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US FD National CHAMPIONSHIP

The 1978 Flying Dutchman United States Nationals were hosted by the Minnetonka Yacht Club just west of Minneapolis, Minnesota, August 7 through 11, 1978. Forty-nine boats partook of the racing and social life to make the efforts of the regatta organizers worthwhile.

The Nationals were preceded by a tune-up series labeled the Region VII Championship. Only two of the scheduled three races were completed due to lack of wind on Sunday. The two Saturday races left Terry McLaughlin (with Evert Bastet crewing) and fellow Toronto teammate, Doug Harvey (with Al Harvey crewing) tied for first.

The Nationals were dominated by Terry McLaughlin of Toronto and his crew, Evert Bastet of Montreal. McLaughlin began by winning the first three races, slipped to seventh in the fourth race and then a second and first gave him the opportunity to sit out the seventh race. (Instead, Bastet took the helm and they "cruised" to a throwout tenth.)

The first race of the Nationals was sailed in a 12-15 knot SSE breeze. The course, as in all of the races, consisted of a triangle and then an Olympic course, which provide a full twelve-mile race course. McLaughlin led from the beginning with Jamie Kidd (with brother, Hugh, crewing) second and Augie Diaz (with Marshall Duane crewing) third. The second race found the wind from the south at 15-18 knots. Once again, McLaughlin led at every weather mark, Doug Harvey ended up second, and Diaz captured another third.

Tuesday found an absence of-wind at the time of the scheduled 10:00 a.m. start. After sitting it out for one-half hour, the boats were towed to the Yacht Club for lunch and to "wait for wind." Surprisingly, the wind came in with significant force. The third race started at 1:00 p.m. in a 12-14 knot breeze from the Northwest. In this race, McLaughlin had to climb from third to first and did so by the third weather mark. Kidd gained another second, and Steve Taylor, former 505 world champion and newcomer to the Flying Dutchman Class (with crew Dave Penfield) finished third. The fourth race immediately followed the third, beginning at 3:45 p.m. in a 15-20 knot breeze. Mike Loeb, also a newcomer to the Flying Dutchman Class, although a well-known sailor, led to the first weather mark. Thereafter, Jack Strothman (with crew Dan Crear) assumed the lead for the remainder of the race to finish first, followed by Taylor and Gordy Bowers (with Mark Bowers crewing). The fifth race began after a short postponement in a 4- 7 knot breeze from the North. In this race, places vacillated, as did the wind. A first-place position and significant lead held by Strothman vanished with the wind. Bowers and McLaughlin held on strong to finish first and second, and Diaz recovered from a distant ninth at the preceding weather mark to finish third.

Thursday morning found the usually cooperative wind to be on vacation. A race was attempted and abandoned in the fourth leg, a decision which almost every competitor cheered. Indeed, the race had been marked by the entire fleet sailing abreast on the first reaching leg. Notably, boats rounding the weather mark in the forties were able to round in the top five at the jibe mark. This cancellation was one more evidence of the excellent race management of the Minnetonka Yacht Club judging team. Better race management has rarely, if ever, been seen.

Finally, one race was sailed Thursday beginning at 3:00 p.m. in a 6-8 knot breeze from the South. As had become somewhat usual, McLaughlin led at the weather mark and was never headed as he crossed the finish line with over a .five-minute lead. The balance of the racing was tight, with Strothman gaining second and Bowers third. Going into the last race, McLaughlin had the series clinched. Kidd had a lead of 7.1 points on Diaz. Strothman trailed Diaz by 3.9 points, and Bowers trailed Strothman by .4 points. Also in the running was Steve Taylor, 3.3 points' back of Bowers. This set up a good posture for a final race to determine the top United States finisher. When the smoke cleared, the places remained unchanged. Kidd won the race, Dick Tillman (with Eric Hall crewing) finished second. Peter McConnell of Montreal (with Julian Bethwaite of Sidney, Australia, crewing) finished third. Strothman finished fourth, Bowers sixth, Taylor eighth, and Diaz eleventh.

Diaz thus emerged as the United States winner of the United States Nationals, .2 points ahead of Strothman, and McLaughlin walked off with a regatta first.

Off the water, the fleet was entertained nightly at no expense to themselves. Sunday evening, there was a bratwurst and beer party at the Yacht Club. Monday night, Barb and Jack Strothman entertained the forty-nine entries, girlfriends, wives, etc., with a dinner and drinks. Tuesday night, Chuck and Melinda Moos hosted a beer party at their home, and Wednesday night, Patti and Peter Kitchak gave a dinner party at their home to all who attended the regatta.

This social calendar was supplemented by free lunches to skipper and crew and free housing for the week with Yacht Club members.

As advertised, "nowhere can a $50.00 entry fee go so far!"

