1977 US National CHAMPIONSHIPS
The following article was mainly taken from the Daily Messenger
in Canadaigua as reported by George Ewing Jr.
The U.S. National Flying Dutchman Championship was sailed at Canandaigua
Yacht Club August 9 -12. A fleet of 47 boats sailed six races with one throw-out
race. The Mexican contenders having shipped their boats by truck in June
arrived August 5th, but their boats were nowhere to be found. Apparently,
they had taken the scenic route to Canandaigua with detours in New York City
and Cleveland. Monday morning the boats were still in Ohio, and after frantic
phone calls they arrived 8.00 A.M. Tuesday, too late for the warm-up race.
With the uncrating of the boats it was discovered with great agony to
Alfonso Najar that someone had crushed in the deck and broken a support where
the skipper sits. Well with duck tape and fiber glass he made it to the first
race. Then it was Javier Prieto and Ruiz Galindo's turn for troubles. It
leaked. While sailing out to the start of the race they noticed a crack in
the center of their hull. Then after the race, they also discovered a hole
on the left front side. Through it all, the Mexicans made it in good sprits
and they were ready to race.
FIRST RACE: The race was not terribly exciting due to a lack of significant
winds. What wind did exist generally blew out the north-northwest gusting
to five miles per hour at most. Freeman led at the first mark, then rounding
it he picked up a pocket of air which carried him well ahead of the second
place Watsons by the second mark. Meanwhile, dead air stranded the vast
majority of the 47 boats before they reached the first mark dropping them
hopelessly behind the leaders. The Watsons held second place after the first
lap, but the Harveys overtook them before the windward mark of the second
lap on a short tack. Both boats followed Freeman on his leg along the western
side of the lake with the Watsons in front of the Harveys. “Then we made
a short tack to get to more open water for wind," explained skipper Al Harvey,
"He (Watson) went where he thought he'd get the wind but didn't," Doug added.
"We saw this and decided to short-tack." Freeman atrributed his victory
to "A good start. The wind was going down the lake and the leaders caught
it", "It was simply a matter of catching the wind." Al and Doug Harvey of
Toronto's Royal Canadian Yacht Club finished second with Bill and Jack Watson
from Connecticut third. Alfonso Najar and Alejandro Sauter of Mexico were
fourth.
SECOND & THIRD RACE: Wednesday morning severe rainstorm forced the
postponement of the second race due to poor visibility and lightning. With
winds from five to 12 miles an hour and two recalls, the second race got
under way. Terry McLaughlin and Evert Bastet had a banner day, winning both
races. They won the second race without any serious threats getting an early
lead. However, in the third race they saw a big lead all but disappear on
the final windward leg. McLaughlin had to cover the Harveys which allowed
the Kidd brothers to sail their own race enabling them to edge past the Harveys
at the finish for second place honors. Freeman placed fouth in the second
race and third in the third race. "It was a pretty frustrating day for us,"
stated Mathias. "We just couldn't get going." With the conclusion of the
third race the racing committee divided the 47 boats in two competitive
groups. The top 40 percent competed in the Proctor Series with the Carllng
Series containing the rest of the fleet. The top five boats in each of the
three races with very few exceptions, finished well ahead of the pack. "I
figured it would be the three Canadians, Art Ellis, and us," said Freeman.
"But, it's always tough on a lake like this with the marks placed close
to shore." where the winds are usually different than those in the open
part of the water."
FOURTH RACE: In winds of 5 to 10 miles an hour the 4th race was a dual
between Freeman-Mathias and McLaughlin-Bastet. Both pulled into an early
lead and added to it throughout the race. Whichever boat caught the wind
patches would capture the lead resulting in frequent place changes. However,
Freeman-Mathias pulled ahead on the final leg and captured the race, Bill
and Jack Watson placed third with Jerry South and Larry Hoffman of Virginia
fourth. Fifth place went to Dave Osias and Charlie Wright of Maryland. Even
though he won the race, this is a very important regatta so Freeman protested
McLaughlin for infringement of his right of way and won.
The FIFTH RACE in slightly stronger winds, saw the first six boats pull
out to a large lead about a leg and a half over the remainder of the fleet.
This time Freeman-Mathias, the Harveys, and the Kidds were in fierce competition.
Freeman won, but was disqualified by the Kidds on their protest. The Harveys
took first followed by the Kidds, McLaughlin-Bastet, Ellis Linville,
and Dick Steffen and Bruno Scherzinger of Canada. Again, the sailors constantly
acknowledged the difficulty of lake sailing as opposed to open water competition.
