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Australia II, 1983 winner of the America’s Cup

Collection Highlights | Updated 1 decade ago

The Australia II Gallery at the WA Maritime Museum

On 26 September 1983, the yacht Australia II made history when the oldest sporting trophy in the world, the America’s Cup, was wrested from the Americans after 132 years.

The Australia II was owned and built by a syndicate Western Australians headed by former businessman Alan Bond. The syndicate had unsuccessfully challenged for the Cup three times, which had been held by the New York Yacht Club since 1851, but the syndicate was determined to bring home the ‘auld mug’ in 1983.

The designer of Australia II , Ben Lexcen, had conceived a winged keel that under secret testing in the Netherlands had out-performed conventional keels. The yacht was built in Cottesloe by local boatbuilder Steve Ward. The crew was based in Perth and undertook a rigorous training program to prepare them for the series of races that would determine the challenger for the America’s Cup, held in Newport, Rhode Island.

Following the success of Australia II in the Round Robin series to select a challenger for the Cup, the yacht raced in the best of seven races to determine the ultimate winner. At the end of four races, with the score 3-1 against them, the crew of Australia II faced an enormous challenge. Against all the odds Australia II went on to win the remaining three races, becoming the first non-American yacht to win the Cup.

In 1988 the yacht and associated material was bought by the Australian government for $2,000,000, and accessioned into the National Museum of Australia collection. The yacht was subsequently displayed in Fremantle before a new home in Sydney, the Australian National Maritime Museum, was prepared.

In 1995 the Australian government offered the yacht back to the Western Australian community, recognising the value of conserving objects in their original place. A purpose-built facility to house the yacht was proposed. The museum, located at the western end of Victoria Quay in Fremantle, was completed in May 2002 and installation of the Museum’s exhibition completed for opening in December of the same year.

The yacht Australia II is displayed in a defining moment of the final race. Having just passed the American boat Liberty on the last downwind leg, Australia II is fast approaching the last rounding mark, the America’s cup buoy. The yacht is heeled to approximately 9 degrees as it approaches the mark, to begin the final leg to the finish. During the final windward beat Australia II tacked many times to defend their precious lead. At 5.21pm the yacht crossed the line to win the America’s Cup.

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America’s Cup win

1983: Australia II wins the America’s Cup

Australia II and crew celebrate the 1983 win. Photo: Larry Moran

At 5.21pm on 26 September 1983, off the coast of Rhode Island, the yacht Australia II crossed the finish line to win the America’s Cup.

In the best of seven races, Australia II was 1–3 down after the first four races. In the final race Australia came from behind to win 4–3. It was the first America’s Cup race in 132 years that a country other than the USA won.

Prime Minister Bob Hawke, 27 September 1983:

Any boss who sacks anyone for not turning up today is a bum.

Pair of green Stubbies sailing shorts worn by Will Baillieu, Starboard Grinder on Australia II during the 1983 America's Cup. National Museum of Australia

Australia II shorts detail. - click to view larger image

America’s Cup history

The America’s Cup began life in England as the Royal Yacht Squadron’s £100 Cup, awarded to the winner of a race around the Isle of Wight.

In August 1851 the race was won by the schooner America (after which the Cup was subsequently named) representing the youthful New York Yacht Club.

The Earl of Wilton, Commodore of the Royal Yacht Squadron, had invited the Americans to take part, and theirs was the first foreign yacht to enter the race.

In a ploy repeated by the Australians in 1983, the Americans in 1851 played up the radical new design of their yacht and hinted that they had a secret advantage below the waterline. Actually, it was the combination of a new hull design and less sail aloft that gave America the edge.

With this single victory, America transformed yachting into an international competition. The New York Yacht Club Commodore John Cox Stevens and the members of his ownership syndicate sold the winning schooner before returning home.

They donated the trophy to the New York Yacht Club in 1857 under a Deed of Gift which stated that the trophy would be 'a perpetual challenge cup for friendly competition between nations'.

The New York Yacht Club’s first defense of the Cup took place in 1870. Britain repeatedly challenged for the Cup, with one competitor, Sir Thomas Lipton, mounting five challenges between 1899 and 1930.

As the years passed, it was the prospect of breaking this extraordinary winning streak that made the America’s Cup so coveted.

Australian involvement in the America's Cup

Britain and Canada were the only two nations to challenge for the Cup until 1962 when an Australian syndicate headed by Sir Frank Packer and based at the Royal Sydney Yacht club challenged in Gretel . Although the Cup was successfully defended by the Americans, the competition was close and Gretel was the first boat to win an America’s Cup match race since 1930.

The Australians returned in 1970 with Gretel II but were unsuccessful. The Gretel II campaign was famously controversial, particularly when having won a second race, the Australians were stripped of their win by the NYYC. Future captain of Australia II, John Bertrand, competed in his first challenge on board Gretel II.

Other Australian challengers were Dame Pattie in 1967, Southern Cross in 1974, Australia in 1977 and 1980, followed by Australia II in 1983.

Entrepreneur Alan Bond entered the Cup challenge process in 1974 with Southern Cross . While both Southern Cross and Australia failed in their three attempts, they provided crucial training for the historic 1983 challenge.

Patent for Ben Lexcen’s winged keel. Photo: Larry Moran

A close-up photo of two hands holding onto the design of a yacht keel. - click to view larger image

Australia II

Alan Bond again bankrolled the Royal Perth Yacht Club’s entry, Australia II, for the 1983 challenge. Ben Lexcen (formerly Bob Miller) who had also designed Southern Cross and co-designed Australia , designed the yacht.

Her outstanding characteristic was a completely new winged keel design, which the team kept hidden until it was revealed to fans after the final race.

Australia II dominated the Challenger series, winning the Louis Vuitton Cup, and the NYYC embarked on a legal challenge to disqualify the Australian yacht. The boat was ruled a legal 12 Meter and allowed to participate in the regatta.

1983 America’s Cup race tournament

The America’s Cup is a best of seven race tournament. Australia II , skippered by John Bertrand, lined up for the first race against the American defender, Liberty , skippered by Dennis Conner, on 13 September 1983.

The NYYC cancelled the race due to foul weather. A successful start was made the following day, but Australia II was hampered by equipment failure. Liberty won by one minute and ten seconds. The Australians’ second race was also marred by equipment failure, with Conner winning by one minute and 33 seconds.

Race three was abandoned as neither yacht could complete the course in the time limit, and was restarted the following day. Australia II won by three minutes and 14 seconds, which brought relief and jubilation to the Australians and their supporters.

However, when Liberty won race four, it seemed that it might be all over for the Australian campaign.

Australia II had to win every one of the next three races to take the Cup. The fifth race started poorly, with the Australians giving the Americans a 37-second lead. However, the Americans lost this precious advantage due to equipment failure. Australia II won by one minute and 47 seconds.

Race six took place on 22 September 1983. Even if Australia II hadn’t gone on to win the Cup, it would have made history by winning this race. It was the first time a defender had gone three-all, and it was the biggest winning margin recorded.

Victory for Australia

About 2,000 boats turned out to watch the historic seventh race on 24 September 1983, which disappointingly, had to be abandoned due to unstable weather conditions. Rescheduled for 26 September 1983, the race started after only one postponement.

The Australians started well but lost their early lead. Things looked grim, with Liberty increasing its lead at every mark. Designer Ben Lexcen couldn’t bear to watch. He went below on the Bond launch, Black Swan , and stared at the NYYC officials’ boat.

Lexcen was only alerted to Australia II ’s amazing comeback during the fifth leg by the change of demeanour of those on board the officials’ boat.

Two vital differences on this leg let Australia II regain the lead. The spinnaker was set and held better than Liberty , and Australia II was able to find a few extra lifts of wind.

Once in the lead, Australia II was under ferocious attack from Liberty on the final leg. The American yacht tacked 45 times in attempting to regain the lead. At 5.21pm Australia II crossed the finish line 41 seconds ahead of Liberty.

