1956 World Championship - Naples, Italy
The following results are from the Star Logs. 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.
1956 WORLD'S CHAMPIONSHIP - NAPLES
No. Yacht Skipper Crew Fleet Daily Places Pts. 3810 Merope III Ag. Straulino Nicolo Rode Se-Ve-Ta 5 1 8 3 4 279 2920 North Star II Lowell North James B. Hill San Diego 3 7 2 9 2 277 3076 Kurush IV A. de Cardenas J. de Cardenas Mariano 2 14 10 2 1 271 3332 Caprice Robt. Ciappa Carlo Rolandi Capri 14 9 5 1 3 268 3130 Gale Harry Nye Jr R. S. Halperin S.L.M. 1 10 4 5 10 267 2958 Merope I Ant. Consentino Neri Stelle Ischia 4 2 9 13 7 265 3430 Faneca Duarte Bello Jose Bustorf Cascais 10 15 1 4 9 261 3742 Anin C. W. Lyon Jr Frank Lyon At. High 12 4 6 6 12 260 3490 Gam II Ph. Chancecel Mich. Parent Seine 11 5 11 19 6 248 3342 Mari Sune Carlsson O. Carlsson Rasta 9 8 14 10 13 246 3080 Clementine IV Harry H. Adler L. C. P. Ramos Salvador 13 11 3 7 43 223 3747 Conch II Foster Clarke Roy Cole Nassau 21 24 7 5 21 222 3171 Frip Georges Pisani N. Desaublizuz Angers 8 19 16 25 11 221 3376 Kurush IV C. de Cardenas C. Cardenas Jr Havana 6 32 12 26 5 219 3401 Nuvola Rossa Dario Salata Giu. Barano Lario 17 12 24 18 16 213 3365 Katia II Michel Gautier L. Domerc Safi 16 29 15 11 14 211 3070 Espadarte II J. de M. Fiuza Fern. Pessoa Lisbon 15 3 13 11 wdr 198 3655 Ma' Lindo Mario Quina Miguel Quina V. Franca 27 13 35 12 27 186 3675 Ta Fatt Jacob Engwall B. Carlsson Gefle 23 25 21 23 24 184 3172 Candide Albert Debarge Jean Peytel Arcachon 37 18 18 21 31 175 3736 Mechtild Josef Pankofer Hans G. Link Starnberg 33 31 29 28 8 171 3817 Tupi Jorge F. Geyer J. L. Pimental S. Paulo 38 16 22 39 17 168 3724 Tscha-Tscha C. E. Burkhard F. Portier Rappers 35 36 26 20 15 166 3470 Iris III W. von HütschlerJean Crespin Rio de J. 19 41 36 14 30 160 3744 Scylla Chas. Ulmer Herby Hild E. River 28 37 17 34 28 156 3792 Vesania de Sangro Fondi Gen. de Luca Pen. Sorr. 7 30 wdr 29 18 156 3567 Atair Jan Borh Charly Joos Zuerich 24 21 28 48 25 154 3508 Hux Flux IV Bertil Nylund Lars Stensico Stockholm 30 57 20 20 29 144 3327 Anna I Carlo Boselli Livio Sangulin Alto Lario 18 26 27 30 dsq 139 3459 Arlu III Nanni Porro R. Manars Lecco 29 43 38 33 22 135 3349 Castore III F. Romanello G. de Gaetano Se-Ve-Na 25 dsq 30 35 19 131 3633 Itri Claude Metral Henri Rungs Rabat 31 30 31 37 20 131 3440 Shitane Maur Violette Geo. Olivier S. et Oise 40 40 34 17 41 128 3644 Zwente Bold Hans D. Wagner Eb. Hoesch Chiemsee 42 38 43 24 26 127 3680 Bu II T. T. de Paula C. A. de Brita Dist Fed 26 27 19 wdr 45 123 3233 Asterope Aldo Moscovita Mario Mioni Trieste 20 55 40 32 26 117 2571 Capucho IV Joao Capucho Antonio Maia Setubal 32 35 41 16 wdr 116 3191 Melody Paul H. Smart Maarschalken CLIS 44 33 25 46 37 115 3043 Luti Luise Castro M. Maneres Porto 49 23 49 44 23 112 3822 Ali Baba V Hans Bryner Urs Bucher Lugano 48 6 47 49 39 111 3384 Vega VI Fred. Mercier D. Benard Villefr 41 22 dsq 27 40 110 3351 Tornado Franco Arditi Giorgio Marra Leuca 50 45 32 31 32 110 3629 Cheri II Bruno Tomasoni Bruno Dequal Garda 36 39 39 42 34 110 3371 Aloha VI Yves Lorion Rocco Jemma Algiers 52 17 51 50 35 95 3404 Twinkle J. Roy Mitchell Jean Mitchell Norfolk 34 49 37 38 49 93 3457 Danaldo P. Migliaccio G. B. Leone Napoli wdr 20 23 wdr 47 90 3395 Tichiboo Prince Bira Guy Dagonnot Cannes wdr 42 44 36 33 85 3703 Andiola Gualtiero Corsi S. Bugliani Carara 46 28 45 52 48 81 3142 Polluce II Rob. Palombieri Fr. Lapanje Se-Ve-Spe 22 34 dsq 53 50 81 3465 Nababbo II Ott. Danelon Ant. Martinoli Monfalc. 41 51 33 51 44 76 3702 Asrid C. Frugoli Jr E. Amatuzzo Lunense 54 44 42 43 42 71 3318 Fuzzy George Dehio Chr. Berglund Kattegat 51 53 46 41 38 71 3442 Ito L. Barbier Fr. Carvallo Fedala 43 46 50 40 wdr 61 2599 Faneca A. Bizzarro A. Filippone Formia 39 48 wdr 47 46 60 3111 Guapa II Mario Rivelli R. Camardella Genova 53 52 48 45 wdr 42 2477 Mira II Albino Gargiuli A. Cicilisni Ponza 56 54 52 55 51 32 3108 Furia Gino Serafini O. Raimondi Bas. Adr. 47 47 dsq dnf dnf 26 2377 Meteor F. D McCarthy Al Bragdon Boston wdr 56 53 54 dnf 17 3305 Sabrina Ottavio Puleo M Masturzo Palermo 55 wdr dns dns dns 5
