1958 North American Championship - Choptank River, Maryland, USA
Regatta Report
The following account is based on the story by Mary Swain written for the Easton Star-Democrat, with the kind permission of the author and the newspaper (Star Log 1959)
Skip and Mary Etchells of the Central Long Island Sound Fleet won the 1958 North American Championship of the Star Class.
The Etchells, sailing Shaughnessy, which was built by her naval architect skipper, took a 5-1-1-3-3 to win the highly competitive event. Howard Lippincott, the 1956 winner, sailing Circus under the colors of the Elk River Fleet with Paul Cox of the host Tred Avon Yacht Club as crew wound up second with a 6-10-3-4-5, and a 7-16-2-1-8 proved good enough for a series third for Ken Smith from Huntington Bay with his Sirene.
The five-race regatta under the sponsorship of the Eastern Shore Fleet was plagued by the summer's poorest sailing weather conditions. Monday's race saw half the starters knocked out of the initial contest because of a 35 to 40 mile per hour north-west breeze which combined with a strong ebb tide to kick up six foot seas in the Choptank River, the arm of the Chesapeake Bay on which the races were sailed. Four masts went over the side, several sails ripped in half, and battens were scattered all over the Eastern Shore before the day was over.
Tuesday the second race of the series was called off when the time limit expired: a near perfect south-west breeze got the race under way only to leave it hanging with the final leg of the two lap triangle still to be sailed. Wednesday morning a stiff southerly kicked up rough seas. Shaughnessy slipped her mooring and drifted ashore in Plain Dealing Creek sometime between 4 and 7 a.m., but no damage was done to the boat when she grounded on soft bottom in shoal water.
Basil Kelly's Conch from Nassau and Loring Catlin's Stampede of the Great South Bay, Long Island, dragged anchor but were picked up near the mouth of Town Creek. Races that day were cancelled because of the wind and because of the anticipated arrival of another cold front. The race committee had sharp memories of the arrival of the previous front on Sunday during the tune-up race when only four boats finished in a violent thundersquall.
Three days, one race sailed so far with half the fleet rating D.N.F.
Thursday a north-west breeze produced good, though rough, racing. Two races were scheduled and completed. Friday was a light air day, and a race was sailed successfully. But Saturday, which was to conclude the series, turned so light that the fleet was again left in the lurch as the breeze, dying completely, left the boats scattered all over the Choptank when the time limit expired. Some contestants were forced to miss the resail on Sunday by the pressure of business commitments, but a fleet of 34 stayed for the finale, a good race sailed in moderate weather.
The first race went to Joe Duplin's Star of the Sea by a convincing margin in Monday's gale. Bob Lippincott's Cataplum was second, to make it one-two for Chesapeake Bay. After various ups and downs during the week these two finished first and second again in the same order in the final Sunday race; but they were not able to maintain this hot pace every day in between: Duplin had one bad day and Lippincott two. In the second race they both arrived late at the starting line and were, of course, unable to recover from such a handicap in a fleet of this caliber.
The Etchells won both races of the double-header, another very windy day, the first by a handsome margin and the second by considerably less as the wind softened and fluked near the end of the race. The morning race saw many casualties. Shortly after the start Esprit broke her tiller; Streeton was able to repair it but finished thirty-second. Conch broke a shroud, and Dangerous was dismasted. Cataplum lost a spreader, despite which Lippincott was able to finish nineteenth even with his late start.
Crew Buck Halperin had to hold the stays in place with the boom crutch during one whole leg of the course to keep the mast in the boat. Fred Scopinich of Bellport was second in this race and continued to finish well up all week. He was the only one of those who missed Sunday's resail who thereby had to forego a chance at a series prize. Cal Hadden's En Garde took another third, as she had on Monday, to be temporarily tied for first place with Shaughnessy. Hadden continued hot for the first round of the third race, after which his luck deserted him, not to return.
Ken Smith in Sirene finished second in that race, and topped it with a first in the fourth contest in a five to eight mile breeze that baffled many of the contestants. He had to fight off Herb Hild's Desiree to do it. But Shaughnessy, by finishing a tenacious third, reinforced her lead, building it up to thirteen points with only one race to go.
After Saturday's washout, an eight to ten mile breeze greeted the finalists on Sunday. Miles Wynn's Flambeau of New Orleans led at the first mark with Bob Lippincott, who had tacked far over on the south side of the Choptank to pick up a good lift. Etchells rounded eighth, with Howard Lippincott, whom he had obviously been covering, eleventh. On the second round Duplin headed south immediately, and picking up a favorable slant he moved into first at the last windward mark. Etchells picked up to second with Howard Lippincott third and brother Bob fourth. All had favored the south shore.
Duplin took the race by a wide margin: but the Etchells third was more than enough to earn for them first place, the Silver Star, and the Royal Canadian Yacht Club Trophy for the North American Championship.
