1941: Yachting

The war in Europe and the increasing tempo of the defense effort somewhat interfered with American yachting in 1941 but, nevertheless, yachting had a successful season. The first race on the calendar was that from Miami to Nassau, won for the fifth time by Stormy Weather, owned by William LaBrot. The race from St. Petersburg to Havana was taken by Gulf Stream, Dudley C. Sharp. These two contests in the south, on Feb. 11 and March 18, opened the season auspiciously. The next long distance event was the race from New London to Hampton, Va., started on June 21. This was staged by a small but vigorous organization, the Storm Trysail Club, in conjunction with the Hampton Yacht Club. A novelty was introduced by having the two classes sail different courses, the larger yachts rounding Race Rock and then Vineyard Sound Lightship, sailing 75 miles further than the direct course taken by the Class B boats. The object was to bring the two classes to the finish at nearly the same time, and this was what happened, Harvey Conover's N.Y.Y.C. '32' Revonoc being first to finish, closely followed by Hother, J. Isbrandtsen, with the Naval Academy's big ketch Vamarie next. However, James H. Grove's Blitzen made the best speed in the fleet and nosed out Vamarie for first place in Class A. Revonoc took first in Class B with Hother second. The Naval Academy's big schooner Freedom sailed in a special class and finished sixth among the larger boats.

On the West Coast, the Honolulu Race was run again, starting from San Pedro on July 4, with seven contenders. The scratch boat, Dr. A. A. Steele's ketch Stella Maris II, was first to finish, crossing the line off Diamond Head 13 days, 21 hours, 4 minutes and 2 seconds after the starting gun had been fired. On corrected time, however, she dropped to fourth place, victory going to D. W. Elliott's sloop Escapade with a corrected time of 12:21:42:24 and elapsed time a little more than an hour longer than that of the ketch.

The New London-Marblehead Race, run by the Eastern Yacht Club in June, was won by another N.Y.Y.C. '32,' A. W. Page's Rampage. In September, the Stamford Yacht Club's Vineyard Race was won by DeCoursey Fales' veteran schooner Nina, which also captured the Cruising Club of America's spring race to Shelter Island, two American Yacht Club races and others.

The New York Athletic Club's sailing race to Block Island was again won, for the fifth time, by George Granbery's little Herreshoff sloop Anita. Grayling, a Class Q sloop owned by Earl Mitchell, won the Bayside Yacht Club to and around Block Island. In an October gale, George Lauder's Class M cutter Windward took the New Rochelle-Stratford Shoal race.

In the Stars, George Fleitz' Wench captured the world's championship at Los Angeles, while Harry Nye, of Chicago, won both the Midwinter Trophy and the Bacardi Cup at Habana with his Gale and William Picken, Jr., of the Great South Bay fleet, took the Atlantic Coast Championship in Foto.

In college yachting, Dartmouth came out on top, winning the McMillan Trophy, while Princeton cleaned up in intercollegiate dinghy racing. Miss Lois McIntyre, of the Riverside Yacht Club, won the Mrs. Charles Francis Adams Cup for the women's championship. Robert Coulson, of the Eastern Yacht Club, won the Junior Championship (the Sears Bowl) at Marblehead.

Motor Boat Racing.

There was less motor boat racing than usual, Detroit calling off its Gold Cup regatta which was then scheduled for the National Sweepstakes event at Red Bank, N. J. When the time came, there was but one boat present in the class, Zalmon G. Simmons' My Sin, 1939 champion, and she ran but a single 30-mile lap to go through the motions of winning what is supposed to be the greatest American speed boat trophy. The motor boat portion of the President's Cup Regatta, at Washington, was called off owing to the gasoline 'shortage.'

The '225' Class, however, raced their heads off all summer as did the smaller hydroplanes and the outboards. George Schrafft's Chrissie IV took the Sweepstakes and, later, the John Charles Thomas Trophy, representing the championship of the class.

