Smile Of Champions

WINNERS OF THE TOP CLASS-BOAT TITLES
Class	Championship	Winner
A SCOW	Inland Lake Regatta Lake Winnebago , Wis.	Harry Melges Sr. Zenda, Wis.
ATLANTIC	National Oyster Bay , N.Y.	Harry Piatt Cold Spring Harbor , N.Y.
BEETLE CAT	National Orleans, Mass.	George Kirk Newton, Mass.
BLANCHARO	National Lake Wash., Wash.	Morrie Rattray Seattle
BLUE JAY	Div. I, Open Mamaroneek, N.Y.	John Weidenhammer Southport, Conn.
BLUE JAY	Div. II, Open Mamaroneek, N.Y.	Enid Levine Mamaroneek, N.Y.
COMET	International Amaganset, N.Y.	Ed Ryan Long Branch , N.J.
C SCOW	Inland Lake Regatta Lake Winnebago , Wis.	C. B. (Cuppy) Goes Lake Geneva , Wis.
DINGHIES	Intercollegiate Newport Beach , Calif.	William S. Widnall MIT
DRAGON	North American Port Clinton, Ohio	Richard Krauss Toledo
D SCOW	Inland Lake Regatta Lake Winnebago , Wis.	Dick Backstrom Minneapolis , Minn.
E SCOW	Inland Lake Regatta Lake Winnebago , Wis.	Gordon Lindemann Milwaukee
EL TORO	National Lake Merritt, Calif.	Leonard Ruby San Francisco
FINN MONO	North American Marion , Mass.	Jack Knigts Philadelphia
FIREFLY	North American Winthrop, Mass.	Bjorn Sundby Montreal
FISH	Thomas Lipton Trophy St. Petersburg , Fla.	Biloxi YC Biloxi , Miss.
5.5-METER	National Galveston , Texas	Ernest Fay Houston
5-0-5	North American New Orleans	Dennis Posey Larchmont, N.Y.
FLYING DUTCHMAN	North American St. Michaels, Md.	Harry Sindle Lavallette, N.J.
HAMPTON O-D	National Annapolis , Md.	Robert A. Clemens Annapolis , Md.
HIGHLANDER	International Corpus Christi , Texas	Buck Bailey Corpus Christi , Texas
IOD	Season Series Long Island	Warner Willcox New Rochelle , N.Y.
INTL. FLATTIE	World Lake Wash., Wash.	Austin Peeples Los Angeles
INTERNATIONAL 14	President's Trophy Alamitos Bay, Calif.	George O'Day Marblehead, Mass.
JET 14	National Mansfield , Ohio	Max Culpepper Toms River , N.J.
JOLLY BOAT	North American Annapolis , Md.	Roger Saunders Hollis, N.H.
K-38	National Newport Beach , Calif.	Barney Flam Los Angeles
L HMAN 10	National Newport Beach , Calif.	Burke Sawyer Newport Beach , Calif.
LIDO 14	National Newport Beach , Calif.	Phelps Merickel Newport Beach , Calif.
LIGHTNING	International Little Egg Harbor, N.J.	Henry Cawthra Grosse Pointe , Mich.
LUDERS 16	International Chicago	Jack Vilas Chicago
METCALF DINGHY	National Santa Barbara , Calif.	Dick Blatterman Newport Beach , Calif.
MOTH	International Brant Beach, N.J.	Kenneth Klare Miami
NOD	National Long Beach , Calif.	Bill Siegrist Long Beach , Calif.
110	International Larchmont, N.Y.	Seth Corwin Rye, N.Y.
PC	National Newport Beach , Calif.	Dick Deaver Newport Beach , Calif.
PELICAN	National Miami	George Stieker Coral Gables , Fla.
PENGUIN	National Mantoloking, N.J.	Gardner Cox Mantoloking, N.J.
RAVEN	National Noroton, Conn.	Charles F. Kingsley Oyster Bay , N.Y.
REBEL	National Devil's Lake, Mich.	Bruce Goldsmith Adrian, Mich.
RHODES BANTAM	National Toledo	A. V. (Brud) Nicholson Skaneateles, N.Y.
SABOT	National Newport Beach , Calif.	Tom Nute Mission Bay, Calif.
SAILFISH	Invitational Regatta Pultneyville, N.Y.	Wayne Koch Seneca Falls, N.Y.
SIX-METER	North American Victoria, B.C.	Harry McGuane Seattle
SNIPE	National Jamestown , N.Y.	John Walcott Bridgeport , Conn.
SNOWBIRD	National Newport Beach , Calif.	Tommy Schock Newport Beach , Calif.
STAR	International San Diego	Bill Ficker Newport Harbor, Calif.
THISTLE	National Mobile, Ala.	John Jennings St. Petersburg , Fla.
TURNABOUT	National Senior Winchester, Mass.	Theodore W. Shidler Jr. Winchester, Mass.
TURNABOUT	National Junior Squantum, Mass.	Kerry Foy Squantum, Mass.
210	International Rye, N.Y.	Richard Sullivan Cohasset, Mass.
WOODPUSSY	National Red Bank, N.J.	Borden (Brub) Hance Fairhaven, N.J.
Y-FLYER	National Charleston, S.C.	Billy Kee Charleston, S.C.
ZEPHYR	National Clear Lake , Calif.	Lea Fisher Berkeley, Calif.