Australia II ’s winged keel. The yacht is on permanent display at the Western Australian Maritime Museum in Fremantle. Photo: kenhodge13 via Wikimedia Commons

Reaction in Australia

In Australia, the final race took place in the early hours of the morning, but much of the nation stayed up to watch the historic victory on television. The America’s Cup, previously of interest only to the yachting fraternity, suddenly had a galvanising effect on the public mood.

According to author Lou d’Apulget:

The 1983 challenge was a never-to-be-repeated summer-long epic that wiped wars, politics and economics from the pages of newspapers and brought the subject of boat racing into such unlikely places as the Oval Office of the White House.

On 15 May 1984 the federal cabinet decided to buy Australia II from Alan Bond.

Dennis Conner successfully challenged the Australians in 1987.

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Looking back: The 1983 America’s Cup win

first australian yacht win america's cup

“I’LL TELL YOU what: any boss who sacks a worker for not turning up today is a bum.” Australians tend to remember these words fondly coming from the mouth of then prime minister Bob Hawke after Australia II won the America’s Cup yacht race, breaking a 132-year winning streak for the USA.

“In many ways, really, he gave people permission to celebrate,” explains John Bertrand, who skippered the Royal Perth Yacht Club vessel to its win on 26 September 1983 UTC (27 September AEST).

The America’s Cup is the oldest continuously awarded trophy in the world. It predates the American Civil War. Between 1851 and 1983, the New York Yacht Club (NYYC) had won every race and cockily bolted the Cup to a stand in their trophy room.

But in the 1970s, Aussie entrepreneur Alan Bond came up with a plan to unseat it from NYYC’s altar, and enlisted the help of self-taught boat designer and Novacastrian Ben Lexcen. It took four attempts at the Cup, but Lexcen’s winged keel model eventually steered the team into history.

Yacht racings psychological battles

In May 1983, when the Australian crew arrived at the start of the cup in Newport, Rhode Island, the eyes of the media locked on the skirt drawn tightly around the keel.

The boat’s design was a closely guarded secret, but its reputation preceded it. As the American and Australian teams faced off across the race marinas, rock songs blared from speakers on opposing yacht decks and the green and gold boxing kangaroo flag, commissioned by Bond for the race, flapped from the Aussie mast.

In the end, the Cup – won by the best of seven races over several weeks – was tied at three-all at the final start line. Australia II ‘s crew battled nerves after a false start, but after swapping the lead with the New York Yatch Club’s Liberty three times, the wonders from Down Under won by 41 seconds. Rather than joy, John says his first feeling was “absolute relief that we got the job done”.

Wild celebrations as Australia finally wins the America’s Cup

“I remember seeing a cannon go off on one of the New York Yacht Club boats, but heard no sound,” John says. “The harbour was so packed with boats you could walk across it. Then Alan Bond ordered the boat to be lifted out of the water to show people the keel. People were jumping into the water to touch [it], I remember one guy in there in his dinner suit.”

The Cup hasn’t returned to New York. The next race, in 1987, was won by the San Diego Yacht Club; since then it has been won by international and US teams.

The September 2013 Cup featured an almost unrecognisable pair of carbon-fibre catamarans, with sails bigger than a Boeing 747’s wing.

An Australian James Spithill skippered the American boat that won this year, proving the Aussies can still hold their own in this now, very-expensive race.

Syndicates today pour hundreds of millions of dollars into boats and teams, a far cry from the $12 daily stipend the 1983 Australian crew received.

Source : Australian Geographic , Issue 116 (Sep/Oct, 2013)

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Bob Hawke, Alan Bond and Ben Lexcen were key players in Australia II's extraordinary 1983 America's Cup victory

Topic: Sailing

It was the David and Goliath story that put Australia on the world sailing map, an extraordinary feat that ended the longest winning streak in any sport, anywhere in the world.

And with a rich list of characters including a larrikin prime minister, a millionaire businessman whose dodgy business dealings funded the enterprise, and a genius inventor whose top-secret keel design was to revolutionise the yachting world, the story of how Australia snatched the famed America's Cup from the New York Yacht Club (NYYC) in 1983 is the stuff of legend.

In the storied 132-year history of the cup, no challenger had come close to threatening the dominance of the well-to-do NYYC, which had held the trophy since winning a sailing race around the Isle of Wight in the UK in 1851.

A yellow taxi sits parked outside an old-fashioned light brown building with two flags hanging outside.

The storied New York Yacht Club in New York City, home to generations of America's wealthiest families including the Vanderbilts and Rothschilds. ( Facebook: New York Yacht Club )

Indeed, some NYYC members seemed to regard the prestigious trophy as the club's unassailable birthright, over which it would have permanent custody.

Alan Bond, however, had other ideas.

The national hero who became a villain

Yet to be unmasked as a corporate villain who swindled millions from investors and taxpayers, Bond in 1983 was well on the way to becoming the national treasure the America's Cup would turn him into, albeit temporarily.

Back then he was the rags-to-riches success story that so many Australians aspired to be, the humble sign writer turned millionaire property developer who had migrated from the UK in 1950 without a penny to his name.

Alan Bond's rags-to-riches tale endeared him to many. ( Supplied: Renni Ellis Photographic Archive )

Over the subsequent decades, his burgeoning business empire would go on to encompass land developments, breweries, television stations, diamonds, oil, gold, an entire English village, a Gold Coast university and even world-famous Impressionist paintings, to name just a few of his colourful enterprises.

Bond's passion for making money was matched by his skill at self-promotion, and in the America's Cup he sensed an opportunity to make a name for himself on the world stage.

Bond's business empire included an eponymous university in Queensland. ( Bond University )

Journalist Paul Barry's biography, The Rise and Fall of Alan Bond, quotes him telling a journalist: "Anyone who considers racing for the America's Cup isn't a business proposition, is a bloody fool."

If increasing his profile and leveraging opportunity was the aim, Bond succeeded wildly.

By 1983 he'd already financed three America's Cup challenges, earning an Australian of the Year award for his efforts in 1978.

Alan Bond sits at the wheel of Australia II with a child, Jeremy, in 1983.

Australia II was Alan Bond's fourth attempt to snatch the coveted America's Cup. ( Grant Simmer )

And his perseverance was to pay even bigger dividends on the fourth attempt when Australia II crossed the finish line on September 26, 1983, to snatch the unlikeliest of victories from the jaws of defeat, making Bond a national hero and giving him the sort of wall-to-wall publicity even he could have scarcely dreamed of.

The top-secret advantage

Like Bond, boat designer Ben Lexcen was a self-made man with little formal education.

After designing three previous boats for America's Cup challenges, only one of which managed to win a single race, Lexcen knew a radical new approach would be needed to win the cup.

Ever the gambler, Bond was prepared to back his man.

Ben Lexcen shows off his keel design for Australia II.

Ben Lexcen spent months working on the design for Australia II and its revolutionary keel. ( National Archives of Australia: A6315, K25/10/83/9 )

Lexcen was sent to a sailing design institute in the Netherlands, reportedly with a blank cheque from Bond, to work on a new design.

What emerged from months of testing has gone down in the annals of sailing history.

Lexcen had developed a radical new 'winged' keel, like nothing the sailing world had ever seen before which was to herald a revolution in yacht design.

The winged keel made Lexcen's new boat, Australia II , much faster and more manoeuvrable – and importantly, the Australians' secret weapon also became a psychological weapon.

A boat with its keel hidden under a blue tarp being moved on a truck with a police officer on a motorbike

Australia II, with her famous winged keel hidden, is transported from the shed where she was built in Cottesloe, to Fremantle dock with a police escort. ( Supplied: State Library of Western Australia )

The team went to great lengths to hide it from the outside world and the Americans in particular, shrouding the keel in tarpaulins as it was transported and hiring armed guards around the clock to protect it from prying eyes.

The unlikely victory

With six unsuccessful challenges behind it, beginning in 1962 with media mogul Frank Packer's yacht Gretel, Australia was thought to have little chance of winning the imposing sterling silver trophy from the iron grip of the US.