"With all the wind shifts and pockets of air, 50 or 60 yards difference doesn't
mean much because you could also gain 200 yards just as easily," explained
Doug Harvey. "It's pretty difficult at times," Hoffman stated. "You go from
a good pocket of wind into glass. "The key is to read where the glass patches
are and go around them, even if it is less direct."
SIXTH RACE: Freeman-Mathias entered the race in fifth place. The final
race was crucial to determin the winner. All the Harveys had to do was finish
no worse than one place behind Freeman-Mathias to capture the title. Through
the majority of the race this was the case. However, the team of Art Ellis
and Jim Linville stormed from 250 yards behind to overtake the Harveys in
the final lap for third place behind the Kidds. Freeman-Mathias were third
until rounding the third mark. At this point they swept past the leaders
and gradually extended their lead winning by 150 yards. Even though he had
the lead, it wasn't until the third windward leg that Freeman-Mathias
asserted themselves. "We decided to go on our own for the lead rather than
cover," explained Freeman. "I think the Harveys (who were close behind them)
might have been ,too conservative with Ellis-Linville coming from behind,"
he added feeling that the Harveys tried too hard to cover Ellis-Linville.
All-though the series ended in a tie with Al and Doug Harvey Norm Freeman
and Jack Mathias were awarded the Proctor Cup, the U.S. National Championship
title on the strength of the 3 to 1 win margin over the Harveys. Norm also
won the over 40 award. Jamie and Hugh Kidd were third, and Art Ellis-Jim
Linville edged Terry McLaughlin-Evert Bastet out to pick up forth place.
The Carling series was won by Dave Osias and Charlie Wright. Second Robert
Dunkley and Chislett of Canada, and third place was won by John Ulbrich
and Nielsen. The Co-ed awards were won by Don and Marsha Ver Ploeg, second
place Peter and Barbara Wells, and third place Fred and Nancy Hibbert. Junior
National Championship went to Gray and Jacobs. Turtle award to Cheffins
and Trenk. Snail award to Vought and Vought of New Jersey.
WINNERS POINT OF VIEW
Norm Freeman
From our point of view, the ups and downs of the regatta
were quite simple. In the first race, we had what we considered to be our
best conditions. The winds were about 4 to a maximum of 8 miles an hour,
shifty, spotty typical inland lake light air conditions. We used our
light air Storer main, light air Storer jib and 1/2 ounce spinnaker from
Murray-Ross of NewZealand. With the exception of the spinnaker, these are
the same sails we used in the last three races of the Olympic Trials which
we won, and we used them in the first, fourth, fifth and sixth races of the
Nationals, all of which we won.
In the second and third races, we used a Fogh main and a different light
air storer genoa. However, we found that in setting this jib up to the light
and moderate air settings, that we were perhaps a little faster than the
other boats but a good bit lower. The Canadians especially seemed to be almost
as fast and perhaps as much as 5 to 10 degrees higher on the wind. Our lack
of pointing ability, together with a poor overall strategy whereby we were
attempting to make large gains on the fleet by going to one corner or the
other of the course, resulted in our getting a 4th and a 6th. It could just
as easily have been an 8th and a 10th because we were never really in contact
with the leaders.
On the third day, for races four and five, we went back to the light air
Storer main and the light cloth Storer jib. In the fourth race we decided
to drop the mast back and trim the jib very tight in what is basically our
heavy air setting with this genoa. Even though the winds were not that heavy
for the last three races, we found that by flattening the jib out we were
able to go as fast and as high as the Canadians and then by re-setting to
our light air settings (by raking the mast back forward, slacking the jib
sheet and allowing the jib to take a much fuller configuration, we found
we were able to get better boat speed than the other boats in the last half
or quarter of the weather leg as the wind got light up under the shore. We
used this technique in the last three races, all of which we won although
we were disqualified- for a dumb maneuver at the weather mark in the fifth
race. During these last three races we also decided that we would tack on
every shift and puff as they arrived rather than try to play a preconcieved
side of the course and in doing so we seemed to be able to not only cover
or stay in contact with the leaders but also work our way up through the
fleet on the beats. We felt that the 1/2 ounce chute definitely helped us
in the first race and also in one or two of the other races, especially on
the first reach where the wind tends to be light and on the run where some
of the boats were having trouble carrying their 3/4 oz. chutes deep during
the lulls.