All this summer, while the eyes of the sports-minded were focused on the drama of the America's Cup, the nation's small-boat skippers, class-boat enthusiasts like the smiling champions shown on these pages, carried on the busiest sailing season to date. Class boats are, by definition, boats of a kind, and wherever two or three boats of a class are gathered together, a sail-off will soon follow. Multiply this by several thousand and you have a national pattern of sail-offs that start early in the season to pick the best of the class in every yacht club, the best of the class in every district and, finally, the best sailor in each class in the country.

Their portraits show that for class-boat sailors the final victory brings a fine elation: they have all spent more money than they like to think about to get designers to make that ultimate, ideal boat which has no peer, and more time than they can afford on strenuous racing circuits where giving up weekends is only a beginning. And they do it on the chance of becoming that single, smiling sailor, the champion of the class—or, even more happily—an over-all North American champion.

As a salute to the class-boat skippers, whose appetite for competition gives the U.S. a deep, continuing reserve of some of the finest sailors in competition anywhere, SPORTS ILLUSTRATED presents its gallery of sailing champions—and a handsome gallery it is—together with a roundup of U.S. winners in the major classes (see opposite), a coast-to-coast honor roll of American skippers.

BEST OF THE WOMEN
Nancy Meade, 35, housewife sailor of the Rye, N.Y. American Yacht Club, lost in five previous finals ("It was getting to be a little embarrassing") before she won this year's North American Women's Championship off Chicago Yacht Club and with it the cherished Adams Cup plus cheers from husband John Meade and three children, aged 7, 5 and one.

CHAMPION OF TWO THOUSAND SNIPES
John Wolcott, 25, computer engineer from Bridgeport , Conn. (Quassapaug Yacht Club), while he was a Cornell undergraduate laid out full-size Snipe in his fraternity room, finished hull off in rented loft, graduated and then sailed the hull to victory against a fleet representing 2,000 U.S. Snipes. Now he's building himself an ocean sailboat.

BEST OF THE MEN
Bob Mosbacher , 31, independent oil producer of Houston (Texas Corinthian Yacht Club), and brother to Bus Mosbacher , famed skipper of America's Cup contender Vim, added more silverware to family shelf by challenging and toppling best U.S. men in Mallory Cup competitions at American Yacht Club.

BEST OF THE YOUNGSTERS
Kevin Jaff�, 16, of Darien , Conn. (Noroton Yacht Club), was top junior sailor on the Atlantic Coast, went on to Vancouver , B.C. and won three of eight races, enough to bring Sears Cup Junior North American Championship back East. His crew included one 16-year-old girl "good at setting spinnakers."

GOLD CUP CHAMPION
Ernest Fay, 44, shipyard owner from Houston , kept leathery Texas grip on Scandinavian Gold Cup world championship won last year by fellow Corinthian YC member Bob Mosbacher .

BEST OF THE SIX-METER MEN
Harry McGuane, 40, wood veneer distributor of Seattle (Seattle Yacht Club), left ocean racing two years ago to crew on his first six-meter. With two friends he bought a 20-year-old hull (it sank when first launched), picked up a hot crew and learned so much so fast that at Victoria, B.C. , in spite of three terrible starts (last each time), he ran off a first and two seconds against newer hulls to win the North American six-meter championship.

WORLD'S BEST IN THE STAR CLASS
Bill Ficker , 30, house designer from Newport Harbor, Calif. and a career Star boat sailor, known for his ability to put satin-smooth paint finish on a boat, vainly hauled his shiny hulls to championships at Seattle , Chicago and Havana over long succession of years, finally made experience pay off this year when he sailed off with the prized gold star of the world Star champion at San Diego regatta, practically in Ficker 's own backyard.