1954 North American Championship - Rockport, MA
Regatta Report
by L.M. Fowle, courtesy of YACHTING Magazine
The International Star Class Y.R.A. crowned a new North American Champion when John H. Van Dyke’s Sea Skate from Milwaukee earned the title by a paper thin edge. The series, under the joint auspices of the Cape Ann fleet and the Sandy Bay Y.C. August 23-28 at Rockport, Mass., had excellent weather and fine competition. Van Dyke’s Sea Skate tied at 160 points with the 1952 titlist, C. Stanley Ogilvy’s Flame, Herbert P. Williams’ Kathleen from Chicago was third at 159, so the championship had to be decided on the basis of the Milwaukee boat having beaten the Long Island Sound entry in three of the five races.
The North Americans at Rockport illustrated the grand hospitality a small yacht club with the proper spirit can dispense at a major yachting event. The weather cooperated, providing a light easterly, a whole sail westerly, a nice southeasterly, a 10-know southerly, and finally a rail breeze from the west. Unique prizes, valuable paintings by Rockport’s artist colony, added to the glamor of the event. It was unfortunate that on two occasions the race committee set extremely poor starting lines. One gave 100% advantage to the starboard tack boat sailing parallel to the committee boat and the other proved impossible to cross on a starboard tack.
Sea Skate did not win a single contest, but her triumph was due to consistency on the part of her skipper, Jack Van Dyke, and his crew, Gerrit Foster, Sea Skate was tenth among 37 competitors on the opening day but Van Dyke brought her home third in the second race and then fifth, seventh, and fifth again. Flame opened with a third, skidded to 11th, came back to sixth, won the fourth race, and then dropped to ninth. Bert Williams’ Kathleen started off with a pair of seconds, suffered her bad race in the third contest with a 16th, and followed with a ninth before winning on the final day.
The greased skids on which all contenders slipped one were roughest for former world’s champion, E. W. “Skip” Etchells in Shannon, which finished fourth in the series with 150 points. She was put out of the running with a 28th place in the third race, although she also had one first, a third, and two fourths. The 1953 champion, Bob Lippincott’s Flower, never recovered from finishing 12th in the opening race, but her second, two eights, and an 11th earned firth series place at 149.
Results
1954 NORTH AMERICAN CHAMPIONSHIP - ROCKPORT, MA Place No. Name Skipper Crew Fleet Daily Places Pts. 1 2985 Sea Skate Jack Van Dyke Gerrit D. FosterMil 10 3 5 7 5 160 2 2700 Flame Stanley Ogilvy Alan MacKay WLIS 3 11 6 1 9 160 3 3005 Kathleen H. P. Williams Henry Paschen JrSLM 2 2 16 10 1 159 4 3125 Shannon E. W. Etchells Charles Dominy CLIS 4 1 28 3 4 150 5 3188 Flower Bob Lippincott Bill Lane WJ 12 8 8 2 11 149 6 2705 Chuckle Harold Halsted Wallace Ross MorB 5 7 17 4 10 147 7 3337 Half-Breed Richard Miller George W. Voss CLE 8 18 10 5 2 147 8 3492 Ding Dong C. W. Lyon Jr Robert Maffert BB 9 6 11 6 12 146 9 3344 En Garde Cal Hadden J.F.A. Lorber JrNOG 22 5 4 9 6 144 10 3167 Dingo Ding SchoonmakerWilliam Lynn Jr CLIS 1 17 2 12 16 142 11 3079 Boomerang John K. Todd Paul Cox ES 6 12 13 11 15 133 12 3315 Cygnet Owen C. Torrey Margery Torrey WLIS 18 15 12 13 7 125 13 3396 Glider Richard Stearns Robert Halperin WH 23 4 7 14 19 123 14 3364 Starfire Fred Scopinich Carl Picinich MorB 15 10 14 8 23 120 15 3382 Frolic Bill Buchan Jr Wm. Buchan Sr PS 14 14 1 18 27 116 16 3357 Gazelle Rollin C. Whyte Peter A. Bordes NB 27 20 3 20 17 103 17 3340 Kismet Mead Batchelor Paul Smart Mid 17 16 15 23 20 99 18 3299 Cirrus H. Lippincott Lash Nelson WJ 21 28 20 19 3 99 19 3130 October Eugene Corley Emmett Corley SLM 13 13 23 16 29 98 20 3085 Snallygaster Charles F. SteinWm. Konwenhoven CB 28 19 9 dnf 8 88 21 3355 Sirene Kenneth Smith Jerry Swanton HB 19 9 dnf 17 24 83 22 2742 Finagle Braxton R. NagleJoseph Duplin BH 13 23 22 24 26 82 23 2013 Lynx Ernest Hamner Phillip Miller CLE 20 27 18 15 31 79 24 2125 Shillalah Daniel Catlin Brian Catlin GSB 31 21 19 28 14 77 25 3280 Blue Angel Paul L. Bishop Charles Winslow BH 7 32 21 26 30 74 26 3310 Rawalpindi H. Fullerton Julia Fullerton Rar 30 25 26 29 13 67 27 3026 Stampede George C. Dewar James Dewar OAR 16 26 30 21 32 65 28 2459 Tackless John M. Goddard Paul G. WoodburyCA 35 24 24 25 25 57 29 630 Sans Souci Geoffrey Clark John Clark CA 26 29 27 22 34 52 30 2806 Twinkle Warren Hanson William Wallace NB 37 22 31 27 21 52 31 2829 Dolphin Emerson Raymond Frank E. RaymondWH 24 33 15 30 dns 40 32 3030 Shooting Star Frank Bartlett Bill Wrightson BB 29 34 33 33 22 39 33 1741 Griddle Frank H. Gordon Donald Ogilvy Sun 36 31 36 39 18 34 34 2858 Fin Tom Perkins Dick Perkins GSB 33 dnf 29 32 28 30 35 2003 Lochinvar R. K. Cameron Mary Cameron PPL 34 30 32 31 36 27 36 3250 Mavourneen Hartwell Moore Helen Moore HB 25 35 35 34 35 26 37 3113 Por Que No Willard Hodges John C. Bacon Sun 32 36 34 36 33 19