But when Australia II began to dominate the trial races to choose a contender for the 1983 America's Cup, the scions of the NYYC were determined to do everything in their power to win.

A man and a woman aboard a yacht in the 1980s

Alan Bond and his wife Eileen were central figures in the drama of the America's Cup win. ( State Library of WA: Roger Garwood )

First, they tried to buy the keel design from the Netherlands testing facility where it was developed, and when that failed, they repeatedly tried to claim the keel violated the rules of the race, though it had been earlier deemed allowable. That tactic also failed.

Nonetheless, the 1983 competition had begun in emphatic style for the US team on their boat Liberty, which easily defeated the Australians in the first two races, helped by equipment failure on Australia II .

America's Cup challenger Australia II under full sail off Newport, Rhode Island.

Australia II's secret winged keel began to unnerve the Americans after its resounding victories in the qualifying races. ( Larry Moran, Chicago )

Then unexpectedly, the Australian boat won the third race of the series, only to lose the fourth, leaving the Americans in a commanding position at 3-1 in the best-of-seven series.

But when the Australians snatched victory in the fifth, then the sixth race, sailing fever engulfed the nation and suddenly everyone wanted to be a part of it.

It was the first time in 132 years the tournament had even run to a seventh race – usually the Americans won it convincingly in just four – and tensions ran high.

Australia II and Liberty race in the finals of the 1983 America's Cup.

Australia II was behind Liberty for most of the final race and few expected her to win. ( Larry Moran, Chicago )

The defining moment came in the middle of the night Australian time.

After starting the race well behind Liberty, Australia II surged forward in the last leg of the nail-bitingly close final to cross the finish line ahead by a convincing 41 seconds.

Improbably, the cup was Australia's.

File photo of Alan Bond and John Bertrand

Alan Bond (centre) and Australia II skipper John Bertrand (right) give the thumbs up sign to fans that surrounded the dock after their victory in the America's Cup. ( AFP )

The nation's pride

Forty years on, it's almost impossible to convey the sheer joy and pride that washed over Australia in the wake of the victory.

Millions had tuned in overnight to watch the coverage on television, and apart from the joyous moment Australia II sailed across the finish line, were additionally treated to images of an ecstatic prime minister, who had rushed to Royal Perth Yacht Club for the celebrations.

Perth residents celebrate after waking to the news Australia had won the America's Cup. ( National Archives of Australia )

Dressed in an unforgettable jacket emblazoned with the word Australia and doused in champagne, an almost hysterically excited Hawke famously declared: "Any boss who sacks anyone today for not turning up is a bum".

Waking up bleary-eyed the next day, it was as if the country had taken leave of its senses.

Boxing kangaroo flags decorated shops and houses (a windfall for Bond who owned the image), those that had taken Hawke's advice to take the day off flocked to pubs and clubs to celebrate, and television and talkback radio was giddy with the excitement of it all.

Children wave flags at America's Cup victory celebrations in Perth, 1983.

The nation celebrated the cup victory with huge excitement. ( National Archives of Australia )

The anthem of the Australia II team, Men at Work's Down Under , was played incessantly, and the nation revelled in the glory.

It was more than just a sporting contest. Somehow this relatively obscure tournament held on the other side of the world had united the country in joy and excitement.

Former prime minister Bob Hawke and businessman Alan Bond together during America's Cup celebrations in 1983.

Prime Minister Bob Hawke and Alan Bond were key figures in the America's Cup celebrations. ( National Archives of Australia: A8746, KN16/11/83/46 )

Australia loves an underdog and the country's larrikin spirit, embodied in its prime minister, was elevated to new heights by the minnow yachting syndicate from an obscure sailing club in Perth trouncing the might of the US establishment.

The country erupted in a celebration that was to last weeks, the culmination of which was the triumphant return of the boat and its crew to Australia a month after their stunning victory.

Perth's moment of glory

Home city Perth threw a huge parade through the city and a day-long concert on the city's foreshore featuring the crème de la creme of the 1983 entertainment scene, including Peter Allen and the now disgraced Rolf Harris.

Rolh Harris on stage with children and a giant kangaroo behind him.

Rolf Harris was among a host of performers at the America's Cup celebrations in Perth. ( Supplied: State Library of Western Australia )

More than 200,000 people are estimated to have turned out that day – nearly a quarter of the city's population – to cheer on the conquering heroes and get a glimpse of the famed trophy.

Aerial view of a massive crowd at a park with a river in the background

Huge crowds flocked to the Esplanade in Perth for the America's Cup celebrations in October 1983. ( Richard Woldendorp: State Library of Western Australia )

Freelance photographer Roger Garwood remembers it well, and his anecdote about that time encapsulates the heightened emotions many felt.

A boy waves a flag over his head in amongst a huge crowd, some with Australian flags

Joy and excitement swept across Australia when the America's Cup was won. ( State Library of Western Australia: Richard Woldendorp )

Inundated with requests from editors around the world for an image of the cup itself, Mr Garwood phoned Royal Perth Yacht Club to ask if he could photograph it, and was surprised to be told the club would deliver it to his home in Fremantle.

Police guard the America's Cup during celebrations for Australia's 1983 victory. ( National Archives of Australia: A61, K3/11/83/16 )

"The cup had arrived in a Holden car driven by a security guard," he said.

"It was in a Perspex case, sitting on the front passenger seat and strapped in place by the seat belt.

"We carefully unloaded it and carried it down the hallway to the living room where it was taken from its case.

"Thus [my home] was the first place the cup visited in Fremantle and arguably the first private home in Australia."

Without telling him what was in store, Mr Garwood urged his parents — mother Ethel and his sailing mad father Oliver — to come over quickly.

Black and white photo of an elderly couple and a boy with the America's Cup trophy in a loungeroom.

Photographer Roger Garwood's father Oliver (Bob), pictured with his mother Ethel and eight-year-old son Ben, was overwhelmed to see the America's Cup trophy in his son's lounge room. ( Supplied: Roger Garwood )

"They had no clue and walked into the living room where the old boy, now 82, was totally dumbstruck," Mr Garwood recalled.

"He stood for a few seconds staring at the cup, not quite understanding how this moment had come about.

"Then he burst into tears."

Home > Events > Sailing > America's Cup > Winners

America's Cup Winner's List

The America's Cup is one of the oldest international sporting trophies in history. From 1851 to 1983, the USA won the America’s Cup. After that, Australia, New Zealand, and Switzerland have been sharing the crown with the USA.

The winning club is indicated in bold.

Year	Venue	Defending club	Result	Challenging club
2024	Barcelona	New Zealand Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron	-	United Kingdom Royal Yacht Squadron
2021	Auckland		7–3	Italy Circolo della Vela Sicilia
2017	Bermuda	United States Golden Gate Yacht Club	1–7
2013	San Francisco		9–8	New Zealand Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron
2010	Valencia	Switzerland Société Nautique de Genève	0–2
2007	Valencia		5–2	New Zealand Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron
2003	Auckland	New Zealand Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron	0–5
2000	Auckland		5–0	Italy Yacht Club Punta Ala
1995	San Diego	United States San Diego Yacht Club	0–5
1992	San Diego		4–1	Italy Compagnia della Vela
1988	San Diego		2–0	New Zealand Mercury Bay Boating Club
1987	Fremantle	Australia Royal Perth Yacht Club	0–4
1983	Newport	United States New York Yacht Club	3–4
1980	Newport		4–1	Australia Royal Perth Yacht Club
1977	Newport		4–0	Australia Sun City Yacht Club
1974	Newport		4–0	Australia Royal Perth Yacht Club
1970	Newport		4–1	Australia Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron
1967	Newport		4–0	Australia Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron
1964	Newport		4–0	United Kingdom Royal Thames Yacht Club
1962	Newport		4–1	Australia Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron
1958	Newport		4–0	United Kingdom Royal Yacht Squadron
1937	Newport		4–0	United Kingdom Royal Yacht Squadron
1934	Newport		4–2	United Kingdom Royal Yacht Squadron
1930	Newport		4–0	United Kingdom Royal Ulster Yacht Club
1920	New York City		3–2	United Kingdom Royal Ulster Yacht Club
1903	New York City		3–0	United Kingdom Royal Ulster Yacht Club
1901	New York City		3–0	United Kingdom Royal Ulster Yacht Club
1899	New York City		3–0	United Kingdom Royal Ulster Yacht Club
1895	New York City		3–0	United Kingdom Royal Yacht Squadron
1893	New York City		3–0	United Kingdom Royal Yacht Squadron
1887	New York City		2–0	United Kingdom Royal Clyde Yacht Club
1886	New York City		2–0	United Kingdom Royal Northern Yacht Club
1885	New York City		2–0	United Kingdom Royal Yacht Squadron
1881	New York City		2–0	Canada Bay of Quinte Yacht Club
1876	New York City		2–0	Canada Royal Canadian Yacht Club
1871	New York City		4–1	Royal Harwich Yacht Club
1870	New York City		1–0	United Kingdom Royal Thames Yacht Club
1851	Isle of Wight	United Kingdom Royal Yacht Squadron	0–1

