1970 NORTH AMERICAN CHAMPIONSHIP - ROCKPORT, MA 1970 CHAMPIONSHIP OF NORTH AMERICA
By Peter Watson
The 1970 North Americans will long be remembered.
By many for Durward Knowles' sailing: three firsts, a second and a third. By some for its controversies: Joe Duplin's light-ended boat, and the one minute rule that cost Alan Holt a second in the fourth race and his chances for the series.
By some for the sheer number of Lippincotts racing. There was Howard who finished the series third, Jimmy with Alan crewing who finished fourth, Richard who finished ninth, Steve with Skip crewing in 21st, and Stanley with Ronald crewing who finished 43rd.
And by some for its pecadillos: Dave Gaillard of the Chesapeake falling into a shallow fishpond and breaking his leg ("Nobody will ever believe I was sober;") and Hank Rowan of Lake George climbing his mast to fix a spreader only to tip the boat over instead.
The racing was in Rockport, Massachusetts, hosted by the Cape Ann Fleet. The harbor is small and the clubhouse and dock are smaller still, yet almost all of the 52 boats were hauled each night on two electric cranes and stored on the (usually public) wharf leading to the club. East Coast sailors made up more than half the fleet, but there were others: Alan Holt and Bill McAndrew from Seattle, Charlie Dole from Hawaii, the Gerards from Santa Barbara, Richard Robinson from Los Angeles, the Prinsenbergs from Vancouver, and Steve Smith from Texas. Others came also from Chicago, Cleveland, Wisconsin and Toronto, Canada.
And, of course, there was Knowles, of Nassau, Bahamas.
The week's racing began on a down-beat as the tune-up was washed and blown out by winds of more than 25 knots with steady rain. Perhaps the most disappointed person was Alan Holt, who had stepped a new Holt aluminium mast for this race. Aluminum spars were not yet legal for championship events, so he sailed the main series with a wooden mast.
Holt, Duplin and Knowles were the pre-regatta favorites and right from the beginning began to live up to expectations. Holt had won the series in 1967. Duplin has a European Silver Star and many gold chevrons to his credit, as well as the 1963 World's Championship of the Class and the North American the same year. Durward Knowles won the World's Championship in 1947 and has won two Olympic medals, including the gold in 1964. With some Spring Silver Stars in between, Durward's record over the past quarter century is one of the very highest in the Class, yet he had never previously won a North American Championship.
Monday
After a general recall, the first race got off with Duplin and Knowles quickly working out a lead on the first weather leg, Knowles rounding the first mark 20 seconds ahead. Almost immediately Duplin passed him on the reach and led at the jibing mark by about 100 yards. Though Knowles challenged and almost passed him the second time up, Duplin still led on the last downwind leg. Down- wind, Knowles still seemed to be having trouble, and was passed by both Howard Lippincott and Simon Prinsenberg. When Duplin rounded he covered Lippincott off on port while Knowles, tacking immediately to starboard, sailed away into a series of small shifts which he played to perfection to take the lead and the race. Prinsenberg was third and a brace of Lippincotts fourth and fifth.
Tuesday
Tuesday's race saw Duplin, Knowles and Holt spread out on the line but all moving with clear air at the gun. Already Knowles was covering Duplin, and he continued to do so the whole race, leading at the first mark by 20 seconds and stretching the lead throughout. Holt fell into a hole and rounded ninth, but again picked up boats both upwind and down to finish third. Howard Lippincott took another fourth, and Rockport's gold medalist Hilary Smart was fifth..
It was that night's clambake that was Dave Gaillard's undoing. It would be Friday before he would sail again, cast and all.
Wednesday
Wednesday was almost Knowles' undoing. Early at the pin end of the line he tried to port tack the fleet but there was no hole. At the last second he jibed away, hit the mark, jibed around it again and drove through a hole spotted by his crew Dave Dickey of Miami. Meanwhile Joe Duplin was having even worse troubles after being forced away from the line. It was 15 seconds at least before he could cross it on port. Alan Holt by this time was far ahead with clear air on port tack after a close call which he never realized was happening. He had been over the line at the gun and word had been radioed down to the boat, at the flag end. Later the same official said he saw Holt dip back over the line, clear himself and restart. Holt said he never realized he was over, made no attempt to restart, and had tacked to clear his air as soon as he had no one on his weather quarter.
