "Sailing at the 1932 Los Angeles Summer Games: Mixed One Person Dinghy". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved 7 May 2015.
• "Los Angeles 1932". Olympic.org. International Olympic Committee.

References

1. (ed.) Browne, Francis Granger (1933). "Official Report of the Games of the X Olympiad" (PDF). Los Angeles: Xth Olympiade Committee of the Games of Los Angeles, U. S. A. 1932, LTD. Retrieved 7 May 2015.
2. The 1932 Olympic scoring system was used.
3. "Bob Maas Bio, Stats, and Results". Olympic Sports. Sports-Reference.com. Retrieved 8 May 2015.