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1935 International Championship - Newport Harbor, CA

1935 International Championship - Newport Harbor, CA

The following results are from George Elder's book "Forty Years Among The Stars". In common with the early Logs it is interesting to note that in his results Elder does not give the yacht numbers of the boats which participated in the World's, but only just their names. It was not until the 1950 Log that yacht numbers were included in the results. From 1950 through 1976 both yacht numbers and names were given, but starting with 1977 frequently only yacht numbers were given. The last time both yacht numbers and yacht names were given was 1989.

In later years sometimes fleet designations were omitted. In these cases some of the more obvious fleet designations were supplied. Also from time to time only last names were supplied. First names, where known, were added.

Abbreviations etc: Dsa - Disabled. Dsq - Disqualified. Dns - Did Not Start.
Wdr - Withdrew. Ch - Chairman. B - Builder. * - Defending Fleet. 0 - No points, reason not given.

1935 - OFF NEWPORT HARBOR

Skipper Crew Yacht Fleet
Race 1
Race 2
Race 3
Race 4
Race 5
Pts.
H. Beardslee M. Lehman By-C *Newport Harbor
1
1
4
1
6
72
A. Iselin E. Willis Ace W. Long Island Sound
4
2
2
2
5
70
G. Waterhouse W. Metcalf Three Star San Francisco
10
5
1
3
1
65
S. Pirie L. Pirie Gemini II Lake Michigan
6
4
8
4
7
56
M. Shehan C. Johnson Stardust Eastern Shore
2
7
6
5
12
53
R. Harris B. Harris Vega Moriches Bay
Dsq
3
10
6
3
46
N. Martin Mrs. Martin Phar Lap Santa Barbara
5
13
5
9
8
45
A. Bown F. Brown Whitecap II San Diego Bay
3
12
7
7
11
45
S. Smith F. Robinson Pathfinder Otsego Lake
7
6
9
10
10
43
C. Crebbs F. Laurie Star Baby Lake Maracaibo
11
9
11
8
4
42
J. Arms J. Abberley Andiamo III C. Long Island Sound
14
10
3
11
9
38
A. McCrate W. McCrate Zoa Long Beach
12
Wdr
Dsq
12
2
25
M. Musser R. Streeton Pollux II Hawaiian Islands
8
15
12
14
13
23
M. Fahnestock G. Fahnestock D. Quichotte Villefranche
9
11
13
16
15
21
C. Ross K. Hine Cene Puget Sound
Dsq
8
15
13
14
18
J. Kolisch S. Trumbull Procyon II Santa Monica
13
14
14
15
16
13

Winning yacht No. 1052. B - Douglass Canoe Co. Newport Beach, California.
Ch. I.R.C. - J. Webster. Ch. Meeting - G. Waterhouse.

Regatta Report from the 1936 Log

BY-C AGAIN WORLD CHAMPION
by GLENN WATERHOUSE and WOODBRIDGE METCALF

The challengers this year seemed to include as outstanding an aggregation as has been gathered for the World's Championship series. The Ace with her long string of victories on the Atlantic Coast was the chief Eastern contender. By-C had swept through several Pacific Coast events since winning the title in 1934. Three Star Too, the 1933 World's Champion, had won the midwinter series from By-C and was conceded an even chance. Andiamo III had done so well in the 1934 series at San Francisco Bay and in several Atlantic Coast series that she was considered a serious threat. Pathfinder with the 1934 blue-star from the Lakes district in New York was matched by Whitecap II which had recently won the Pacific Coast blue-star series at San Diego, Gemini the black-hulled boat from Chicago was an unknown quantity as were the challengers from France, Honolulu, and Lake Maracaibo as they had not previously been in a World's Championship series. Zoa from Long Beach was known to be a speed demon in heavy going, while Phar Lap from Santa Barbara was recognized as a ghost in light airs. And so, they went into the series.

Three of the races were sailed in very light airs, even for this region of the Pacific Coast where full rail-down winds are rare at this season of the year. The first was the lightest breeze of the lot and resulted in some rather startling and unexpected upsets, as several of the boats put on flat sails which let them down in no uncertain manner. However, By-C found the light going to her liking and negotiated the windward-leeward course in masterful and nonchalant fashion. Stardust and Whitecap did some fine sailing to finish second and third while Ace had to be contented with fourth and Three Star Too dropped to tenth behind both feminine contenders. Two unfortunate circumstances involving the starboard-port-tack rule resulted in subsequent disqualification of both Vega and Cene from this race.

