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1948 World Championship - Cascais, Portugal

1948 World Championship - Cascais, Portugal

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.

1948 - OFF CASCAIS

Yacht#	Yacht name	Skipper		Crew		Fleet			Daily Finish             Pts.

1961	Twin Star	Lockwood Pirie	H. Rugeroni	Wilmette Harbor		 2   2   1   1   7	107

1540	Polluce		A. Straulino	Nicolo Rode	Taranto			 1   4   2   2   5	106

2570	Hilarius	Hilary Smart	Paul Smart	C. Long Island Sound	 4   7   6  12  10	 81

2700	Flame		Stan Ogilvy	Gerald Daly	W. Long Island Sound	 6  Wdr  4   5   4	 77

2599	Faneca		Duarte Bello	Fernando Bello	Cascais			 5   9  Dsa  6   1	 75

2440	Luisa II	Tito Nordio	Luigi Manicor	Trieste			13   1   8  10  13	 75

1655	Starita		A. Mass		E. Stutterheim	No. Holland		Wdr 10   5   4   9	 68

1722	Moorina		A. Sturrock	Len Fenton	Melbourne		 8  17   3  Dsa  3	 65

2368	Aloha II	Yves Lorion	Armand Chatord	Alger			16  15   7   3  14	 65

2552	Margabell	Ernesto MendoncaAntonio Silva	Vila Franca		 7   5  Dsa  9  12	 63

1663	Legionario	Roberto Ciappa	Carlo Rolandi	Capri			15   8   9   7  Wdr	 57

1976	Gem II		Durward Knowles	S. Farrington	*Nassau			 3  12  Dsa Dsa  2	 55

2612	Bug		Ayres Costa	Ernani Simoes	Rio de Janeiro		17  11  10  13  16	 53

2554	Espadarte	Joaquim Fiuza	Julio Gorinho	Lisbon			11  16  11   8  Dsq	 50

2458	Scylla		Charles Ulmer	Walter Flynn	East River		10   6  Dns Dsa  8	 48

2763	Vipera III	Dario Salata	Lino Cattaneo	Lario			14   3  13  Wdr Wdr	 42

2545	Hydra II	A. Cosentino	Alberto Morelli	Naples			Wdr 13  Wdr 11  11	 37

2376	Kurush III	C. de Cardenas	C de Cardenas JrHabana			12  18  Dsa Wdr  6	 36

2514	Izard III	Jean Peytel	Roger Bernheim	Paris			 9  14  Wdr Dsq 15	 34

2286	Fandango	P. Chancerel	JJean Saintenis	St. Germain		18  19  12  Wdr 17	 30

2580	Fada III	Pierre Montaut	Mrs. Montaut	Seine & Oise		Dsq 20  Dsa 14  18	 20

2258	Duende		Tomas Allende	J. L. Allende	Santander		19  22  14  Wdr Dns	 17

2155	Chiqui IV	Rafael Elosegui	Ignacio Ganuza	San Sebastian		Wdr 21  Wdr Wdr Dns	  3

2738	Galerna		J. Allende	Eduardo Aznar	Bilbao			Dsa Dns Dns Dns Dns	  0

Winning yacht No. 1961. B - Karas Boat Yard, Chicago, Illinois, 1940.
Ch. Meeting - C. de Cardenas. Ch. I.R.C. - E. J. Conill.

Regatta Report

Nineteen hundred and forty-eight was quite a Star year. With most of the major events in Europe, Puget Sound held a Silver Star Championship of North America. Charles Ross, of the home fleet, was the winner. He sailed Cete, the first Star ever built in that locality. On their way from England to Portugal some stopped off at San Sebastian, Spain, for its big international series. It was won by the French skipper, Stephan.

A partly built club, at Cascais, was completed. It provided a sort of shore headquarters, with lockers, showers and a bar. The contestants, however, lived in hotels at nearby Estoril.

Wind, plenty of it, was the outstanding feature. A September date had been selected, as the locals claimed there would be gentle breezes, but they were all wet. The wind fairly screeched. After midnight of the first race, it whistled down from the Sonoras. Four Stars parted their mooring lines and drifted to sea - Africa next stop. In the early hours of the morning, the minister of marine sent planes in search. Knowles' Gem II was located fifteen miles out. All four were eventually towed back to port, pretty well battered. The wind showed no sign of abating and the day's race was postponed.

Lockwood Pirie won the series by a single point, but it was not as close as it sounds. Woodie had already beaten Italy's premier three times. Had there been a tie, he would have won anyway. Hence all he had to do was prevent two more Stars from finishing between them. Straulino, naturally, was runner-up. The Smarts were a poor third, some twenty-five points behind the leaders. Sturrock, of Melbourne, was the first and only bona fide Australian entry. Like de Cardenas, he was a heavy weather favorite; both had withdrawals and their point scores were not impressive.

For some unknown reason, the annual meeting ratified a ten-man I.R.C., although the constitution specifies half that many. Aboard the Santa Maria, the committee boat furnished by the navy, blue ribboned Star officers were so thick that they were tripping over each other. That, and the conflicting lunch hour of the crew and inadequate ground tackle, for the line stakeboat, delayed some of the starts. Otherwise chairman Enrique Conill did a good job.

On one of the off days, the Portuguese staged a bull fight. Cebern Lee, proficient at the art of throwing the bull, was a volunteer toreador. I neglected to mention Hat only bull calves were put in the arena. Lee could run. He beat the calf to one of the safety niches. It was already occupied by three other neophyte toreadores and there was no room. No one seems quite sure whether he, or bull junior, was the most amazed and frightened. Jean Peytel also tried it. He would gracefully side-step the animal's rush, bending at the waist. Evidently it was in anticipation of the plaudits. Whereupon the calf would turn and playfully butt him in the stern. I state on good authority that, during the remainder of his stay, Jean ate his meals off the mantelpiece.

And what meals they were! Everyone agreed that Portuguese hospitality outdid Havana's - so did its wind, but it came from the land and the Stars did not have to plough through such gigantic seas. It was tough going, however, and only five of the twenty-four entries (from eleven different nations) completed all the races. I wonder what Adler thought of that.

Yes, Sig was there, combining the past and the present. He will be remembered as one of the team of Adler and O'Brian, who sailed the Canis Minor in the early teens. The pioneers of the gaff rigged days finished a race, come hell or high water. The idea of sailing back into the bay, so as to race another day (which many did) may be all right, but it never won a major championship.

lockwood pirie world championship