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The race of the century – America’s Cup 1983

The action for final race for the America’s Cup in 1983, dubbed ‘the race of the century’ by US skipper Dennis Conner, began well before the race started. Mindful of some starting issues, the Australians called for a lay day after race six to put some practice in. Meanwhile, the US team used this to optimise their yacht Liberty with ballast and sail area changes to make it faster in the expected lighter winds, something the Australians had wished they had thought of too. Racing was abandoned for 24 September due to poor wind, and then the US team called a lay day themselves to do more work on Liberty , further irritating the Australians.

Australia II (KA 6) nicely out in front of Liberty in an earlier race, Sally Samins photographer.

When the gun finally fired on 26 September, two edgy teams, fully aware of the intense interest and outcome, got away to a tame start with Australia II in the slightly better position. Whilst it is always the aim to have the best sails, best design and best crew for maximum boat speed, yacht racing is also about tactical manoeuvres and reading the wind on the course. Choosing when to change direction, called ‘tacking’ upwind or ‘gybing’ downwind under spinnaker, can make significant gains or losses regardless of how good the yacht is.

As the two boats began tacking up the course, Australia II realised they faced a much faster Liberty and had lost some advantage they had previously held in these light shifty conditions. Shifty was a key word – the breeze had small, but important variations in direction and strength, and Liberty was first to gain, edging out ahead by just a couple of boat lengths when it benefitted from a better patch of breeze part way up the leg. They rounded the first mark with this small advantage, kept it on the first reach, and then lost ground on the next leg as Australia II nearly caught up again, showing it could do well under spinnaker on a square run – in hindsight this was a warning of things to come. They were still in the race and niggled away up the next windward leg, but just as Australia II closed on Liberty, another shift in direction and strength went Liberty’s way and they pulled out to almost a minute lead, turning into the next square run.

This was where everything Australia II had done came to the fore. Sensing the breeze was stronger on the left they followed Liberty toward that side, but straight away they could see they were sailing better. The hours of spinnaker testing and crew work had put them ‘in the groove’ and they immediately began to close the gap. Liberty ’s crew got edgy and started to look back at Australia II , loosing concentration which further slowed their yacht. Liberty then gybed to try and cover Australia II , who held their nerve and stayed with the better breeze while Liberty sailed into a lighter patch. Things were now going Australia II ’s way.

All the way down the course Australia II ’s crew held their composure, sailing their boat and not the looking to the other one, except for the tactician. When they did gybe they chose the right moments to take advantage of the small wind changes, while Liberty was losing more ground with additional gybes at the wrong moment, trying the keep in touch with Australia II as it gained on them. Australia II was dictating the tactics now from behind, and eventually they drew parallel, but going both faster and lower, meaning they were covering less ground toward the next mark.

As they closed on the last rounding mark at the bottom of the course, with both boats on opposing gybes the moment came when Australia II passed ahead of Liberty , still sailing faster and in phase with the small wind shifts. Choosing the right timing Australia II gybed down and then back again to the mark, rounding 21 seconds ahead of a horrified US team on Liberty .

Post stamp with two yachts on water and boxing kangaroo in right corner

The crucial moment, captured on a postcard, where Australia II passes ahead of Liberty on the run to the mark. ANMM collection

Liberty ’s crew did not give up for the final windward leg, knowing they had speed to match Australia II upwind and could still regain the lead through a tacking duel. Australia II put a tight cover over Liberty , then went back to a loose cover as they realised they were losing speed in the tacking manoeuvres. Liberty gained, but could not get even and neither team made any mistakes with their crew work despite making well over 40 tacks. Approaching the finish Conner tried one last trick, taking the yachts out to one side, beyond the shortest course to the finish, trying to gain time and maybe a wind shift that would close the gap. In the end it was Australia II that got a slight advantage when they tacked back toward the finish line, still holding a slim lead. Australia II benefitted from a stronger gust and pulled away from Liberty , crossing 41 seconds ahead, and into a permanent place in sporting history.

Post stamp with yacht on water, small boat alongside firing gun

The gun goes and 132 years of US victory in the America’s Cup is ended by Australia II . ANMM Collection

David Payne

David Payne is Curator of Historic Vessels at Australian National Maritime Museum, and through the Australian Register of Historic Vessels he works closely with heritage boat owners throughout Australia researching and advising on their craft and their social connections. David has also been a yacht designer and documented many of the museum’s vessels with extensive drawings. He has had a wide sailing experience, from Lasers and 12-foot skiffs through to long ocean passages. Since 2012 he has been able to work closely with Aboriginal communities on a number of Indigenous canoe building and watercraft projects.

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THE CUP THAT CHANGED EVERYTHING

The considerable advantage that the New York Yacht Club had exerted on the Cup since it first defended with a fleet of yachts on home waters in New York against the railway heir James Ashbury in 1870 was, by the 1960’s, beginning to erode. A memorandum in 1962 had declared that if multiple challenges were received within 30 days of a successful defence that they would be ‘received simultaneously.’ The fact that the Australians and British came to a gentleman’s agreement in 1964 precluded multiple challengers from entering that year and in 1967, despite a non-starting entry from the French, two rather mis-matched Australian boats vied for the challenger slot and only one, Dame Pattie, arrived in Newport.

Furthermore, the NYYC, so long the iron-fisted holder of the Cup and writer of the rules, adopted a stance via a memorandum on January 19 th 1970 that many commentators believe signed the America’s Cup to an inevitable destination – away from the New York Yacht Club. The memorandum clarified the protocol going forward and paved the way for multiple challenges to be accepted. And in 1970, the Cup world was all about to change with the emergence of one of the most colourful men in America’s Cup history – the French manufacturing tycoon Baron Marcel Bich – who kick-started the French involvement in the America’s Cup.

As soon as the 1967 regatta was concluded with the successful defence by Intrepid, no less than four challenges were received by the New York Yacht Club. Australia would be back with a renewed Sir Frank Packer campaign, meanwhile Great Britain and Greece tentatively threw their hat in the ring. But the real eye-catcher was the French who had sat out the 1967 event due to a perceived lack of experience but were busy buying up the 12 Meters (Kurrewa V, Constellation and Sovereign), commissioning Britton Chance for a side-project and setting up camp in Hyeres.

Baron Bic spent a reported $4m, a simply huge sum in 1970, with a commitment to bridging the experience gap to the Americans, Australians and British. He hired in Eric Tabarly, the undoubted star of French sailing whilst also bringing in 5.5 Meter Champion Louis Noverraz, 505 champion Jean-Marie le Guillou and Poppy Delfour one of the country’s top skippers. In Britton Chance he commissioned the American on a one-off basis to build an out-of-class 12 Meter called ‘Chanceggar’ in order to give appointed naval architect André Mauric, the son of a Marsellais cabinetmaker who had designed the fastest Starboat in the world at the time, a baseline of data from a modern 12 Meter. It was money-no-object, as well as being an almost party-scene in Newport with the enigmatic Baron setting up house at one of the grandest mansions on Bellevue Avenue, but acted as a huge boost to France’s participation in the America’s Cup.

