1981 US National Championship

Bayview Yacht Club in Detroit Michigan was the host to the 1981 United States Nationals. Most of the participants were housed in private homes thanks to the gracious generosity of the residents in the Grosse pointe area. Many of the hosts were not even sailors but friends of sailors who opened thier homes to us and made us feel more than welcome.

Racing took place on Lake St. Clair some distance north of the club. At times the weather was rainy and could enough to bring out the wet suits. The winds in general were light with a few legs which provided some exitement. One of the early races was called for lack of wind and darkness. Mainly due to rapidly moving rain squalls the winds were so shifty that it was very difficult for the race committee to set up proper courses. With the starting line favoring the pin end drastically due to continuous shifts caused one racing day to become a very long practice session with practice starts (recalls) and numerous changes in the start location. The race committee tried in vain to set a good line but Murphys law prevailed. Our thanks go out to all the people in the Detroit area who
helped make the regatta a success inspite of adversites.

The winners of the trophies in the 1981 US Nationals for the Proctor Fleet were 1st. place Bruce Burton and Marshall Duane, 2nd. place Mike Loeb and Robert Hopkins and 3rd. place Kelson Elam and Gough. In the Carling Fleet 1st. place was captured by Peter and Barbara Wells, 2nd place by the Deuchler brothers and 3rd. by Freyja and Kent Davis. The Junior National trophy was won by Snow, Bill Bernards skipper. The over 40 trophy went to Jack Strothman.

Sail     Skipper/crew        race 1    2    3    4    5    6 points final US  300  Bruce Burton (MI)        1    1    1    5    4    5   18.0   1          Marshall Duane(FL) US  109  Mike Loeb (CT)           7    8    2    1    1    3   21.7   2          Robert Hopkins (CT) US   83  Kelson Elam (TX)         2  DNF    3    4    2    2   22.7   3          Gough (TX) KC   16  Greg Tawaststjerna(ONT)  3    2    5    2    5  DNC   31.7   4          Gerry Mawson (ONT) KZ   81  McKay (New Zealand)      4    4    4    3    3  DNC   35.4   5          Bodson US  184  Tom Gates (CA)          12    5    8    7    6    4   56.7   6          Dodson (CA) US  102  Snow                    15    9    7    8   12    1   60.0   7          Bill Bernard (MD) US  900  Jack Strothman(MN)       5    6    6   10    8  DNC   63.4   8          Westneck US 1395  Chet Hight (ARK)         6    7   14   16    9    6   71.4   9          Cumingham US 1406  Norm Windus (RI)        14    8    9    9   13    7   76.0  10          Chris Wells (RI) US 1406  Peter Wells (NH)        11   12   16    6   10    9   77.7  11          Barbara Wells (NH) US   26  Ugo Bertocci (MD)        9   10   10   13   11   11   81.0  12          Guido Bertocci (MD) US 1403  Bill Deuchler(VA)       13  DSQ   12   15   15    8   93.0  13          Deuchler(VA) US 1335  Freyja Davis (MI)       18   14   13   11   16   16  100.0  14          Kent Davis (MI) US 1379  Paul Hemker (OH)        16   17   15   14   14   13  102.0  15                ? US  104  Frank Galdes (CA)        8  DSQ   17   12   12  DNC  107.0  16          Anthony Galdes (CA) US   56  Tom Johnson (MD)        10   11   11   18  DNC  DNC  108.0  17          Steven Granger (VA) US 1309  Gordon Rittmeyer (OH)   17   13   18   21   17   18  113.0  18          George Bell (OH) US  986  Don VerPloeg(NY)        22   18  DNC   17   18   19  124.0  19          Marcy VerPloeg (NY) US  124  Fred Oess (IL)          19   15  DNF  DNC   19   15  126.0  20          Dusty Oess (IL) US  160  Laura Hutchins (ARK)    21  DNF   23   19   22   12  127.0  21          Steve Hutchins (ARK) US  344  Keith Graham (VA)       24   21   21   23   24   10  129.0  22          Biase US   85  Ron Cheney (MI)         23  DNC   20  DNF   20   14  135.0  23          Cheney (MI) US  800  Tony Hubbard (IN)       20   20   19   22  DNC  DNC  139.0  24          Jorden US  594  Ivo Mender (IL)         25   19   22   20   23  DNC  139.0  25          Roberts(IL) KC  282  Reynolds                26  DSQ  DNC  DNC   21   17  150.0  26           ? US 1382  Dominique Gouirand (PA) 27  DNF  DNS  DNC   25   20  158.0  27          Hillerbrand