1975 North American Championship - Mobile Bay, AL, USA
Regatta Report
James M. Schoonmaker of Miami, Florida, known by Star Class sailors virtually everywhere as "Ding," added another triumph to his long string of victories in the class by winning the North American Championship at Mobile, Ala. Although scoring was based on the best five of six races. Schoonmaker didn't start his Dingo in the last race. He had won the first three and placed second and sixth in the next two, to run up a score beyond the reach of competitors in the 38-boat fleet.
Schoonmaker's previous major victories in the class include the South American Championship four times, the Western Hemisphere Spring Championship twice and the European and Mid-Winter championships once each. He was also second in the World's in 1970, and third in 1958 and 1972.
Second place in the Alabama-based event, which was hosted jointly by the Mobile and Buccaneer yacht clubs and the local Star fleet, was taken by Barton Beek of the Los Angeles Harbor fleet. Sailing Suzanne, Beek went into the fifth race with a first, a third and two fourths behind him. But his position of 13th in that race, to Schoonmaker's 6th, meant that even though he won the last race he couldn't snatch the championship. Hank Rowan, of Lake George, N.Y., was third in Riot IV placing 7-2-9-5-5. He threw out a 12th, gained in the fourth race.
The tune-up race for the series brought some surprises. Starting in about eight knots of wind from the southeast, the fleet was later hit by four thunder squalls. The fourth dismasted the only boat in the series with a wooden mast, Gordon Bell's Bottoms Up, from Paw Paw Lake, Michigan. She bore the lowest sail number in the fleet, 4663. The last of the squalls (which hit 70 m.p.h.-Ed.) also sank two boats from the Galveston Bay Fleet, Skip Townsend's Follow Me and Mac Taylor's Sapphire. It was the first time Stars have sunk in Mobile Bay in the 45 years that the class has been sailing there. The two sank in water only about ten feet deep. Both were raised and raced the full series, Fallow Me finishing 9th and Sapphire 28th.
Race Details by George Brothers
In the first race, in winds of 8-12 knots, Schoonmaker led at every mark. Frank Raymond was third the first time around but managed to pass Barton Beek the next time upwind to finish second. Doug Smith made his best showing of the week by working up from seventh at the reaching mark to fourth, passing Brad Alford on the second upwind leg.
In the next race, with a little more wind, Dingo again led all the way. Buzz Killeen, eighth the first time up, worked up to second but lost it to Hank Rowan on the final run to the finish. Allsopp, third the first time around, later had to withdraw from the race.
"Just like Biscayne Bay," said Ding Schoonmaker after the third race, in which he obviously felt at home, winning very convincingly. John MacCausland was second all the way. Frank Raymond, sixth at the first mark, worked up to third on the reaches, and held that to the finish, while Barton Beek demonstrated his consistency with a fourth.
The first attempt to sail the fourth race was called when the time limit expired as John McKeague in the lead still had a leg to go. When enough wind came up for a second try, most of the fleet was over early for the only general recall of the week. Finally, Barton Beek led all the way. Schoonmaker, buried at the start, rounded the first mark tenth, was seventh the next time up, and managed to pass five boats on the final run to finish second for an almost unassailable series lead. McManus had been second until the last run, when he dropped to seventh in the uncertain going.
Bruce Dougherty won the fifth race, but it wasn't easy. Ninth at the reaching mark, he worked up to third on the second windward leg, then passed Killeen and Townsend on the final run. Skip Townsend held the lead at the first mark, lost it to John McKeague on the reach, gained it back the second time up, and finally finished third. Buzz Killeen worked up from sixth to second. Norman Wood took fourth for his best race of the week Schoonmaker, who did not find the light air to his liking, nevertheless came up from tenth to sixth.
For the last race it blew again from the southeast at about 5-10 knots Ding Schoonmaker, already the champion, sat this one out. Beek's Suzanne, fourth at the first mark, came up to win the race Peter de Manio led at the first mark and ultimately finished second, for a silver chevron in his first year of Star sailing. Hank Rowan led at the first leeward mark but was caught on the wrong side of some shifts the second time up. Toni Oller had his best race of the week, finishing third. During the first windward leg of this race the wind shifted from 135º to 190º, benefiting enormously the boats that were on "the right side." The mark was moved after all the boats had rounded, to provide a beat the second time around.
