1990 North American Championship - Winthrop, MA, USA
Some of the world’s best sailors competed out of the Cottage Park Yacht Club in Boston, MA, USA, in the 1990 North American Championship, as sponsored by NYNEX. Even with the World Championship to be held in Cleveland a month later, no one expected the caliber of sailor who attended this North American’s to be so high. Out of the fifty boats on the starting line, twenty of the skippers combined to hold three Star World, five Hemisphere, nine Continental Championships, and four Olympic Medals. Seven of the participating sailors had earlier won the North American Championship, so the silver was truly being contested for.
The event organizers did an exceptional job. A corporate sponsor NYNEX was proud to be the title sponsor of the regatta. Other sponsors, as Anhueser Busch, Bacardi, and Chelsea Clocks of Boston, contributed greatly to the event. The Club provided a top-notch Race Committee and recruited a seasoned International Jury. Regional clubs also helped in providing support. Both the Boston and Eastern Yacht Clubs provided Race Committee and patrol boats. The entertainment was first-rate, highlighted by a dinner cruise and a trip to the Museum of Science. Even the weather managed to cooperate, despite torrential downpours for both of the measurement and tune-up race days, good racing conditions prevailed for all five of the scheduled racing days.
The Race Committee showed its resolve to provide exceptional racing on the first day. Following two general recalls, the fleet got off in a 5-10 knot, southeast, sea breeze. Half way up the over two mile first beat, the wind shifted forty degrees to the right and the forecasted hazy, hot and humid southwester began to fill-in. The Race Committee immediately abandoned the race and restarted within an hour as the breeze settled in at 210 degrees with varied velocities between 7-12 knots. This race was won wire-to-wire by Brazilians Gastao Brun and Andre Lekszycki, who showed excellent gear changing speed and thehabit of being at the best of speed. These proved to be important abilities as the week of racing progressed. Passing Rockport, MA, sailors John Safford and Joe Chambers for second across the line were Canadian Olympians Ross and Bruce Macdonald, who were PMS to leave second place in the first race to Safford and Chambers. Canadian Olympic hopefuls Don Campbell and contenders, Vince Brun, Peter Wright and Torben Grael were also over early.
The second day was a winner for everybody as the “Triple H” weather was pushed out by the first strong cold front of the season. Two races were scheduled for this day and the Race Committee did not squander the opportunity. In a shifty 10-15 knot northwester, Vince Brun matched his brother’s first race. With crew Allen Ledbetter, Vince played the shifts beautifully on the first leg to round in first place and never look back. A fierce battle followed between Joe Londrigan and Mark Busch, from Chicago, the Macdonalds, Gastao Brun and Andre Lekszycki, and rookie Star sailors Tony Rey and Bam Bam Williams, of Newport, RI for the next four places in the second race.
The breeze and beautiful sunshine held for th rest of the afternoon as the third race of the series was handily won by the true speedsters of the regatta. Olympic Medalists from Brazil Torben Grael and crew Marcelo Ferreira showed excellent speed as they led through the shifts and the changing velocities. Two time World’s runner-up Peter Wright and crew Greg Cook, from Chicago, held-off a tightly packed third through sixth place to take second in front of Continental Champion John A. MacCausland and Tod Raynor of Cherry Hill, NJ, World Champion Ed Adams and George Iverson of Newport, RI, and the two Canadian boats of Macdonald and Campbell respectively.
The northerly held for one more day and Grael and Ferreira put on a great show once again. After rounding the first weather mark in twelfth, they picked off three boats on each reach and then played two shifts in the first half of the second beat to pass two more. The last half of the second beat was tremendously exciting as Don Campbell tried to stay ahead of the Macdonalds, Gastao Brun and the rapidly closing Grael. As the breeze lightened up and became increasingly erratic, the group was very conservative to avoid any big shifts that might cause them to fall out of the pack. This tactic by the leading boats suited Grael and Ferreira perfectly as they steadily closed the gap with pure boat speed. As the leading pack rounded the top mark for the finishing run, Campbell was in the lead by 25 yards. The next three boats rounded within five boat lengths of each other. Brun went right, while Macdonald and Grael jibed and went left. Campbell played the middle and, then, slid toward Brun to cover the regatta leader. This move was a heartbreaker for Campbell, as Grael won the race followed by Macdonald, with Brun nipping Campbell for third at the finish.