Whilst the French were getting immersed in their first campaign, the Australians under Sir Frank Packer had re-grouped and appointed Alan Payne as chief designer. Payne’s long experience by now in the Cup led him down an ever-more scientific path. Tank testing at Sydney University was now a far more technical approach with tools developed under the watchful eye of Payne whilst the introduction of wind tunnel testing on the rig produced some major advances that made the Americans, most notably Olin Stephens, sit up and take notice. Perhaps one of the biggest advances was discovered by Professor Peter Joubert, Payne’s good friend, who spent a day sailing with skipper Jim Hardy and realised that the greatest struggle for a skipper of a 12 Meter was visibility and being able to see both the genoa and the waves. This led to the implementation of the twin wheels that became ubiquitous on 12 Meters thereafter and was notably a feature on the American defender also in 1970. Gretel II as she was named, was everything that the original and much-modified Gretel was not. In the hands of Jim Hardy, this was an Australian challenge that had all the hallmarks of being one of the strongest challengers in Cup history.

The French, however, were the first hurdle for Gretel II to overcome. Baron Bich’s syndicate built their 12 Meter across the border from the Egger Boatyard in Lake Neuchatel in order to meet the strict build nationality restrictions of the Cup, with French labour to Meuric’s lines but at launch, ‘France’ as she was named attracted derisory comments from the American, Britton Chance, who said: “France is a copy of my boat (referring to ‘Chanceggar’ that he had designed privately for Bich) with mistakes; the only changes they made are wrong.”

In the early challenger trials though, France looked a match for Gretel II, and with Louis Noverraz on the helm in a thrilling opening race, led all the way around only to fall into a wind hole on the last leg. Inexplicably, Bich replaced Noverraz on a whim and installed Poppy Delfour for race two which was held in desperately light airs that would have suited Noverraz perfectly being that he had grown-up sailing on the Swiss lakes.

Delfour lost the start and was some 200 yards astern at the top mark but in the fluky conditions, aced the run to the leeward mark and the French were leading before again being overtaken upwind leg. But in a repeat of the first lap, on the final downwind, as the wind shut down completely, Delfour managed to get France ahead again before a shrewd sail change from spinnaker to ultra-light genoa on Gretel II pulled her away, ghost-like, into an unassailable lead. True to form, Delfour was replaced on the spot by Bich in favour of Novarraz, adding to the chaotic shoreside presence that marked France’s first foray into the America’s Cup.

The change had little effect as the third race of the challenger series was held in heavy breeze that topped out at 29 knots and well out of the design range of France, affording the Australians who excelled as sailors in the breeze, a comfortable victory. But more drama was to come from the French following race three with the indomitable Bich sacking both of his helmsmen and then, dressed in a white double-breasted suit, white shirt, yacht club tie and white gloves replete with a white topped yachting cap, stylishly took the helm for the final race with Eric Tabarly beside him as navigator.

Quite why the gallant Baron chose to helm remains a source of speculation with some suggesting that he chose to grasp the story and take the blame of defeat (if there were to be any) and deflect criticism back home from his appointed skippers. Whatever the truth of the matter, Bich’s turn on the helm was somewhat of a ‘Catastrophe!’ as quoted in the French journal La Monde, with France getting lost circling in the Newport fog whilst Gretel II sailed the course and sealed the Challenger slot. France would be back and lessons of a haphazard but ultimately fun campaign that is burnished in the memory of all who witnessed it, were hard learnt.

The New York Yacht Club meanwhile had high hopes pinned on its superstar designer Olin Stephens for a new yacht, ‘Valiant’, that was built to the order of vice commodore Robert McCullough. Britton Chance meanwhile was hired by William Strawbridge to update the all-conquering Intrepid from 1967 and both designers went to work tank-testing at the Stevens Institute in Hoboken. With so much confidence in Stephens, the expectation around Valiant was for another rocket-ship that would move the dial on yacht design once again.

Unfortunately, those hopes were mis-placed. Valiant was a difficult boat to steer and her trail wash was considerable. Stephens later lamented that the small-scale test runs in the tank threw up inconsistent data and highlighted, amongst other things, the design conclusions of the small-scale modelling that led to Charles Morgan’s beautifully adapted but ultimately slow ‘Heritage’ – one of the prettiest 12 Meters ever built. Chance however, had put together a programme with Bill Ficker as helmsman of Intrepid that was un-relentingly precise in its execution with every detail and every modification carefully considered, noted and assessed.

The American trials were a four-way affair with Valiant, Intrepid and Heritage joined by the much-upgraded Weatherly of 1958 with George Hinman on the wheel. In early trials, Valiant and Intrepid shared wins but easily dispatched Heritage. By the end of the first series Valiant was 5-3 up against Intrepid but the New York Yacht Club harboured grave doubts about Valiant’s straight-line speed and headed into the observation trials in July 1970 eyeing the possibility that Intrepid could be, once again, the yacht to defend the America’s Cup.

The NYYC Cruise regatta did little to enhance Valiant’s case after a race where she struggled to beat Heritage and a further race against Intrepid that saw her unable to point anywhere near as high off the line and suffered through manoeuvres. Immediately after the Annual Cruise, all the boats were sent for upgrades – some more dramatic than others with Heritage undergoing reconstructive surgery on her mast, keel and rudder whilst Weatherly tacked on a new mainsail. Intrepid, under the design of Britton Chance, opted to upgrade with wide fairing strips that led from the maximum beam mark all the way back to the rudder to lengthen the waterline.

When racing recommenced, it was what proved to be, a false dawn for Valiant who won the first race by a margin of 42 seconds against Intrepid and then went on to win races against Weatherly and Heritage. Intrepid dispatched the elder boats too in quick succession and it came down to a straight fight between Intrepid and Valiant for the defence slot. Bill Ficker aced the next six races, steering Intrepid to wins of greater and greater margins supported by an afterguard consisting of Steve Van Dyck as tactician and Peter Wilson as navigator who gelled in a variety of conditions and left the New York Yacht Club with no other choice. The 1970 America’s Cup Match would be Intrepid versus the hard-charging Gretel II and Newport was alive to the contest.

The racing certainly didn’t disappoint. Right from the first starting gun, the now established match-racing tactics of circling and trailing were much in evidence. Jim Hardy was fired up for the contest and the first protest flag of the series flew as the two boats bore away on opposite tacks in close quarter. Hardy seized the initiative and trailed hard on the stern of Intrepid and with 30 seconds to go, tacked off on a mis-timed run into the line. Bill Ficker held course on a perfect line and at the gun, Intrepid was at full speed.

It was a lead that she would never relinquish despite the race turning into something of a farce as it proceeded. First, Gretel II wrapped her kite around the forestay before snapping her spinnaker pole on the first hoist before being almost swamped by the wake of the spectator fleet following Intrepid. As the wash trundled down the deck, it flushed oil from the winches and in a dramatic moment, Paul Salmon the foredeck boss, was washed overboard meaning a return to collect him. It took two attempts to get him back onboard. Further calamity struck the Australians on the final leg as a US Destroyer and a Coast Guard crossed her path before the spectator fleet broke the imaginary boundary and entered the racecourse, causing the chop to increase severely. Gretel II finished the race some 5 minutes and 52 seconds astern of Intrepid with both syndicates complaining colourfully to the NYYC Committee Chairman Dev Barker. The Coast Guard was called in for a meeting and promised to do better. They held true to their word for the rest of the series.

Shoreside though, a number of protests were heard relating to the pre-start hunting that Jim Hardy had inflicted on Bill Ficker with many observers believing that the Australians had a very strong case being on starboard and with rights. However, the protest committee were having none of it and as Jim Hardy said afterwards: “We left the protest meeting like little boys who have just been lectured by their schoolmaster.” Two protests were summarily dismissed. The score was 1-0 to Intrepid.

