1956 North American Championship - Vermilion, OH
Regatta Report
by William H. Lynn, Jr.
The 1956 North American Silver Star Championship is now history; but no participant or spectator at Vermilion will soon forget the superb performance turned in by Howard Lippincott and Nelson Macan as they sailed Circus to three firsts, an ninth, a thirteenth, and the championship. Under some of the most consistently difficult conditions found in a series of this calibre, Lippincott was on the right side of almost every shift and although he never seemed to be moving exceptionally fast, he managed to be either first or well up at the finish of each race. Howard’s victory, achieved by four and six points respectively over two former Gold Star winners Skip Etchells and Duward Knowles, has established him as one of the top competitors in a class long known for the hottest of competition.
The opening race was held in a cold, shifty, northwest breeze of about 15 knots. Howard Lippincott demonstrated his superiority early by winning the first race while Jack Van Dyke, former Silver Star winner from Milwaukee, was coming from nowhere around the second weather mark to wriggle and slide into second place. Long Island Sound grabbed the next two spots as Skip Etchells piled across the line followed closely by Owen Torrey in his blue-hulled Cygnet.
The second race was sailed over the same windward-leeward course but with a more moderate and even less steady breeze. After one recall and anther postponement, both due to major wind shifts which had ruined the starting line, the fleet finally got away, that is, all but John Todd, whose Boomerang found itself wrapped around the committee boat. John eventually got under way, protest flags flying, and steadily worked his way through the fleet in the light and troublesome going to cross the finish line first. Mead Batchelor’s Kismet had led a good part of the way; but with so many boats being juggled around in the impossible conditions, he slumped to fifth at the finish. It was Howard Lippincott who finished second, and who was ultimately given his second straight win by virtue of the committee’s subsequent disqualification of Boomerang. At this point in the proceedings the Circus-master had a six-point lead over his nearest competitor, Jack Van Dyke, with Etchells and Knowles tied for third nine points out of first.
The third race was the steadiest of the series, giving the contestants a southwester of about 18 miles an hour. The course was triangular twice around, and George Dewars Stampede ran away and his from the competition, grabbing the lead at the first mark and then reaching like a demon to lengthen it out over Skip Etchells who was a well-beaten second at the finish. In third place was Cal Hadden’s En Garde from New Orleans, and fourth anther heavy-weather expert, Bob Lippincott. Brother Howard, meanwhile, was sailing another fine race, recovering from a poor first leg to pick up positions all the way around and finish ninth. As the fleet retired for rest day Circus and Shannon were only two points apart with the rest of the boats strung out at least twelve points back.
The fourth race was all Gary Comer. The former Blue Star winner from Chicago took the start and led all the way to win by a nose from Torrey. Again conditions were rather fluky although there was a always a good breeze. Howard Lippincott found himself out for phase for once and fell to thirteenth; but luckily for him, Shannon was also in the tank with a tenth. Durward Knowles sneaked the Gem into fourth place and as a result not only had Lippincott’s runaway been successfully stopped but he now had to fight event to finish in the top three.
Going into the last race the points stood Shannon 177, Circus 176, Cygnet 173, Gem 171. The finale was sailed in the same northwester as the fourth race and the usual shifts were very much in evidence. Durward Knowles and Sloane Farrington, who had been cranking Gem up faster and faster through the series, capped their performance by sailing a beautiful second windward leg after being out-sailed the first time around, and turned the weather mark first amid applause from the spectators. But Howard Lippincott, proving that he was a worth champion, out-ran Knowles to win his third race by a few lengths, while Hadden was sailing in superior fashion to pull off third in the race and fourth in the series. Skip and Mary Etchells, sixth in the Long Island Sound type weather, earned the runner-up spot four points behind Lippincott, while Owen Torrey never recovered from a bad start and found himself dumped into a series fifth.
Among some of the more vivid memories which we carried away from this 1956 championship was the fine work of Dean Rapprich’s race committee. The starting lines were uniformly excellent, and the courses could not have been improved. The accomplishment of feats like this for five days running under the fluky conditions present is certainly a tremendous tribute to all the talent of the committee. Ashore, a highlight of the week was the softball game which found the First District staving off the challenge of The World” to win a much disputed but well-earned victory.
But perhaps the finest remembrance of all was Howard Lippincott and Nelson receiving the winner’s trophy as 1956 North American Champions.
