Tufts sophomore is champ skipper
Leixões, Portugal, had a uniquely windless week for the snipe class world sailing championships, and as a result it got a unique winner. Tufts sophomore Tomas Hornos became the youngest-ever champion skipper this month, earning the title on his 19th birthday.
"It was the best present I've ever had," Hornos said.
Hornos, from Swampscott, and his crew, Miami high school senior Enrique Quintero, would have been happy with a top-10 finish in an event that draws some of the globe's top sailors. But the youthful duo took advantage of the mild conditions.
"I'd say that I'm better in light air than heavier winds," Hornos said.
"Where we sail in college for the sailing team, we get a lot of light air. It's just been my specialty. For other people, I guess they like a heavy wind. They are either heavier or they grew up sailing in heavier-wind places."
The lack of wind forced a reduced schedule of just three races. In the final race, Hornos and Quintero overtook Kenji Abe and Hiroshi Yamachica of Japan to take home the title in the snipe, a 15-foot, two-person racing dinghy.
"Clearly they had something going in light air," said Tufts sailing coach Ken Legler. "They had a winning strategy and a winning speed."
It was the latest triumph in a sailing career that started not long after Hornos's family moved to Massachusetts from Argentina when he was 3. His father would take him sailing every weekend, and by age 10, Hornos had started to race.
He trained in Florida and New Jersey, and even braved the winters at home. Every Sunday from November to April, Hornos headed to Cottage Park Yacht Club in Winthrop to sail, a practice dauntingly called "frostbiting."
It's Hornos's sheer volume of training - every weekend day during the school year and six days a week in the summer - that has made him so successful.
"He does probably do more sailing outside of college than anyone on our team," Legler said.
Still, Hornos and Quintero arrived in Portugal as underdogs, competing against teams with decades more experience. Hornos said his goal was to finish in the top 10, but with a few breaks he was able to surprise his competitors - many of whom were South Americans he knew from previous regattas.
"They were shocked," Hornos said. "I'd raced against them before and never done this well."
But even a 19-year-old world champion has ways to improve, and Hornos can start at Tufts. He still hasn't cracked the first team for the Jumbos, ranked ninth in the country by collegesailing.org.
Hornos also has his eye on making the 2012 Olympics in the star boat, which is about 7 feet longer than a snipe, though Legler thinks it's a long shot.
"He's not big enough to do that well in that boat, but he'll do OK," Legler said. "He's not ready to win the Olympic Trials, that's for sure."
Of course, with friendly winds, just about anything is possible.
After earning the honor, DeJesus made 10 saves in two games the following week, but allowed six goals in a 3-0 loss to Framingham State and a 4-3 win against Saint Joseph's College of Maine.
Taplin, who went to Triton Regional High School in Byfield, graduated from Connecticut College in 1989 with the most assists, 35, and the second-most points, 117, in the soccer program's history. He played center for the hockey team, and was known best for his contributions in killing penalties.
Taplin, who lives in Wellesley Hills with his wife and three children, was honored along with three other inductees at halftime of the Camels' men's soccer game.