Fred Jacoby, Jr., won the Albany-New York Outboard Marathon for the second time in May and, for the fifth time, was awarded the George H. Townsend high point trophy. Frank Desmond, a student at Villanova, took the honors in intercollegiate competition and the Col. Green Round Hill Trophy and won the national championship in Class B at Austin, Texas. Jack Henkels, of Fort Worth, won in Classes A and C, amateur, Paul Wearly winning in A and B, Thom Cooper in Class C and H. Vogts in Class F among the professionals.

Why Worry, a Gold Cup boat owned by William Cantrell of Louisville, Ky., hung up a mile record of 99.884 miles per hour. The '225' Tommyann, Joe Taggart, of Canton, O., did 73.170 m.p.h. in a five-mile race and Sally Jo II, H. G. Shrake, a '135,' made 62.068, also in competition. See also MOTOR BOAT RACING.

1940: Yachting

New Yachts.

Yacht building in the larger classes slacked off in 1940, Robert W. Johnson's yawl Good News being the largest cruiser-racer to be commissioned during the year. She lost her maiden race, that from Miami to Nassau, to William LaBrot's Stormy Weather in February but she set a new record for the course in winning the St. Petersburg-Havana Race the next month, averaging 7.62 knots for the 284 nautical miles.

Yacht Races in North America.

Owing to the European War, the classic race to Bermuda, run by the Cruising Club of America, was cancelled and a race from Block Island, around Nantucket Lightship, thence to Mt. Desert Rock and finishing at Gloucester, was substituted. The 455-mile course was sailed in wet, cold and fog and Henry C. Taylor's yawl Baruna, winner of the 1938 Bermuda Race, was the winner. The cutter Blitzen, which won the 1939 Honolulu Race and is now owned by James H. Grove, was second. Class B honors went to Robert F. deCoppet's new cutter Coquette, with Robert H. Moore's Perroquet second. Perroquet later won the Bayside-Block Island contest.

The Stamford Yacht Club's Vineyard Race, run over the Labor Day week-end, brought out a large fleet and first place went to the husky cruising ketch Soerabaja, owned by Rudolph Loewenstein, with second place going to E. L. Raymond, Jr.'s, Chanteyman. Arthur W. Page's Rampage II took first in Class A with Perroquet second.

Perhaps the outstanding yacht of the year was Frank C. Paine's Gypsy, which cleaned up in a number of squadron runs on the cruises of the American and the New York Yacht Clubs and won the Eastern Yacht Club's race from New London to Marblehead in June.

Harold S. Vanderbilt's Twelve-Metre Vim also did well on these club cruises, winning a number of daily runs and capturing the King's Cup and the Astor Cup though losing the Long Island Sound Y.R.A. honors for the season to F. D. Bedford's Nyala by a narrow margin.

The Stars sailed their international championship races at San Diego, the title going to Rambunctious II, owned and sailed by James and Gordon Cowie. K. B. Millet's Viking won the Myrick Trophy and the women's team from the American Yacht Club took the Mrs. Charles Francis Adams Cup. The national junior championship title was taken by a crew skippered by Robert Coulson, of the Eastern Yacht Club, and the Williams College crew, Robert N. Bavier, Jr., and A. J. Santry, Jr., skippers, won the McMillan Trophy and the intercollegiate honors. Gardner Cox and Trevor Pardee, of Princeton, were the winners in the intercollegiate dinghy contest. C. S. Ogilvy took the Atlantic Coast title with his Star Spirit. C. S. Somervill won the national title in the Comet Class and Darby Metcalf in the Snipes.

On the Great Lakes, in the Mackinac Race from Chicago, Edward B. Lumbard repeated his 1939 victory in Bangalore, built in 1930, with the new Babson-Moller yawl Tahuna close astern. C. J. Peterson's sloop Batavia was first in Class A and third in the fleet. James R. Lowe's big yawl Manitou won the race from Port Huron to Mackinac in fast time with David William's Sonata second. Rainbow IV, P. C. Williamson, won in the cruising class.

On Lake Ontario, the Freeman Cup went to W. L. Ballantine's Eight-Metre Vision, of Toronto, which also took the Rochester Cup. A large fleet gathered on Lake Mendota off Madison, Wis., for the Inland Lakes meet. Sea Fox, J. S. Pillsbury, Jr., won in Class A; the Hannaford Brothers in Class E, with Lady Luck III; while the Wagners, in Skip-It-Too, won their third Class C championship from a fleet of 80.

