USA

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Arthur Knapp earned one of the most successful yacht racing records of all time. In 1916, Knapp’s father gave him a 12-foot sneakbox-type Butterfly Class boat that he named FLUTTERBY. He won his first championship in 1918. In 1922, with George Hinman and Sterling Kryder in his crew, “Knappy” won the second Sears Cup Races for the Junior Championship in Marblehead. He joined Olin and Rod Stephens aboard DORADE in the 1930 Bermuda race to finish second in Class-B. That same year, Knapp won the Star Worlds. His racing career included enough major honors in Stars, Etchells, Interclub Dinghies, and International One Designs, to fill two pages of a program at a 1988 Larchmont Yacht Club dinner in his honor. Knapp was a member of Harold S. Vanderbilt’s afterguard aboard the 1937 America’s Cup Defender RANGER. He returned to America’s Cup competition in 1958 as the skipper of WEATHERLY in the Cup trials.

His fabulous racing record and many contributions to the sport earned him the Nathanael G. Herreshoff Award of the United States Yacht Racing Union. In 1982, with Edward du Moulin, Knapp founded the Knickerbocker Cup, the premier match racing event in the East, and one of the five Brut Grand Prix Events. He is also the author of the popular book, Race Your Boat Right