Results
1958 NORTH AMERICAN CHAMPIONSHIP - CHOPTANK RIVER Place No. Name Skipper Crew Fleet Daily Places Pts. 1 4025 Shaughnessy E. W. Etchells Mary Etchells CLIS 5 1 1 3 3 227 2 4039 Circus Howie LippincottP. Cox ER 6 10 3 4 5 212 3 3354 Sirene Kenneth Smith G. Swanton HB 7 16 2 1 8 206 4 4038 Cataplum Bob Lippincott Robert Halperin WJ 2 19 7 20 2 190 5 3861 Capstar Joe Burbeck Kouwenhoven WLIS 11 8 4 11 17 189 6 3743 En Garde II Cal Hadden R. Matthews NOG 3 3 9 33 14 178 7 3740 Star of the Sea Joseph Duplin C. Moran WS 1 9 6 dsq 1 175 8 3949 Flambeau Miles P. Wynn R. Hadden NOG 19 7 12 18 9 175 9 4040 Desiree Herbert Hild K. Schaffner ERF dsa 4 5 2 13 168 10 3340 Kismet Mead Batchelor S. Batchelor Mid 13 25 20 5 10 167 11 3977 Heather William Lynn Jr R. Sears WLIS 8 11 28 13 15 165 12 3100 Jade John Sherwood R. Michel CB 16 24 16 9 11 164 13 3364 Starfire Fred Scopinich C. Picinich MorB 9 2 13 7 C 161 14 3713 Esprit Jack Streeton G. Lorber Cam 4 32 25 16 4 159 15 3660 Gunshy Stan Lippincott W. Poulterer BB 15 22 21 19 28 135 16 3339 Caber Richard Gordon B. Knopf Mid dnf 18 11 6 24 133 17 2992 Jimac William Wente G. Vandenburgh WH 12 14 27 dsq 6 133 18 3650 Mad Hatter Barclay Trippe W. Lane ES dnf 26 22 10 7 127 19 3235 Malihini Sam Beard A. Beard GSB dnf 20 15 17 16 124 20 3191 Melody Paul H. Smart W. Austin CLIS 17 33 30 31 12 117 21 3919 Hypotenus Percival Robin J. Robin SLIS 10 12 39 27 -- 114 22 3960 Hilarius Hilary H. Smart D. Smith CA dsa 23 23 24 20 101 23 3458 Blue Chip David Gaillard W. Potter CB dsa 30 14 28 22 98 24 3913 Lindoya C. W. Lyon Jr V. Lawrence AH -- 21 10 15 -- 98 25 4037 Bonfire Curtis Jones E. Jones PGB 18 36 32 30 29 95 26 3648 Chuckle Harold Halsted L. Cox MorB 14 5 31 dsq -- 94 27 3363 Bobolink Ed Braddock L. Nelson AH dnf 31 8 35 25 93 28 3858 Ingenue George Thomas W. Miskell CLE dsa 15 18 23 dnf 88 29 3742 Anin W. von HütschlerJ. Whitehill RdeJ -- 27 -- 14 26 87 30 2822 Djinn Frank H. Gordon Dorothy Gordon Sun -- 34 33 29 19 77 31 3929 Espuma del Mar Dan Camejo P. Camejo LMF -- dnf 19 21 27 77 32 3893 Anna II Emmy Raymond F. Raymond WH -- 29 17 22 -- 76 33 3974 Springtime Carl Ohgren E. Wilks SLM -- 17 36 32 31 76 34 3869 Glitter George Severs J. Sharpnack SLE dnf 6 35 34 dnf 69 35 4047 Guau-Guau Walter Flynn R. Sherbrooke WS -- -- -- 8 23 65 36 2828 Chili Larry Smithline T. Smith BH dnf 35 38 37 21 61 37 3555 Wham Bam C. McCormick R. Psaros NCB dnf 13 26 dsq -- 57 38 3079 Boomerang Charles Wiley Beryl Flynn ES dnf dsq -- 24 18 54 39 3437 Sharen Robert Asher A. Guilford CLE -- 28 24 dsq -- 44 40 3003 Windsong J. Floyd J. Jones MS dsa dnf -- 26 30 40 41 3747 Conch II Basil Kelly N. Roberts CoH dsq dnf -- 12 dnf 36 42 3536 Sea Fever G. Pilot W. Oldach BB -- 13 26 39 -- 31 43 2743 Leatherstocking Sam Smith Jr D. Harrison OtL dnf dnf 34 38 -- 24 44 3890 Dangerous Dan Hubers R. Jablin NCB dnf dsa -- 36 -- 12 45 3726 Stampede Loring Catlin B. Catlin GSB dnf -- -- -- -- O 46 3867 Dingo J. Schoonmaker C. Ceritto FIS dsa dnf -- -- -- O