Motor-Boat Racing.

Motor boat racing during the year was disappointing in the large boats, the classic Gold Cup being won at Northport, L. I., by Sidney Allen's Hotsy Totsy III in slow time after Notre Dame, My Sin and Gray Goose III had broken down. A week later, at the National Sweepstakes at Red Bank, N. J., Herbert Mendelson's Notre Dame set new lap and heat records but went out with a broken shaft and the prize was awarded to Jack Cooper's '225' Tops III. At the President's Cup Regatta at Washington, D. C., Notre Dame won the three heats over a rough course which cut down speed somewhat. When she was back in her home of Detroit, she hung up a record of 100.987 miles per hour over the measured mile.

In the 225-cubic-inch Class, Thomas Chatfield's latest Viper won the championship for the season and also the John Charles Thomas Trophy. George Schrafft's Chrissie IV and Jack Cooper's Tops III were well up in class competition. Henry Davis won in the 135 Class with his Eight Ball III and J. D. McIntyre in the '91's' with Happy Warrior III.

The Albany-New York Marathon was won by Clayton Bishop. Many records were set by the outboard during the year. The George H. Townsend Medal, the national high point trophy, was again won by Fred Jacoby, Jr.

1939: Yachting

Building and Tank Testing.

A number of new yachts were built during the year and most of the successful ones had their models tested in the experimental towing basin, commonly known as the tank. This process of tank testing has been growing in importance during the last few years as it provides a comparatively inexpensive method of predicting the performance of a new design and permits the naval architect to make any necessary alterations in lines or trim before the yacht is constructed. The higher the skill of the designer, the greater is the value of tank tests to him.

Yacht Races in North America.

The most important race of the year was that from San Francisco to Honolulu which started on July 4. Twenty-six yachts competed and the winner was R. J. Reynolds' cutter Blitzen, designed by Sparkman & Stephens, Inc., and built at City Island, N. Y. Second place went to Harold Judson's cutter Joyce, and third to A. L. Marsten's yawl Brilliant. A fine fleet took part.

On the Atlantic Coast, the New York Yacht Club's race from Newport to Cape May and back to Montauk was taken by R. J. Schaefer's yawl Edlu, another Sparkman & Stephens design.

The Annapolis Yacht Club staged a race from New London to its home port and this turned out to be a close contest, being won on corrected time, by a narrow margin, by E. S. Bradford's yawl Estrella, designed by John G. Alden. Another Alden-designed yacht won the Eastern Yacht Club's race from New London to Marblehead from a good-sized fleet. She was R. O. H. Hill's Lucky Star.

On the Great Lakes, both races to Mackinac Island drew large fleets, some of the entries coming from Long Island Sound. The race from Port Huron was won by James R. Lowe's yawl Manitou, while that from Chicago to the Straits was captured by E. B. Lumbard's cutter Bangalore, designed by Philip L. Rhodes in 1930.

The race from Marblehead to Halifax, N. S., went to the new Alden-designed yacht Tioga Two, a 53-footer owned by H. K. and E. Pike Noyes, of Boston, neither of them yet of voting age. She won by more than twelve hours, sailing through fog much of the way, and competing against larger boats. The race was run by the Boston Yacht Club and the Royal Nova Scotia Yacht Squadron. Tioga Two did remarkably well on the port to port runs of the New York Yacht Club's Annual Cruise and also that of the Eastern Yacht Club.

Races Abroad.

Three important events took place abroad. The international championships of the Star Class were held at Kiel, Germany, just on the eve of the invasion of Poland. Pimm, owned by Walther von Hutschler, of Germany, repeated her former victory. The Italian Polluce took second place, followed by the German Muggel and the American Scout III.

The races for the Scandinavian Gold Cup took place at Helsinki. Although an American yacht had won in 1938, the Seawanhaka Yacht Club, holders of the trophy, generously offered to defend it in Europe. George Nichols took his Six-Metre Goose abroad to meet the best of the foreign 'Sixes' from Finland, Norway, Sweden, Italy, Germany, Denmark and France. The owner of Goose was stricken with influenza a day or two before the scheduled start and the yacht was sailed to a clean-cut victory of three straight wins by his son, George Nichols, Jr.