Results
1975 NORTH AMERICAN CHAMPIONSHIP - MOBILE BAY regatta report Place No. Name Skipper Crew Fleet Daily Places Pts. 1 5607 Dingo J. Schoonmaker Jerry Ford BisB 1 1 1 2 6 dns 184 2 5575 Suzanne Barton Beek Chuck Beek LAH 3 4 4 1 13 1 182 3 5630 Riot IV Hank Rowan Del Dhein LG 7 2 9 12 5 5 167 4 5540 Spirit J.M. MacCauslandJim Wolf CR 11 10 2 3 8 8 164 5 5576 Big If Tom Adams Bill Richards WH 9 5 6 4 26 7 164 6 5672 Star Trek Brad Alford Doug Graf GBT 5 7 5 13 10 10 158 7 5588 Intense Excit Buzzy Killeen Kyle Smith NOG 22 3 10 21 2 4 155 8 5767 Sashay Tom Oller Robert Maine SLM 14 9 12 8 9 3 154 9 5757 Follow Me Skip Townsend Cal Hadden GBT 13 11 8 14 3 11 149 10 5800 Sabre John Slack John Schuster GBT 10 26 19 9 11 9 137 11 5660 Mustard Seed Jim Allsopp Mike Gunin CB 16 dnf 16 5 19 6 133 12 5704 Gadfly Too Bruce Dougherty Mike Huber ERF 21 15 15 25 1 16 127 13 5875 Gemini Peter De Manio Jim Henry TaB dsq 18 21 16 12 2 126 14 5735 Wildwood Norman Wood Tony Chavers MoB 15 20 18 31 4 12 126 15 5840 Dolphin VII Frank Raymond Bill Lane WH 2 17 3 10 dns dnf 124 16 5864 Super Toy John McKeague Dan McKeague StJ 27 6 14 18 7 dns 123 17 5820 Misty John W. Allen John Ahlquist WH 17 22 11 15 17 dns 113 18 5469 Super Star Johnny Murray Greg Smith Jr MoB 18 12 20 24 21 13 111 19 5539 Raindrop Randall Wilkin Chip Hart WH 29 8 7 22 25 dns 104 20 5809 Siderius Dexter Richards Art Rigas Sun 19 16 29 23 18 15 104 21 5428 A.M.B. PepsodentCharles McManus John Trolley CB 12 33 28 7 dnf 14 101 22 4770 Hellzapoppin Joe Arns Ellis Ollinger MoB 33 21 30 11 16 18 99 23 5734 One Over Par Russ Bogie R. Alexanderson SLG 26 13 17 6 dns dns 94 24 5215 Ms. Liz Roy Sellers Pete O'Neal MoB 34 14 25 26 28 19 83 25 5751 Yellow Bird Robbie Robinson Phillip Miner MoB 31 19 dnf 17 29 17 82 26 5920 Debbie III Phillip Pines Paul Coliani WH 28 25 27 20 23 20 80 27 4745 Impulse Samuel Hall Hank Cobb CB 20 31 24 19 22 dns 79 28 5536 Sapphire Mac Taylor Tom Haslam GBT 25 23 26 27 15 dns 79 29 5421 What If? Ken Morton Barbara Morton WH 8 28 23 29 dns dns 68 30 4843 Lynx Ernie Hanmer Chuck Wilhelm SLE 24 30 31 28 14 dns 68 31 5873 Home Grown Doug Smith Tim O'Brien SLG 4 24 22 dnf dns dns 67 32 5608 Midnight Rider Chris Buchanan Garrold Parratt GBT 23 29 13 dnf 24 dns 67 33 5350 No Name Tom Meric Jack Bertel NOG 6 34 dnf dnf 20 dns 57 34 5348 Blue Chip III David Gaillard Ted Ernst CB 30 27 32 30 27 dns 49 35 5902 Mabel D. George CriminaleG. Criminale Jr MoB 32 32 34 dnf dns dns 19 36 5495 Jan Florus Black Skip Black PPL dns dns 33 33 dns dns 12 37 4663 Bottoms Up Gordon Bell Bill Hill PPL dns dns 35 32 dns dns 11 38 4696 Fifo William Bonds Robert Bonds CLE dns dns 36 34 dns dns 8