1956 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP Naples, Regatta Report
from the 1957 Star Class Log by Charles E. Lucke, Jr.
When you come right down to it, no one has a record like that of Agostino Straulino, the 1956 World's Champion. He is the only man ever to have won the Gold Star three times; he is the only skipper credited with nine Silver Stars, and eight of these represent the last eight consecutive European Championships, all with huge entry lists; and he has won the Championship of Italy eleven times, including the last nine consecutively. His ten straight daily firsts in the 1955 Italian and European Championships rocked the Class.
He didn't do that in 1956, but he did win both series and then went on to win the World's. If you've had time to catch your breath, we'll continue. Nico Rode, Straulino's faithful crew for twenty years, certainly deserves his share of the credit for all this. And in all fairness to the other contestants it must be admitted that the 1956 Gold and Silver Star victories were exceedingly close ones. Merope won the World's by only two points over Lowell North's North Star, and took the European by one point from Duarte Bello, who has been knocking at the door of both these big series for years (he was runner-up to Straulino in the 1954 European, again by only one point.)
We have obtained permission from the Skipper Magazine and the kind consent of the author to reprint the report, which originally appeared in that publication last fall. It seems fitting that this section should be written by a former editor of the LOG, who was also a member of Beppe Croce's hard-working International Race Committee, having traveled to Italy from the U.S. for the express purpose.
American sailors almost brought the Star World's Championship back to the United States in the fabulous series sailed on the pellucid Bay of Naples in September 1956. On the last weather leg of the final race, however, Captain Agostino Straulino of the Italian Navy and his crew Nicolo Rode came miraculously from far in the rear to pass enough boats to take fourth place and clinch his third Gold Star.
Photo: 1957 Log: North Star II, runner-up, 1956 World's Championship. Lowell is sitting on the boom- always tinkering. Jim Hill, his crew, is at the helm.
Lowell North and Jim Hill of the San Diego, California, fleet, who would have won the series had the final race ended at the first round, had to settle for the runner-up spot after seemingly having the series in the bag.
More Stars raced in the series than in any previous championship. A total of sixty-four had officially entered but at the last minute three Italian and two Yugoslav entries were scratched. On the starting line were 59 boats, topping the previous 49 starting record at Gibson Island in Maryland in 1951. Each of the 13 nations represented had strong contingents and until the very finish of the finale it was a wide-open series.
The winners of the daily races were well distributed without a single double winner. Harry Nye of Chicago, twice a Star champion, took the opener; Straulino, the second race; Duarte Bello of Portugal, the third; Robert Ciappa of Italy, the fourth; and Alvaro de Cardenas, of Cuba, the finale. To indicate how rugged the competition was, defending Champion Charlie de Cardenas, the unbeatable winner in 1954 and 1955, placed fourteenth at Naples.