The only yacht built to the International Rule was Harold S. Vanderbilt's Vim, a Twelve-Metre. After a couple of inconclusive tuning-up races, Mr. Vanderbilt shipped Vim to England where she raced against the cream of the British 'Twelves,' emerging with a record surpassing that ever made by any foreign yacht in British waters. Out of the 28 races in which she took part, she won 19 firsts, 4 seconds and 3 thirds, an astounding record. After her return to the United States she raced again, winning a series against American Twelve-Metres by a rather narrow margin.

Motor-Boat Races.

In the motor-boat field, the Gold Cup was raced for at Detroit and was won by Zalmon G. Simmons' My Sin, which set a new record of 66.240 miles per hour for the 90-mile course. The President's Cup, the contest for which was held at Washington, D. C., was captured by a Canadian boat, Harold Wilson's Miss Canada III.

There was much record breaking also among the smaller classes, Jack Cooper driving his '225' Tops III over the measured mile at 87.448 m.p.h. Another '225,' Chauncey Hamlin's Voodoo, hung up a new five-mile mark of 66.176 m.p.h. John L. Hyde made 67.479 m.p.h. with his '135' Gypsy Lass, and Arno Apel made 53.894 m.p.h. for a mile in the 91-cubic-inch class.

Outboard records also were broken in many cases. See also MOTOR-BOAT RACING.

1938: Yachting

More yachts were built in 1938 than in any year since 1929. Two 12-meter racers topped the list as to size, both built to the International Rule. A number of offshore cruising-racers were turned out, built to rate well under the 'Lippincott Rule' originated on Lake Michigan and later adopted by the Cruising Club of America. The majority of the new boats were of comparatively small size, many of them being built to fit various one-design classes.

In the 6-meter class, there were three international events. The first was the series for the Scandinavian Gold Cup, held by the Seawanhaka Corinthian Yacht Club of Oyster Bay, N. Y., in which yachts from Norway, Sweden, Great Britain and Finland sailed against George Nichols' Goose, the defender taking the series in three straight races. Then came the event for the British-American Cup, teams of four 'Sixes' representing the defending club and the Royal Northern Yacht Club, of Glasgow. The American team won four out of five races. In the contest for the One Ton Cup, the Scottish Circe, J. H. Thom, made a clean sweep over Goose.

The International Star Class regatta was held off San Diego, Calif., and was won by the German Pimm, sailed by Walther von Hutschler, after a close battle with Harry G. Nye's Gale, from Chicago, the point score being 106 to 104.

The Bermuda Race, from Newport to St. David's Head, was won by H. C. Taylor's new yawl Baruna from a fine fleet of 43 yachts, with Walter N. Roths-child's yawl Avanti second in Class A. R.J. Reynolds' new cutter Blitzen won in the smaller Class B, with Nathanial Rubinkam's cutter Rubaiyat, from Chicago, second.

The race from Chicago to Mackinac, 331 miles on Lake Michigan, was captured by James R. Lowe's yawl Manitou, in the Cruising Division, Herman E. Karnstedt's sloop Hope taking the honors in the Racing Division. There were 46 starters.

The Lake Huron Race, from Port Huron to Mackinac, brought out a fleet of 28 and was won by Fred S. Ford's yawl Evening Star in the Racing-Cruising Division, and by Gordon Mendelssohn's cutter Quarter-More, in the Cruising Division.

The Fishermen's Race, held off Boston and Gloucester, went to Angus Walter's famous schooner Bluenose, which defeated the American Gertrude L. Thebaud three to two after a most unsatisfactory series, badly handled by an incompetent committee.

Yachtsmen have been much worried over the stipulations of Draft Convention 53, one of the international labor treaties ratified by the Senate and signed by the President, which seems to compel professional navigating and engineering officers on all vessels, including fishermen and yachts. It is sincerely hoped that remedial legislation will be passed exempting craft of less than 200 tons from the treaty requirements.