STAR 



Although the famous Star class celebrated its fiftieth birthday in 1961, 

 the real story of the Stars began fifty-five years earlier when an 18-foot class 

 called Bug was designed in the ofiice of William Gardner. These boats had 

 hulls much like those which the Stars were to have. But they were con- 

 sidered too small and too wet, so George A. ( "Pop" ) Corry, who had been 

 interested in the Bugs, went to Gardner to ask for a larger version. It was 

 Francis Sweisguth, in Gardner's office, who made the original Star drawings, 

 and Pop Corry is called the "Father of the Stars"— the first international 

 racing class ever to have reached its fiftieth birthday. (The North Haven 

 Dinghies which reached their seventy-fifth birthday in 1962 are not an 

 international class.) 



It is generally agreed that the success of the Stars has been due to two 

 things: first, to the boat itself, and second, to the remarkably efficient In- 

 ternational Star Class Yacht Racing Association. Both seem to inspire un- 

 usual loyalty. Just as Pop was Father of the Stars, George W. Elder, who 

 bought a Star in 1914, became Father of the class association launched at the 

 Hotel Astor, New York, on January 22, 1922. This became a model for many 

 other associations. Without the ISCYRA there would probably be no Stars 

 racing today. While Corry was the first President of ISCYRA, it was Elder, 

 taking over the Presidency in 1924, who really "put over" both the Star 

 class and the association. His book. Forty Years among the Stars, written 

 by Elder just before he died in 1954, is a classic and most entertaining to 

 read. (Copies are available at the ISCYRA ofiice, 51 E. 42nd St., New York 

 17, N.Y.) 



With more than fifty years of successful racing and over forty-six hundred 

 boats in thirty-two countries, backed by a strong organization and first 

 chosen of the Olympic classes, the Stars are probably the best known and 

 most influential one-design class in the world. The 1962 "log" lists 218 fleets, 

 of which seventy are in the United States, including four in the Hawaiian 

 Islands. There are fleets at Moscow and Leningrad, U.S.S.R. To everyone's 

 surprise a Russian Star skipper won the Olympic Gold Medal in i960. 



While the Star hulls with their hard chine, long overhangs, and low free- 

 board have remained unchanged over the years, wide latitude has been 

 allowed in their staying and ligging. Thus, the Stars have been called a 

 semidevelopment class, not 100 per cent one-design, but with far less op- 

 portunity for variation then, for example, a 6 Meter. In the beginning a 

 short mast carried a long gaff almost parallel to it, called a sliding gunter 

 rig. Later a short Marconi rig was used, and now the tall Marconi rig, 

 which makes the boat sporty to look at and exciting to sail. It is not a 



188 THE SAILBOAT CLASSES OF NORTH AMERICA 