Immediately after the race, Hardy called a meeting with an idea to install Martin Visser as the starting helmsman due to the fact that he had shown more aggressive tactics at close quarters in trial races. Sir Frank Packer and skipper Bill Fesq agreed, and Hardy would resume the helm position once clear of the line. It was a shrewd move by Hardy and in the second race, Visser stuck Gretel II expertly ahead and to leeward on the line in a classic match-race start that caused Intrepid to quickly tack away.

By the top mark, the Australians were in a commanding lead of almost two minutes but after two poor reaching legs found themselves astern at the leeward mark as mild fog crept across the racecourse. Now came a bizarre call from the NYYC Committee that was, it was later found, based on suspicion of outside assistance being accepted by the Australians. The Americans had noted several races in the challenger selection series against France where Gretel II seemed to uncannily be able to position themselves perfectly around the racecourse in fog and suspected that they were receiving course plots externally. The truth is that Bill Fesq had innovatively installed a doubled electronic system, set at right angles, from the UK nautical electronics firm Brookes & Gatehouse that gave an accurate dead-reckoning position, but the suspicion was intense amongst the Americans and the race was dramatically abandoned on the second upwind leg and the suspicions raged for years, decades even, afterwards.

With an increasingly fraught backdrop enveloping the regatta of 1970, the re-run race two was to see a further souring of relations between the Australians and the Americans, centred around a pre-start foul that took aerial photographic evidence to eventually decide. However even before the starting sequence had begun, drama occurred on Intrepid as Steve Van Dyck, the American navigator was bitten by a ‘Yellow Jacket’ wasp and suffered a severe reaction so bad that he had to be taken to a tender and then airlifted by the US Coast Guard to hospital.

With the crew drama resolved, in light airs, and after considerable circling, both boats were coming in on the approaches to the start-line with Gretel II set up for a committee boat start and Intrepid seemingly trapped to windward. In the final seconds, Gretel II sought to shut out the Americans aggressively. However, the timing of Visser was arguably slightly adrift and in the desperately light airs, he struggled to get Gretel II’s momentum through the water enough to make the block. Bill Ficker, Intrepid’s helm spotted the gap emerging before him and with more speed effectively barged in at the committee boat only for Gretel II to respond with a slow luff that saw the two boats come together with the Australian bow glancing Intrepid just behind the shroud plate a few seconds after the starting gun had fired.

What followed was a fascinating light air duel whilst both boats carried protest flags. A 24-tack tacking duel ensued up the first windward leg with Intrepid emerging ahead at the top mark but good sailing downwind by David Forbes who assumed the helm for the offwind legs from Jim Hardy saw the gap close. On the next windward leg, with Hardy back on the helm, Gretel II closed again before handing back to Forbes to work his magic downwind. With a smaller spinnaker set perfectly, Gretel II passed Intrepid and led at the final leeward mark by over 100 yards. Hardy brought Gretel II home after a short tacking duel to score what looked like a fabulous win by 1 minute and 7 seconds, but the race was set to be decided in the protest room.

For all the world, the Australians felt that they had every chance of success in the protest room and still to this day, many of the famous sailors who graced that campaign – including John Bertrand who was the jib trimmer of Gretel II and who went on to win the America’s Cup in 1983 – felt that Intrepid had barged in and had no rights. The protest committee however, received first a detailed explanation from Bill Ficker, an architect by profession, who presented not only precise prose outlining the American viewpoint but explicit and detailed drawings of the situation. Ficker’s presentation was ultimately amplified by the emergence of photographic evidence in the form of a series of stills that even showed the smoke emanating from the starting canon and the protest committee’s decision was swayed.

In effect what it boiled down to was an interpretation of when Gretel II was obliged to give room to Intrepid. Ficker argued that Rule 42.1 (e) of “not sailing past close-hauled after the starting gun and before the line,” had been violated by the Australians and after much deliberation, and with all the evidence presented, the committee agreed. It was 2-0 to the Americans and Sir Frank Packer was incandescent, calling for an immediate re-opening of the case and re-instatement of Gretel II’s win. It fell on deaf ears and a short response was issued by Devereux Barker III, Chairman of the Protest Committee, citing no new evidence being presented and therefore no reason to re-open the case.

The Australians remained furious at the decision but recognising that they not only had to win against a yacht but also against a hometown protest committee (despite the presence on the committee of a non NYYC member in Gregg Bemis), Jim Hardy re-assumed the helm for race three to quieten down the aggressive starting practices of Visser. It proved to be a mistake as Ficker seized the advantage in the pre-start and then pushed Gretel II over the line early. Whilst both boats were over, Intrepid was in a better position to duck away and come back onto the wind with even more speed. With Hardy having to duck right away, Intrepid was off to the races and in a choppy sea was never headed but never really extended. The final delta proved to be almost the time that the Australians had lost at the start – 1 minute and 18 seconds. It was 3-0 to the Americans and match point.

What race three had shown however, was that Gretel II was a match for Intrepid in anything under the mid-range conditions and the Australians, with an afterguard of stellar sailors, was a match for the Americans. Newport denizens and seasoned American commentators were still uncomfortable about the destiny of the America’s Cup and their worst fears were confirmed in race four.

On an atypical Newport day with the wind clocking and backing through a 15-degree arc, Bill Ficker took the decision to try and close out the regatta through a run-and-hide strategy, refusing to engage with the Australians and only mildly responding to a tacking duel once ahead. The American skippers’ tactic though was found out rather cruelly on the final leg, in a rapidly dying breeze, and with a lead of over a minute as a 90-degree shift filtered across the course, favouring the Australians who had spent the race closing the gap down to just 100 yards and who now seized the lead for a fraught final leg to the committee boat finish line. Despite rolling the dice with a clever positional move, the shift never came back for Intrepid, and the Americans were beaten by 1 minute and 2 seconds. It was Sir Frank Packer’s second clean victory in the America’s Cup and a cause for much celebration in Newport that night.

The repercussions though of the race two disqualification sat uneasily on Jim Hardy’s mind and following consultation with the likes of the designer Bruce Kirby and the established authority on yacht racing rules, Gerald Sambrooke-Sturgess in London, Hardy convinced Sir Frank Packer to try and re-open the case on appeal. It was shut down curtly by the New York Yacht Club once again and the boats emerged on the 28 th September 1970 for what would prove to be a thrilling final race of the series.

Race five was held in a shifting, light northerly airflow, conditions well-suited to the Australian design of Alan Payne that was regarded as a faster boat in the lower ranges. Jim Hardy won the start convincingly and, with pace, quickly stretched into a commanding lead of some 200 yards. With no other option, Intrepid had to try and force an error and instigated a tacking duel with Bill Ficker in phase with the shifts to such a degree that he reeled the Australians back at an alarming pace. In the final approaches to the top mark, the Americans seized the lead, powering over the top of Gretel II as she attempted a lee-bow position to leeward and perfectly on the layline. It was the slam-dunk move that forced the Australians to put in a short two-tacks to get round the mark and handed Intrepid a 150-yard lead down the two reaches.

The second upwind leg was a thriller however, with a big windshift that briefly put the Australians ahead before abating and coming back to Intrepid. The gap had narrowed to just 100 yards by the second windward mark and was further narrowed down the final run with Gretel II closing to within 30 yards but as the boats came into the last leeward mark, a persistent windshift filtered across the Newport racecourse turning the beat to the finish into a fetch and Intrepid maintained station to record a 4-1 series victory.

Australia were left smarting about ‘what could have been’ and in Gretel II they knew that they had the boat to beat the Americans in typical Newport conditions. Intrepid was victorious due to its remarkable skipper in Bill Ficker, enhanced by a crew that was drilled to military standards, and supported by key decisions going their way.

From the outside it was an easy, and almost certainly false, suggestion to make that the New York Yacht Club was in some way biased but Sir Frank Packer left a memorable quote that stayed long after the 1970 series: “Protesting to the New York Yacht Club is like complaining to your mother-in-law about your wife.”