FINAL RESULTS
US 1359 Freeman/Mathias
1 6 4 1
DSQ 1 19.7 1
1
New York
KC 18 Harvey/Harvey
2 2 3 7
1 4 19.7 2
2
Oakville,Ontario
KC 19 Kidd/Kidd
6 5 2
12 2 2 30.7
3 3
Brantford, Ont
US 1395 Ellis/Linville 5
3 5 2 4
3 32.4 4 4
Connecticut
KC 17 McLaughlin/Bastet 11
1 1 DSQ 3 5
32.7 5 5
Algonquin Island
US 257 Watson/Watson 3
8 10 3 17 16
63.4 6 6
New Jersey
US 95 South/Hoffman 14
13 9 4 12
8 74.0 7 7
Virginia
US 1354 Wilson/Lubenow 33
9 7 13 8
9 76.0 8 8
Connecticut
US 1325 Hemker/Gesner 15
12 6 9 7
13 76.7 9 9
Ohio
US 66 Daniel/Macknovitz 9
7 13 6 24 12
76.7 10 10
Maryland
us 259 Levinson/Enler 24
11 8 18 6
6 78.4 11 11
Florida
KC 40 Steffen/Schertzinger 12 34
16 8 5 14
84.0 12 12
Pointe Claire
KC 281 Mawson/Whitehouse 21
4 14 19 10 15
90.0 13 13
Toronto
US 1265 Windus/Wells 23
14 17 10 9 27
103.0 14 15
Rhode Island
US 1305 Bertocci/Bertocci 10 10
12 24 23 18 103.0
15 16
Maryland
MX 116 Prieto/Galindo 19
23 11 26 11 17
111.0 16 17
Mexico
US 279 Hight/Romanson 7
25 15 21 21 DNS
119.0 17 20
Arkansas
KC 120 Hinrichsen/? 17
17 21 DNF 15 24 124.0
18 23
Beaconsfield
US 170 Osias/Wright 8
33 DSQ 5 18 10
103.0 1 14
Maryland
BA 3 Dunkley/Chislett 29
32 19 16 13 7
114.0 2 18
Montreal
US 80 Ulbrich/Nielsen 13
27 23 14 29 11
118.0 3 19
Florida
MX 121 Moreno/Moreno 25
15 20 17 16 26
123.0 4 21
Mexico
MX 21 Najar/Sauter
4 30 DSQ 22 20
20 124.0 5 22
Mexico
US 1309 Rittmeyer/Bell 20
41 18 11 19 29
127.0 6 24
Ohio
US 986 Ver ploeg/Ver Ploeg 16 19
24 20 34 23 132.0
7 25
Rochester
US 1380 Wells/Wells 27
22 26 29 14 22
141.0 8 26
New Hampshire
KC 264 DeJong/DeJong 18
16 25 28 25 28
142.0 9 27
St. Hilaire
US 1327 Hibbert/Hibbert 26
28 22 15 22 31
143.0 10 28
Ohio
KC 5 Huber/Rogat
22 24 32 31
27 25 159.0 11 29
Pointe Claire
US 1339 Goldsmith/Goldsmith DSQ 21
28 25 33 35 172.0
12 30
Rochester
KC 280 Butlerworth/Kelly 36
36 27 30 37 19
178.0 13 31
Unionville
US 481 Greenlee/Biase 40
DNF 31 23 31 21
178.0 14 32
Pennsyivania
US 959 Riley/Hirschniegl DSQ
39 30 35 26 32
192.0 15 33
North Carolina
US 1369 Daley/Daley 38
43 34 32 28 33
195.0 16 34
New Hampshire
US 183 Kidder/Kidder 37
20 39 37 36 39
199.0 17 35
Colorado
US 1396 Gray/Jacobs 28
29 35 40 38 40
200.0 18 36
Vermont
US 1353 Fleisher/Fleisher 32
35 36 34 42 34
201.0 99 37
New York
US 1216 Knoblock/Poorman 35
26 29 41 41 43
202.0 20 38
New York
KC 242 Cheffins/Trenk 31
DSQ 33 36 30 42
202.0 21 39
Montreal
US 1160 Mimken/Little 30
31 41 38 44 37
207.0 22 40
Rochester
US 1366 Hackett/Sibert DSQ
37 DNS 33 32 30
210.0 23 41
New York
US 595 Raymond/Juda 34
38 40 39 39 36
216.0 24 42
Rochester
US 1208 VanderVen/Barnes DNS
18 37 DNS 40 DNS 221.0
25 43
Rochester
US 1298 Granger/Wiseman DNF
42 38 DNF 35 38
231.0 26 44
Virginia
US 1042 Vought/Vought 39
40 43 43 46 44
239.0 27 45
New Jersey
US 573 Wegman/Wegman DNS
DNS DNS 21 43 DNS 244.0
28 46
Rochester
US 1231 Wright/Morio 41
DNF 42 42 45 41
251.0 29 47
Rochester
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