The clear air and breeze essentially evaporated and Thursday was again hay, hot and humid with a light breeze for the fifth race of the series. Peter Wright and Greg Cook played the spotty breeze perfectly and handily won the race over a very spread out fleet. Vince Brun with Allen Ledbetter finished second followed by locals Ron Sandstrom and Jeff Bresnhan. The potential for large scale mix-up of the series standings occurred when a number of contenders, including Grael, MacCausland, Campbell, dams, Reynolds and Beashel all received a PMS for the fifth race. Ed Adams protested the ruling on the grounds that the X flag had not been raised quickly enough and all were reinstated. Then, not surprisingly, Vince Brun, Ross Macdonald and others filed protests on the basis they had been prejudice by the others having started early. After condisderation the end result was that the fleet was scored as if the boats that were PMS had not sailed, and the PMS boats received their average points from the previous four races. Within the decision, Gastao Brun and Andre Lekszycki, of Brazil, were leading the series with the next six boats within striking distances. The good news for Gastao Brun was that the sailing of the sixth and final race would allow a discard race for everyone. His worst race was then a ninth and those, especially Grael, who had a PMS averaged into their fifth race score had their work cut out for them going into the final race.
A very light southerly met the fleet on Friday as the final race of the Championship got off. Australians Colin Beashel and David Giles led the right side of the course to round first with John MacCausland, Vince Brun, Peter Wright, Ander Menkart and Torben Grael in close pursuit. The left side of the course did not pay, and the Macdonalds and Gastao Brun struggled around in eighteenth and twentieth positions. The field had become use to the conditions and was staying very tightly packed. As Macdonald and Brun struggled to climb in the fleet, the leading five were chasing Beashel around the second weather mark, led by Wright in second and Grael who had climbed into third place. On the run Grael and Ferreira began their magic. Beashel was overrun and rounded the last mark in fifth, while Grael rounded first with Wright, MacCausland and Vince Brun right behind. With the Macdonalds in fourteenth their chances looked grim. Gastao Brun rounded the last mark in seventeenth and was obviously sailing his throw-out race. The Grael and Ferreira team took the sixth race win impressively while Peter Wright remained in second, to be followed by John MacCausland, Colin Beashel and Vince Brun.
Their third race win was not enough for Grael and Ferreira to win the regatta. The extremely consistent performance of Gastao Brun and Andre Lekszycki gave them their first North American Championship. Peter Wright and Greg Cook placed second, while the winners of three of the six races, Grael and Ferreira, finished in third. The event was a great contest for all of the fifty Star teams. Those who used the regatta as a warm-up for the World Championship in Cleveland the next month certainly got an excellent feel for the speed and consistency necessary to win the event.
Place No. Skipper Crew Fleet Daily Places Pts.