Racing conditions were nearly ideal for Stars with little sea and light to moderate breezes from the southwest. The scenery was breathtaking. The course lay just off fabled Naples with Vesuvius on one side and the panoramic islands of Capri and Ischia as a background. Hordes of Italian and French girls in the briefest of brief well-filled Bikinis dashed along the course edges in motorboats, cheering their favorites.
The breeze was deceptive in its shifts and there was always a right and a wrong place to tack. It was rarely the same from one lap to the next. Nobody guessed it right all the time, but Straulino did the best job of it and certainly deserved to win the series.
Due to the unwieldy size of the fleet there was at least one protest every day. The language difficulties at the protest hearings turned those sessions into something akin to the Tower of Babel. For example, after the third race there was a protest by an Algerian against an Italian entry with the usual counter-protest. Their versions of the facts conflicted. The only witness was a German skipper who spoke only his native tongue. So the International Race Committee had a Dutch interpreter translate from German into Italian and thence into English, so that the case could be resolved.
First Three Races
The first race, in moderate air over the windward-leeward route, saw Nye take a dangerous start under the lee of the committee boat to establish an early lead. Upwind he was out-tacked by North, Georges Pisani of France, Antonio Consentino of Italy, Fiuza of Portugal and Straulino, as they rounded in that order with Nye sixth. On the first run Nye passed all of these skippers and come out with a nice lead which he held right to the finishing gun. The three-way battle for second was decided on the second round with North doing the best to weather but poorly downwind. He took third behind Alvaro de Cardenas while Cosentino nosed out Straulino.
Since there was a shifty five-mile breeze, a twice-around triangle was set for the second race. The shifts were tricky, but the native sailors played them right as Consentino led Straulino at the weather mark and Philippe Chancerel of France took third over North and Bill Lyon of New Jersey. Downwind, North slipped back and Lyon advanced to fourth. On the much fresher wind the second time up, Straulino took Consentino while Fiuza passed Lyon and Chancerel. Positions did not change on the reaches to the finish. Nye was back in fourteenth spot. That night the scoreboard read: Merope I and Merope III, 114 each; North Star II 110; Gale 109; Anin, Gam and Kurush IV each 104.
A windward and leeward course for the third race in a fourteen-mile breeze saw Harry Adler of Brazil out sail Bello to windward, with North Star third and run Anin fourth. Bello and Adler exchanged positions on the run with North holding his third, Ciappa fourth and Foster Clarke of Nassau fifth. On the second beat there was no change among the leaders but Lyon rounded ahead of Clarke, de Cardenas and Nye. At the finish it was Duarte Bello first, a habit he has acquired in World's Championship races almost regularly once a year; Lowell North second, to lead the score at this stage and win the Vanderveer Trophy; then Adler, Nye and Ciappa.
Last Two Races
After rest day, the fourth race was sailed over the triangular route in an eight-mile sou'wester. There was a bad jam at the leeward end of the long starting line with too many boats early and no place to go. Three were recalled. To windward, Ciappa led de Cardenas, Adler, Bello and Straulino. On the reaches Adler dropped behind Bello and Straulino, the leaders meanwhile retaining first and second. Three Americans, Nye, Lyon and North, picked up many places to get back into the race. On the second round Ciappa held his lead all the way to the finish ahead of de Cardenas, Straulino, Bello and Clarke, with Lyon sixth and Adler dropping to seventh, just ahead of Nye. When the usual protests were settled and the scores totaled, American hopes were high with three of the first four places. The standings with one race to go were: Straulino 223, North 219, Nye 217, Lyon, de Cardenas, and Cosentino 212, Ciappa 211, Bello 210.
Upwind in the finale on a triangle, which was twice postponed waiting for the wind to settle, Ciappa led Alvaro de Cardenas with North third and defending champion Charlie de Cardenas fourth. Straulino was back in tenth. If North could hold it, he was in. On the reaches Alvaro worked out over Ciappa while North held his third over Dad de Cardenas. Nye was sixth, while Bello, Chancerel and Fiuza still had the edge on Straulino. By the final beat the wind shifted, freshened, and then near the weather mark softened. Alvaro held his lead upwind and North worked out to second place over Ciappa. But Straulino, by playing it just exactly right upwind, bottled up to fourth, passing the elder de Cardenas, Nye, Bello and Fiuza to become the first three-time World's Champion in the forty-five year history of the Stars. The winner's average daily place was 4.2 out of 59 boats.
The 1957 series cannot be held in Italy under Star rules. The points piled up over the past three years by Alvaro and Jorge de Cardenas under the (old) system, still valid for 1957; take the event back to Havana in November of this year.