He led at the first mark with Jim Lippincott second and Chris Jensen of Lake Michigan third. Duplin was fourth and Knowles fifth. On the next turn to windward these two had moved up to second and third and then, in a switch from the first day, Knowles passed Duplin downwind. The three lead boats rounded the last leeward mark separated by only a few yards.
Duplin, needing a win to close on Knowles, took a long starboard hitch. Ahead but far to leeward, he was looking for a header that never came. Holt covered Knowles, who worked up the middle but always holding starboard long enough to keep a loose cover on Duplin. Holt won with Knowles second, and Jim Lippincott came in from the favored left side of the course to edge Duplin for third.
Thursday was rest day.
Friday
All week there had been talk about Duplin's boat, the first glass hull that he had built from the mold acquired from the Old Greenwich Boat Co. Regatta officials called the Star office for a consultation and decision, which was that the boat, which had a measurement certificate, could sail in this regatta but must be rechecked immediately thereafter for possible addition of sandwich core.
Friday's fourth race was disastrous for no less than four of the top ten, two by breakdowns and two by disqualification. Peter Wright of Chicago broke an intermediate and dropped out, and Bill McAndrew of Seattle was dismasted. The disqualifications included Holt and Frank Raymond, of Chicago, and also Steve Haarstick, from Ithaca, N.Y., who was not in the top ten but who had sailed that day to a fourth place finish. They were thrown out not for being over at the start but for being over within one minute before the start and failing to restart by rounding an end of the line. That new one minute rule applies only after general recalls; and there had been one.
It was before this race that Hank Rowan inadvertently did his high dive from the masthead. The spreader was repaired from the cabin top of a friendly power boat, and Rowan finished the race 10th.
The race was all Knowles. He came out of the pack early on the weather leg to round the first mark 30 seconds ahead of Peter Wright who was followed by Duplin. Holt rounded seventh but moved up to second at the end of the first round, with Duplin third and Wright fourth. The second time up Knowles stretched his lead to a minute and a half.
Saturday
Going into the last race, all Knowles had to do was to stay within reach of Duplin. He did that and more when Duplin, pushing for a good start, got too far out and was over the line. With Knowles well ahead and always covering, Duplin rounded the first weather mark 13th. Knowles almost rounded first, and almost fouled out. Mike Flynn tacked on him near the flag and Knowles drove through to leeward. Arriving at the port lay line, Durward had to tack or over- stand, so he tacked, hoping to clear Flynn. At the last second he saw that he couldn't safely clear, so he spun the boat off, taking the sterns of two boats, and then Charlie Dole cut inside him at the mark. Holt, who had chosen to take off from the flag end of the line, rounded 49th.
At the home mark Bill Parks of Chicago, then third, tacked immediately onto starboard and headed for the exact spot where Holt had died half an hour earlier. Flynn covering, the two sailed off virtually alone almost all the way to the port lay line with good wind all the way. They tacked on a header, and with Parks now leading crossed the fleet and rounded a minute and a half ahead of Knowles, who was a safe third. This order stayed the same the third time up to the finish, to give Knowles the series with nine points to spare.
The Paul Masson Trophy for the washed out tune-up was awarded to Durward Knowles for winning the first race of the series proper; and the Ned Hay trophy for the last race went for the second consecutive year to Bill Parks.
Note added in January, 1971. Durward Knowles' Nassau Fleet declined the offer to hold the 1971 North American Championship in the Bahamas, but the nearby Biscayne Bay Fleet accepted, and the series is to be sailed in Florida waters late this year.