Yachting World
Digital Edition

How the schooner America started the America’s Cup, and the mystery she left behind

January 15, 2017

Adrian Morgan admires the great gamble – and the gambler's luck – that won the £100 Cup – the race that became the first event in the America's Cup.

But to historians of the America’s Cup it was a tragedy, for the shed was the final resting place of America , a low, black schooner whose legacy has inspired controversy ever since. Nearly 75 years after one of the world’s most celebrated yachts was crushed beneath tons of corrugated iron and snow, the myth of her invincibility still endures.

America was commissioned by a syndicate headed by Commodore John Cox Stevens of the New York Yacht Club specifically to take up a challenge proffered by Lord Wilton, of Grosvenor Square, London, commodore of the Royal Yacht Squadron, in a letter dated 22 February, 1851, the year of the Great Exhibition.

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The price agreed for her building was high – $30,000 – but extraordinary conditions were written into the contract. If she did not prove to be the fastest vessel in the United States the syndicate could refuse her. Moreover, if she were to prove unsuccessful in England, her builders would be obliged to take her back. Stevens, a wealthy man and notorious gambler, was taking no chances – he meant to cover his bets either way.

She was a gamble even on the drawing board, her underwater shape influenced by Englishman John Scott Russell’s Wave Line theory, which aimed to produce a hull that offered least resistance to the water, concave bows replacing the rounded bows of the era.

She was rigged with flat-cut, machine-woven cotton sails. By contrast, most boats of the era set fuller, looser-footed flax sails, which needed dousing with water to make the luff set tight and hard. One observer described how from directly upwind of the yacht America , the width of the mast could conceal the entire mainsail: ‘not a particle of it was visible; there was no belly, and the gaff was exactly parallel with the boom.’

Her launch date was set for 1 April, but it was 18 June before she was finally ready to sail for England. In the meantime the astute Stevens had driven the price down to $20,000 after inconclusive trials against his own fully tuned-up 97ft sloop Maria .

A legend is born

During the course of her Atlantic crossing, James Steers, older brother of her builder, George, was impressed with America as she recorded several daily runs of 200 miles and one of 284. A week or so after setting sail from Sandy Hook, Connecticut, he wrote: ‘She is the best sea boat that ever went out of the Hook.’

Inside the Royal Yacht Squadron – we get a rare view of this most exclusive club

After a 20-day passage, the 13-strong crew arrived off Le Havre, where, on first sight, the harbour master reportedly described the black schooner as ‘a wonder’. America spent three weeks refitting, having her masts restepped and her racing canvas carefully bent on, after which Stevens, who had taken the steamer to Le Havre, and his race crew sailed for Cowes.

The crack British cutter Laverock found the much-heralded America early on the morning of 1 August anchored in the Solent, near Cowes, and an informal race was arranged immediately. Stevens described the meeting at a dinner given in his honour at Astor House later that year: ‘We let her go about 200 yards, and then started in her wake . . . Not a sound was heard, save perhaps the beating of our anxious hearts . . . The men were motionless as statues . . . The Captain was crouched down upon the floor of the cockpit, his seemingly unconscious hand upon the tiller…’

Seven miles later, America had, allegedly, worked out a handy lead and the myth of her prowess gathered increased momentum. ‘The crisis was past, and some dozen of deep-drawn sighs proved that the agony was over,’ he added. News of her informal ‘victory’ spread like wildfire.

The story of the Laverock race is often given as the first evidence of America ’s invincibility and, indeed, those who might ordinarily have engaged in a little flutter over the Yankee schooner shied away. In those days huge sums were wagered on yacht racing. In one 224-mile Channel race some £50,000 changed hands.

However, the report in the weekly sporting paper Bell’s Life , on 3 August stated that Laverock ‘held her own’ and pointed out that she was towing her longboat. Despite being a proven sea boat, America had failed to impress against the Maria and now, according to some reports, against the Laverock . Stevens himself may well have been worried about his yacht’s performance, for when he did challenge the Squadron it was to be a schooners-only race, no handicaps, over an offshore course and in over six knots of wind. There were no takers.

He then made it known that he was willing to race anyone, but the stake was to be an outrageous 10,000 guineas, more than double the cost of her building. Not surprisingly there was again no response.

For two weeks America lay at Cowes, sails furled. Hopes of a race with Joseph Weld’s Alarm , for a purse of $5,000, came to naught and the British press, sensing a good story, were scathing. The Times wrote: ‘The effect produced by her apparition off West Cowes among yachtsmen seems to have been completely paralysing . . . It could not be imagined that the English would allow an illustrious stranger to boast that he has flung down the gauntlet to England and had been unable to find a taker.’’

Eventually George Robert Stephenson, son of the railway engineer, offered to race his unremarkable 100-ton Titania over a 20-mile windward-leeward course for £100. The date was fixed for 28 August, but he was upstaged by the Royal Yacht Squadron, which, stung by the criticism in the press, finally took the plunge. The race, 53 miles around the Isle of Wight, was scheduled for 22 August and the prize was to be a 27-inch cup made of 134 ounces of silver, worth £100 (some say guineas), paid for by the membership.

On the morning of the race, a south-westerly wind prevailed, aided by a strengthening east-going tide. Betting was heavily in favour of the Yankee schooner.

After a poor start, America lay 5th behind Beatrice , Aurora , Volante and Arrow at No Man’s Buoy and needed to make up ground. Opinions differ over what happened next, but what is known for sure is that America ’s local pilot, Mr Underwood, set the black schooner on a fast reach, close inshore, for Bembridge Ledge, missing out the Nab light vessel located to the east of Bembridge. There had been nothing in the rules of the race about leaving the light vessel to starboard.

One historian, A.E. Reynolds Brown, in a slim pamphlet entitled The Phoney Fame of the Yacht America and the America Cup , published in 1980, states that all the yachts except America headed for the Nab light vessel, permitting the Yankee crew to jump into a big lead, more than an hour ahead of the fleet. This version is hotly disputed, however, with others claiming that as many as six other competitors also cut inside the Nab.

From Bembridge to St Catherine’s the fleet was hard on the wind, bucking a strong tide. At Sandown, the 62ft cutter, Wildfire was level, though ineligible for the race as she used moveable ballast. At Dunnose, according to America ’s log, the 57ft cutter, Aurora may also have caught up.

At this point in the race, America ’s two greatest threats, Mr Joseph Weld’s 193-ton cutter Alarm and Mr Chamberlayne’s 84-ton cutter Arrow retired early, the former going to the help of the latter, hard aground off Ventnor. Then Volante and Freak collided off the same point (one account even puts these two ahead of the America when the collision occurred), which left Aurora as the only first class yacht still racing.

At St Catherine’s lighthouse, the most southerly point of the island, Wildfire , according to The Times , was three miles ahead of the fleet and was not overhauled until Freshwater Bay. Observers at St Catherine’s had timed Aurora just ten minutes astern at that point with Wildfire leading America by 14 minutes.

At the Needles, one famous account reads: ‘For an hour after America passed the Needles we kept the Channel in view and there was no appearance of a second yacht’. Yet by the time America finished off Cowes, Aurora was just eight minutes behind. What no one mentioned was that Wildfire with her gang below decks shifting two or three tons of ballast after each tack, may well have beaten them all, however, her finishing time was not officially recorded.

Into the history books

Following America ’s victory Stevens made no strenuous effort to seek further competition, crying off on several occasions with various excuses. He must have been relieved that the one match he could not duck, a friendly match with Titania , was against a schooner regarded by all expert opinion as being out of her league.

Stevens was keen to sell her, but there was no rush to buy at his inflated price. When a gullible punter appeared in the shape of 39-year-old army officer John de Blaquiere, fourth Baron of Ardkill, a man with little sailing experience, Stevens could not believe his luck. He took the money – £5,000 – and ran. After taking all expenses into account, Stevens had made a modest profit on his adventure. America had emerged from her ordeal with her reputation intact, though hardly tested.

