U.S. SAILING National Championships
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When the North American Yacht Racing Union was re-established in 1925, it was primarily an administrative body concerned with developing uniform racing and rating rules. Not until the founding of the Championships - initially the Sears Cup and Mrs. Charles Francis Adams Trophy - did it begin to reach directly to sailors across and up and down the continent*. In so doing, the championships provided an avenue for local sailors to compete on a wider basis. For example, it drew Buddy Melges, via the Men's Sailing Championship for the Mallory Cup, out of scow country and eventually to the Olympics and the America’s Cup, and likewise Paul Cayard, via the Sears, into competition global in scope and across the board in classes. The championships, in effect, served an important role in unifying sailing instructions, developing types of race courses and initiating such features as moving the windward mark in case of a wind shift. This history aims to provide those who are competing, or contemplating competing, in a US SAILING Championship with a brief overview of each one and of the players - both administrators and competitors - who make up a rich part of the history.
*(When
NAYRU dissolved in 1975, leaving the Canadian Yachting Association and the newly formed US
Yacht Racing Union, competition continued to be truly ‘continental’ only in the
Lake Yacht Racing Association and the Pacific International Yachting Association) |
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