Place No. Name Skipper Crew Fleet Daily Places Pts. 1 5455 Gem X Durward Knowles David Dickey N 1 1 2 1 3 257 2 5409 Star of the Sea Joseph Duplin Millard Smith BH 2 2 4 2 7 248 3 5469 Cirrus Howie LippincottJames Alsopp ES 4 4 10 4 6 237 4 5494 Azure James LippincottAlan Lippincott BB 5 16 3 6 13 222 5 4667 Big If Thompson Adams Bill Richards WH 21 11 5 3 9 216 6 5100 Amethyst John Sherwood Colin Smith CB 15 8 9 7 11 215 7 4780 Conqueror William Gerard Sheridah Gerard SBC 7 7 22 5 12 212 8 5214 Shrew VII William Parks Thomas Oller SLM 14 26 7 8 1 209 9 5496 Sally Bob Lippincott Thomas Pickard WJ 16 21 12 12 17 187 10 4844 Finesse Michael Flynn George C. Flynn ELIS 11 15 39 13 2 185 11 5358 Aquarius S. Prinsenberg Dirk PrinsenbergEB 3 18 32 14 15 183 12 5157 Riot Hank Rowan Del Dhein LG 26 23 8 10 21 177 13 5354 Virgo II Peter Wright William Wright SLM 8 6 13 dnf 10 175 14 4927 Leprechaun Rich Robinson Ron Dougherty LAH 12 22 17 15 27 172 15 4861 Ariel Alan Holt Richard Gates PS 6 3 1 dsq 33 169 16 4905 Hilarius Hilary H. Smart John G. Clark CA 28 5 15 22 32 163 17 4987 Dolphin VI Frank Raymond W. W. Lane WH 9 17 11 wdr 14 161 18 5141 Iwalani Charles Dole Frank Egger Kan 13 28 20 17 5 161 19 5322 Blue Moon Steve Haarstick Malc. Murchison Ith 19 19 14 dsq 4 156 20 5379 Donnybrook Jack Lynch Kevin Joyce WS 30 34 20 9 23 149 21 5495 B-Nexxon Steve LippincottSkip Lippincott ES 33 20 18 34 19 141 22 5353 Heavenly Body David Kingston Gary MacDonald AH 17 27 36 21 28 136 23 5204 Spankuk Chresten Jensen Thomas Borak JP 43 14 6 36 34 132 24 4843 Lynx Ernest Hanmer John Heighway CLE 24 36 25 26 22 132 25 5218 Addiction Daniel Mullane W. C. Greene BH dns 10 38 18 16 130 26 4995 Gadfly J.M. MacCauslandGeorge Szabo CR wdr 9 19 32 24 128 27 5343 Navillus Pike Sullivan Rick Burgess GrL 27 12 24 28 dnf 121 28 5435 Whitecap Roger E. Doane Richard Pinter SLE 22 37 21 27 38 120 29 5445 Magic Robert Rodgers Donald Casey GLW 40 38 34 16 18 119 30 5335 Envy II Thomas Linville Frank Kruesi SLG 18 30 27 43 31 116 31 4340 Aquarius Mead Batchelor William Sumner Mid 25 32 29 23 41 115 32 5216 Taupou Wm. McAndrew Richard York PS 10 13 23 dnf dns 113 33 4555 Ranger Russell Brooks Chris Aley HB 29 40 16 25 45 110 34 5247 Marmaduke Stephen Smith William Kerber GBT 44 46 37 11 20 107 35 3540 Zapatero Carl Schumacher John Franklin SBC 23 25 dnf 19 40 105 36 5348 Blue Chip III David Gaillard Jack Levedahl CB 35 24 dns 31 30 92 37 5278 Guacharo Alan R. Burtis Peter Beam SLIS wdr 41 42 29 8 92 38 5191 Cookies II David Cook Jeff Foster Sun 34 39 35 38 29 90 39 5395 Flying Home Jack Danes Sandy Dunbar MorB dnf 29 26 33 39 85 40 5261 Hotspur Fred Losen Robert Walden HB 42 31 40 42 26 84 41 4881 Lucifer Ernie Wiggins Mike Phillips Mid 45 48 30 20 43 79 42 4343 Lily IV Gerard Cayne Rocco CampanelliERF 20 49 45 40 36 75 43 4757 Blue It Stan Lippincott Ron Lippincott WJ 37 35 44 30 46 73 44 3086 Whim Alden T. Bryan P. Burrage C 31 45 43 37 37 72 45 4754 Tackless John M. Goddard Geoffrey GoddardCA 36 47 28 dnf 35 66 46 5102 Norpac Paul Capron Robert Saltz SLIS 38 50 50 39 25 63 47 5409 Big Kookie Tony Lorch Norman Tucker LOC dnf 52 31 24 47 58 48 5467 Stamper Charles H. Judd T. Van Dorn CLE 41 43 48 35 42 56 49 4616 Faendanse James Seemann Roy Neuer C 47 33 47 41 48 49 50 5325 Shamrock Russell Bogie R. Alexanderson SLG 46 44 33 44 dnf 45 51 5020 Ampewa Walter Pilcer Russell Veenema GrL 39 42 46 wdr 49 36 52 5222 Griffin Dexter Richards Skip Nolin Sun 32 51 49 dnf 44 36