The second day brought another very light breeze which was full of soft spots and extremely difficult to sail, with a heavy tide running at the outer marks. Three Star Too got a good start and pulled out on the inshore tack to a lead that seemed to be a safe one. However, the light air and tide played the cards differently and By-C and Ace by a clever inshore tack soon took the lead and maintained into the finish. Tegu took a nice third after a close brush with Gemini. Pathfinder sailed her best race of the series to finish sixth. Stardust dropped down to seventh and the Seattle entry Cene did her best work in the series to finish eighth. The Honolulu challenger was last, being beaten by her feminine rival from France by four points. Zoa had tough luck and received the first of two disqualifications.

The third race brought some exceedingly "unusual" California weather in the shape of a black thunder-squall which struck about twenty minutes after the start while the boats were well strung out on the first leg of the windward-leeward course. The westerly wind died suddenly, and the squall struck with great suddenness from the east with a heavy downpour of rain. Three Star Too, which was in third position at the time and near the beach, quickly set her whisker pole and scudded out across the incoming rollers with spray flying and the boat pitching like a bucking bronco. Some of the boats were taken unawares with light sheets and Cene broke a backstay and had to make emergency repairs to finish last. Stardust and Whitecup II which had been going well in the westerly dropped behind in the squall and Three Star Too was far enough ahead when the wind returned to its original quarter so that she maintained a good lead to the finish. Ace turned in another second by consistent sailing and Andiamo found herself after two bad days to take third. By-C was fourth with Phar Lap fifth. Zoa was sailing a fine race but failed to give way to a close-hauled boat while on the run and withdrew. The scattering of the boats by the squall formed the main topic of conversation at the very pleasant dinner tendered to the contestants by the California Yacht Club at Wilmington that evening,

The fourth race was a triangular course which turned out to be much longer than anticipated because of the extreme depth of water where the committee had intended to place the offshore mark. The wind was very light from the south-east which made a short beat and two long reaches instead of a reach and a run. This race shortly developed into a battle between the three "gold-star" boats, By-C, Ace, and Three Star Too, which three pulled out ahead of the rest and seesawed back and forth with but a few seconds between them all the way around. By-C finally won out on the final reach, thus duplicating her score last year at San Francisco Bay of three firsts and a fourth at the end of the fourth race. Three Star Too was in second place by a few seconds at the outer mark, but Ace travelled too fast for her on the final reach and beat her across the line. Gemini came up fast at this juncture to take her second fourth in the series with Star dust fifth and Vega sixth. Three Star Too thus pulled out of the lie for third with Stardust, and led her by one point, while By-C gained one point on ice and so led the series by three points at the start of the last battle.

The finale seemed destined to be sailed under the same light air conditions, as the morning was quite foggy with scarcely a breath stirring. Shortly before the start of the windward-leeward course, however, the breeze picked up from the southwest and was steady at about ten to twelve miles per hour during the most exciting race of the series. Three Star Too and Star. dust came quickly around on an inshore tack at the leeward end of the line and sailed in proximity nearly to the windward mark while Zod, who found the increased breeze much to her liking, had taken an offshore tack, and came to the mark first by a few seconds. Stardust held a little farther up the shore, as did Gemini, and both boats lost heavily by thus overshooting the mark. Zoa and Three Star Too held closely together on the run, with Zoa having a slight edge at the mark. Vega was coming up fast all this time and the three boats held closely together on the windward leg to round in order. Zou, Three Star Too, and Vega. They were well in advance of the balance of the fleet with By-C well down and Ace coming up fast.

The boats except for the three leaders were well bunched and several luffing matches took place on the second run and beat which materially changed the position of some of the leading boats. Three Star Too got a favorable slant of wind shortly before the finish line and just nosed out Zoa to win her second race of the series. Vega came in just a few seconds later to take her second third place. The Venezuela entry also liked the full breeze and boiled home fourth in her best performance of the series. Ace beat By-C, with Gemini and Phar Lap taking seventh and eighth, all four boats finishing within a few seconds of each other. Then Andiamo and Pathfinder crossed, with all the rest coming across the line, more closely bunched than in any other race. This was by all odds the best and most interesting battle of the series. Ace should really have beaten By-C by several boats but for the above-mentioned luffing matches.

Arrangements for the series were efficiently handled by the Newport Harbor Yacht Club and the Balboa Yacht Club and the race committee consisted of the following:

JAMES WEBSTER, Newport Harbor Yacht Club (Chairman)
HOLLY SUMNER, San Diego Yacht Club
HAL ATKINSON, San Francisco Bay Fleet, Richmond Yacht Club
WINSOR SOULE, Santa Barbara Channel Fleet
S.B.Y.C. COMMODORE GEO. CORRY of the Star Class, Western L. I. Sound Fleet

It was a great series. A good time was had by all. We were pleased to have had another visit from Commodore Corry, and the local folks were mighty kind and hospitable. Glenn Waterhouse, newly elected second vice president, presided at the annual banquet and Mrs. Embry presented the trophies to series and place winners to complete a most thrilling and enjoyable regatta.

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