Results
1956 NORTH AMERICAN CHAMPIONSHIP - VERMILION Place No. Name Skipper Crew Fleet Daily Places Pts. 1 3679 Circus Howie LippincottNelson Macan ER 1 1 9 11 1 225 2 3125 Shannon E. W. Etchells Mary Etchells CLIS 3 8 2 10 6 221 3 3820 Gem IV Durward Knowles S. Farrington N 7 2 16 4 2 219 4 3743 En Garde II Cal Hadden Jr Ellis Muther NOG 9 19 3 7 3 210 5 3315 Cygnet Owen Torrey Jr Thomas Forsman WLIS 4 15 6 2 22 201 6 3808 La Fleur Bob Lippincott Basil Kelly WJ 5 21 4 16 10 194 7 3331 Shadrach Gary Comer John Bennett JP 21 9 10 1 11 194 8 3715 Sea Rocket Jack Van Dyke Gerrit Foster Mil 2 6 22 25 8 187 9 3340 Kismet Mead Batchelor J. Schoonmaker Mid 29 5 15 8 12 181 10 3796 Peter's Fault William Parks Peter Sherman SLM 18 11 14 3 24 180 11 3141 White Shadow II William Myers Paul C. Cox ES 37 10 13 12 4 174 12 3731 Breezin Along Donald L. Bever Paul T. Stack SLE 20 33 8 11 7 171 13 2817 Heather Willum Lynn Jr Allan MacKay WLIS 24 7 19 18 13 169 14 3437 Sharen Robert C. Asher Ernest Hanmer CLE 27 12 5 19 23 164 15 3300 Web Dan Hubers Charles Wiley NCB 19 14 28 27 3 157 16 3648 Chuckle Harold Halsted Wallace Ross MorB 6 34 18 9 25 149 17 3752 Whistler Richard Miller Geo. W. Voss CLE 12 13 17 26 39 143 18 3676 Lochinvar II Robert Cameron James R. Kelly SLM 11 35 25 5 41 142 19 3775 Vengeance II Wm. Gentzlinger John Swenk HB 14 44 12 15 28 137 20 3161 Halo Larry Low Bill Nielsen AH 10 16 21 21 dnf 132 21 3305 Allegro Wm. Weatherly Oney Raines MS 9 27 23 wdr 9 132 22 3750 Mavourneen Hartwell Moore Helen S. Moore HB 23 39 35 6 20 127 23 1944 Draco John McKeague Connie McKeague MC 15 3 42 wdr 19 121 24 3786 Margie Fred Meyer Daniel Meyer SLE 22 26 20 31 33 116 25 3231 Malihini Anson Beard Jr Peter H. Beard GSB 34 4 30 24 42 116 26 3779 Boomerang Too John K. Todd John Sherwood Cam 32 dsq 11 28 14 115 27 3434 Fantasy Roy A. Rodgers Mike Pyle WH dnf 31 27 14 16 112 28 3740 Star of the Sea Joseph Duplin J. Fitzgerald BH 36 32 9 wdr 11 110 29 3713 Esprit Jack Streeton James Chrichton ES 21 20 29 37 34 109 30 3492 Din'Dong Rodger C. Low John Volk AH 28 25 32 23 33 109 31 3726 Stampede II George C. Dewar James Dewar OAR 17 24 1 dnf dnf 108 32 3417 Capstar Joseph Burbeck E. Chester Peet GSB 39 41 26 17 21 106 33 3241 Jet Thomas O'Connor Ralph King Jr JP 40 22 33 22 27 106 34 3397 Big Kick Robt. Boudeman Woody Boudeman GL 13 30 36 35 31 101 35 2570 Hilarius Hilary H. Smart Paul H. Smart BH 30 36 34 20 30 100 36 2525 Magic Robt. Rodgers Wm. Richards WH 35 29 31 30 32 93 37 3313 Frantic Ralph Bradley Fred Bloom IR 42 17 41 32 26 92 38 3458 Blue Chip David Gaillard Donald Spengler CB 33 44 37 29 18 91 39 3426 Emme Andy Underhill Peter Ranken MorB 26 41 24 33 43 79 40 1552 Cene Raymond Barnes Nils Rosenberg PS 44 37 44 36 17 72 41 3082 Djinn Walter Flynn Chas. R. Ulmer WS 16 28 dnf dnf 38 68 42 3418 Ariadne Frank Ferris Jr Earl Reed Jr OAR 31 38 40 44 36 61 43 2967 Flambeau Miles P. Wynn William Wynn NOG 38 40 38 39 37 58 44 3623 Swiss Miss John A. Mueller Ada R. Mueller IR 45 23 43 38 44 57 45 2315 Judy Charles Barnes Donn R. Barnes GL dnf 18 48 40 40 54 46 3312 Lively Lady Wm. Oldach Jr David Dysart WJ 41 dns 46 34 dsq 29 47 1366 Chip Samuel Hall Jr Gunnar Jakobson NCB 47 43 49 43 49 27 48 3336 Cautious Paul Penewitt Neil Callbeck LS 43 46 47 42 46 26 49 3003 Estrellita James O. Jones John Floyd MS 46 dnf 39 41 dnf 24