A complete result list follows:

Final Results    Total Carling Over Points series all
KC 17 McLaughlin/Bastet      1    l l    7    2    1   10 16.0    1 Toronto, Ontario KC 19 Kidd/Kidd        2    4    2    4    7    4    1    30.0   2 Toronto, Ontario US 145 Diaz/Duane       3    3    5    5    3    6   11    48.8      3     Miami, Florida US 900 Strothman/Crear   8    5    8    1    9    2    4    49.0       4     Minnetonka, Minn. US 85 Bowers/Bowers    13   11    7    3    1    3    6   53.1       5     Minnetonka, Minn. US 106 Taylor/Penfield    10    8    3    2    4    8    8    58.7       6     New Haven, Conn. KC   18 Harvey/Harvey      5    2    4    6   18 21    7    69.7       7     Oakville, Ontario US 109 Loeb, Mike   4    9   10    9    5    5 13   74.0       8     New Haven, Conn. KC 277 McConnell/Bethwaite    7   12 12 14   11    9    3    86.7       9     Westmount, Quebec US 102 Freeman/Mathias      6    F   13    8    6   19    5    91.4       10     Ithaca, New York US 1335 Burton/Burton       19    F    9   12    8 10    9    103.0 1 11     Grosse Pointe, Mich. KC 281 Tawaststjerna/Mawson 14 10    6   11   14 13    F    103.7   12     Toronto, Ontario US 180 Ulbrich, John    9    6   11   13   16   20   14    104.7       13     Fort Lauderdale, Fla. US 263 Foster/Young   F    7   14 10 10 14 15    106.0       14     Corpus Christie, TX. US 80 Kitchak/Crear       11   14 19   16   12 12 12    113.0       15     Minnetonka , Minn. US 1407 Tillman/Hall    17   17   27   20   19   25    2    131.0       16     Satellite Beach, Fla. US 1333 Elam, Kelsen      12   13   15   17   25   33   17    135.0      17     Austin, Texas US 266 Leavens, Phillip    24   20   22   24   29    7   16    149.0      18     Seattle, Washington US 1379 Hemker/Gesner      F   26   18   22   17   15   18    152.0   2 19     New Paris, Ohio US 259 Levinson/Ehler 16   16   16 18+1 21   28   22    155.0       20     Clearwater, Fla. US   66 Daniel, Robert 36   19   21   21   23   22   19    161.0       21     Saverna Park, MD. KC 120 Hinrichsen, Peter     25   29   20   29 20   11   21    162.0   22     Beaconsfield, Quebec US 39 Gage, Tom   20   25   31   23   26   18   26    174.0   23     Bellevue, Wash. US 1406 Wells/Wells       26   23 29+1 19   24   24   25    177.0 3   24     Rindge, N.H. US   95 South, Jerry   21   18 17   15   22    S    S    179.0      25     Hampton, Virginia US 104 Gates, Tom 15    F   26    F   13   23   20    183.0 4   26     Palos Verdes, CA. US 1305 Bertocci/Bertocci    18   21   34   28   33   29   23    188.0     27     Rockville, MD. US 1309 Bell/Bell    31   28   24   25   28   27   27    195.0 5   28     Terrace Park, Ohio US 281 French, Ernie   40   32   33    F   15   17   30    203.0 6   29     Kearney, Nebraska
US 1265 Windus/Wells    23   24   25   26   39   38   32 204.0       30     Kingston, R.I. US 1394 Johnson, Tom    22   22   28    S   38   26   33    205.0 31     Annapolis, MD. US 1224 Tautz, Steve    28   31   23   31   41    F   24    214.0 7   32     Littleton, CO. US 1075 McKenzie, Brent    30   15   32   30   30    F    S    223.0 8   33     Flowery Branch, GA US 256 Davis/Davis      F   33   35   27   34   39   31    235.0   9   34     Albion, Michigan US 1352 Drake, Jonathan   33 30   39   33 37+B 31   38    240.0 10   35     Freeport, N.Y. US 124 Oess/Oess      32 44   46    F   32 16   35    241.0 11   36     Rockford, Ill. US 1351 Schwantz, Gary       39 34   37   32   43   36   28    242.0 12   37     Baton Rouge, LA. US 183 Kidder, Jon    35 38   30   35   47   43   36    253.0 13   38     Denver, CO. US 494 Hess, George       37 37   47    F   31   37   29    254.0 14   39     Seattle, Wash. US 1393 Bata, Bohus    27 27   40    S   35   40    S    255.0 15   40     Pasadena, MD. US 1384 Seeboth, John    29 43   42   36   36   34    S    256.0 16   41     Seal Beach, CA. US 594 Mender/Sorrick    34 36   41    S   42   30   37    256.0 17   42     Matteson, Ill. US 1208 Vanderven, Todd    38   F   36   34   40   32    F    266.0 18 43     Mendon, N.Y. US 1396 Gray, Philip    F 40   44   38   27   41    S    276.0 19   44    Greensboro, Vermont US   96 Leavens, Bill       F 35   38    F S   42   34    285.0 20   45     Seattle, Wash. US 1032 Sorrick, Doug    43 41   45   37   48   46    S    296.0 21   46     Springport, Mich. US 1363 Floyd/Floyd       F 39   43    F   45   44   39    296.0 22   47     Bloomington, Ind. US 931 Huber, Russell    42   F   48    S   46   35   40    297.0 23   48     Eustis, Nebraska US 1266 Gundlach, Matt    41 42   49    S   44   45    S    307.0 24   49

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MISSING TROPHY for over all first place in the US Nationals, The Van Voast Trophy was not given to the winners in 1977 or 1978.
Please contact Jack Strothman if you know the whereabouts of the above trophy.