1 7200 Gastao Brun Andre Lekazyki RdJ 1 4 9 3 7 16 41.7
2 7478 Peter Wright Greg Cook SLE pms 17 2 8 1 2 43.0
3 7141 Torben Grael Marcelo Ferreira Gua dnf 19 1 1 ymp 1 45.3
4 7409 J.A. MacCauslandTodd Raynor CR 5 23 3 5 ymp 3 45.4
5 7209 Vince Brun Allan Ledbetter SDB pms 1 15 13 2 5 53.0
6 7492 Ross Macdonald Bruce Macdonald EB pms 3 5 2 9 14 53.7
7 7330 Joe Londrigan Mark Busch WH 4 2 17 30 6 10 61.7
8 7469 Don Campbell Pat Dion EB 3 18 6 4 ymp 15 67.4
9 7127 Andrew Menkart Chris Rogers WS 7 8 10 15 21 8 78.0
10 7468 Ron Sandstron Jeff Bresnahan BH 11 dnf 11 7 3 21 79.7
11 7302 Ed Adams George Iverson NB 14 14 4 10 ymp 19 80.0
12 7460 Mark Reynolds Hal Haenel SDB 9 6 16 14 ymp 11 85.7
13 7076 Allan Leibel Rob Lash LOC 16 11 20 12 ymp 7 90.8
14 7264 Colin Beashel David Giles SY 17 20 8 17 ymp 4 94.0
15 7324 John Safford Joe Chambers CA 2 13 pms 23 23 9 95.O
16 7099 Eugene Peters John Haddocks WS 25 10 7 35 11 17 100.0
17 7097 Pat Londrigan Greg Alm SLM 22 26 19 11 10 13 105.0
18 6283 George Szabo Jim Nichols SDB 13 7 14 31 12 32 107.0
19 7193 Tony Herrmann Anson Stookey NB 23 9 12 24 14 20 108.0
20 7101 Andy Ivey Reid Krakower Sun 6 39 21 26 4 34 118.7
21 637a Steve Ulian Brian Murphy BH pms dnf 13 9 15 6 122.7
22 7454 Rob Maine III Howard Ferguson WH 18 35 23 25 8 23 127.0
23 6337 Chas Lewsadder Judd Rollins NH pms 12 18 18 ymp 25 127.5
24 7462 Durward Knowles Steven Kelly N 24 21 dns 28 5 29 136.0
25 7187 Herbert Virgin Magnus Liljedahl BisB 19 32 26 39 13 18 138.0
26 7307 Craig Coltharp Paul Coffin AN 8 33 25 27 25 24 139.0
27 6971 Tony Rey Bam Bam Williams NB 21 5 30 dnf 32 26 143.0
28 7408 Bob Van Wagnen Carl Nielsen SLE 20 27 27 20 20 37 144.0
29 7225 Doug Smith Marty Dalton WSFB 12 22 pms 22 dns 12 148.0
30 7531 Tom Londrigan JrTom Londrigan Sr LS pms 15 24 6 24 dsq 148.7
31 7349 Peter Costa Chris Lanza BH 15 30 29 32 19 31 154.0
32 7306 Hyde Perce Jeff Sobczak WH 10 16 22 46 31 dns 155.0
33 1933 Joe Zambella Dave Winkler BH 27 28 28 33 ymp 22 166.0
34 7088 David Ivey Rob Bowers Sun dnf 41 32 21 16 28 168.0
35 7471 Joe Bainton Chris Kopley CLIS 29 34 33 37 22 30 178.0
36 6388 Eric Doyle Jack McHarmon MoB 26 44 dsq 19 18 wdr 187.0
37 7012 Andy Klein Jim Beyda Sun 33 42 39 29 17 40 188.0
38 6690 Bill Farrar Monk Bancroft LH 28 29 dns 41 26 36 190.0
39 6979 Ned Jones Neil Jensen NH 31 31 31 34 ymp 42 l95.0
40 7168 Jay Spalding Irene Gonin NB 32 24 34 45 33 dnf 198.0
41 7140 James Kee Bob Schofield AN 34 40 37 43 27 33 201.0
42 7285 Peter Siemsen Camilo Carvalho Cop pms 25 dsq 16 ymp dns 201.8
43 7354 Joseph Pro John Terrell WJ 30 43 36 42 29 38 205.0
44 6911 Gary MacDonald Gary MacDonald Jr BH 36 dsq 35 wdr 28 27 206.0
45 6585 Richard Pearce Eric Burkhardt BH 37 38 40 44 30 39 214.0
46 6759 Doug Jankey Ed Seyerlein Ith 35 36 dsq wdr 34 35 220.0
47 6825 Michael Hecky John McCarthy WJ 39 45 wdr 38 35 44 231.0
48 6545 Arthur Housman Mary Housman BH dns dns dns 36 37 41 244.0