In 1852 she raced for the Queen’s Cup and was beaten by Mosquito , a 60ft cutter built in 1848. Alarm and Arrow were to do the same. In her last race under Blaquiere’s ownership she trounced Sverige , built expressly to challenge her, but only after the Swedish schooner, leading by nine minutes after 20 miles, carried away her main gaff.

Blaquiere sold her in 1853 and by 1861 she was owned by a Mr Decie and renamed Camilla , having undergone repairs for rotting timbers and had her masts cropped. At Cowes that year she was beaten by the 20-year-old Alarm , lengthened and newly converted to schooner rig. She then won a race off Plymouth, and sailed to the West Indies.

A year later, under the name Memphis , she appeared under the Confederate flag in Savannah as a blockade-runner, then in April 1862 the US gunboat Ottawa discovered her scuttled in St John’s River, her hull full of augur holes. She was refloated and handed over to the Annapolis Naval Academy.

Six years later, crewed by midshipmen from the Academy, she was among the fleet of the America’s Cup’s first defenders, finishing fourth, in front of James Ashbury’s Cambria . In 1876 she finished 19 minutes ahead of a hopelessly outclassed Canadian challenger.

Her last appearance on a course that bore her name was during the Vigilant/Valkyrie matches in 1893 when she took a party of sightseers to watch the action off Sandy Hook. She lay in Boston Harbour from 1900 until 1916 and in 1920 very nearly ended up as a Portuguese trader in the Cape Verde Islands.

By the late 1930s, as the clouds of war were gathering, she was appreciated as a national treasure and efforts were made to raise the funds to restore her. They failed and on the night of 28 March, 1942, she was lost to the elements forever.

1. Introduction

INEOS Britannia dream start to Louis Vuitton Cup with race win over NYYC American Magic

AC37 LV Selection Day 1 American Magic and Ineos

INEOS Britannia kicked off the Louis Vuitton Cup, Challenger Selection Series with a win against its oldest rivals, the New York Yacht Club American Magic.

With things not all going Ben Ainslie’s way in the recent preliminary event, he finally got a break . . .

With the pre-start held in a patchy 5-8 knots of easterly wind it was a high-pressure opener.

INEOS Britannia came away with a precious point on the board after American Magic dropped off the foils just after gybing back to enter the starting box.

In the light breeze the Americans struggled to get the boat foiling again, only succeeding after the start gun had gone.

They also received a penalty for being overthe start line early, which meant they had to gybe back and re-start, by then the British boat was away and 700m ahead.

The advantage to Ainslie and his crew was just over a minute at the first gate. A lap later it was 59 secs, but the Americans came back into it on both of the next two downwind legs, riding the puffs.

By the start of the last upwind leg there was a 15 degree wind shift and American Magic was closing the gap. Cutting the 40sec lead, some 360m, to 14sec at the finish and just 80 metres.

After dream start, with some help, Skipper Ben Ainslie commented:

“It’s great to get a point on the board on the first day of racing, but the Americans did a good job getting back in the race after that start so we will definitely be looking at how we allowed them to close that gap and how we can improve on that.”

“The team worked really hard to keep the boat flying in those tricky conditions and to also stay focused despite us having the lead. As always in the America’s Cup, you’re never comfortable until you cross that finish line first.”

Elsewhere, Orient Express Racing Team (FRA) won their opening race against Alinghi Red Bull Racing (SUI) after an aggressive starting strategy got them the left-hand end of the line.

It was the right choice, and they were ahead when the boats came back together for the first time. The French team, who were considered the underdogs of the event, extended from there to take the point.

The race between Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli (ITA) and Emirates Team New Zealand was just for bragging rights as the Defender’s races do not count. The Kiwis took the win but required a dramatic third leg passing move to do it.

Later Luna Rossa took a straight-forward 84 sec win over Orient Express, who had a mainsail control problem at one point.

The Round Robins continue Friday from 13:00 BST (14:00 CEST). INEOS Britannia faces Defender Emirates Team New Zealand in a non-scoring match.

Loïs Berrehar (Macif 2022) has won the first leg of the Solitaire du Figaro Paprec

Etnz ac75 ‘taihoro’ dropped from crane - will not be sailing friday.

IMAGES

America’s Cup win
Australia. Fremantle. America's Cup Yacht Race. 1986. Aerial view of
America’s Cup win
Was the 1983 America's Cup win Australia's greatest ever sporting
Australia. Fremantle. America's Cup Yacht Race. 1986. Aerial view of
Australia. Fremantle. America's Cup Yacht Race. 1986. Aerial rear view

VIDEO

📝 The End of Two Boat Testing?
New AC75 Race Boat is Revealed
ORACLE TEAM USA
The Cup's Most Radical Hulls Arrive: what should we expect?
A Yacht Race That Changed History Forever
America's Cup: Two Boat Demo by Oracle Team USA, June 26 2013

COMMENTS

1983 America's Cup
The 1983 America's Cup was a 12-metre class yacht racing series which pitted the defending New York Yacht Club 's Liberty against the Royal Perth Yacht Club 's challenger, Australia II. The September 1983 series of match races was won by Australia II, with four race wins to three, in the first successful challenge of the New York Yacht Club 's ...
As Bob Hawke celebrated America's Cup win, an Australian 'spy' was
The New York Yacht Club won the first America's Cup in 1851. ... had defied sudden death by taking the last three races to win. ... the only time Australia has actually won the America's Cup. In a ...
Australia II, 1983 winner of the America's Cup
The yacht is heeled to approximately 9 degrees as it approaches the mark, to begin the final leg to the finish. During the final windward beat Australia II tacked many times to defend their precious lead. At 5.21pm the yacht crossed the line to win the America's Cup. Maritime history boats and watercraft Tin Canoe to Australia II Gallery
America's Cup win
1983: Australia II wins the America's Cup. At 5.21pm on 26 September 1983, off the coast of Rhode Island, the yacht Australia II crossed the finish line to win the America's Cup. In the best of seven races, Australia II was 1-3 down after the first four races. In the final race Australia came from behind to win 4-3.
Looking back: The 1983 America's Cup win
"I'LL TELL YOU what: any boss who sacks a worker for not turning up today is a bum." Australians tend to remember these words fondly coming from the mouth of then prime minister Bob Hawke after Australia II won the America's Cup yacht race, breaking a 132-year winning streak for the USA. "In many ways, really, he gave people permission to celebrate," explains John Bertrand, who ...
America's Cup
America's Cup, one of the oldest and best-known trophies in international sailing yacht competition. It was first offered as the Hundred Guinea Cup on August 20, 1851, by the Royal Yacht Squadron of Great Britain for a race around the Isle of Wight. The cup was won by the America, a 100-foot (30-metre) schooner from New York City, and ...
Australia II and the 1983 America's Cup Victory
40 years ago, Australia II won the America's Cup, ending the New York Yacht Club's 132-year winning streak and captivating the nation.#sailing #yachting #sp...
1983 America's Cup: a moment in history
1983 America's Cup: a moment in history. The crew of America's Cup yacht Australia II cheer. (Larry Moran, Chicago) This year marks the 30th anniversary of Australia winning the America's Cup ...
Bob Hawke, Alan Bond and Ben Lexcen were key players in Australia II's
But when Australia II began to dominate the trial races to choose a contender for the 1983 America's Cup, the scions of the NYYC were determined to do everything in their power to win.
AUSTRALIA II, the winged keel and more
Australia II has become one of the nation's most recognisable vessels, thanks to that extraordinary America's Cup win in 1983. Almost everyone knows about its winged keel that seemed to make it unbeatable. The keel completely spooked the Americans who tried many moves off the water to avoid having to race against Australia II.However there was much more to the boat than just that keel ...
New Documentary About Historic 1983 America's Cup To Debut ...
NEWPORT- 1983 : Australia II wins the America's Cup (Photo by GettyImages/Getty Images) I remember exactly what I was doing when Dennis Conner and the New York Yacht Club lost the America's Cup ...
Show us the Keel
Show us the Keel: Winning the America's Cup in 1983. Australia II has become one of the nation's most recognisable vessels, thanks to that extraordinary America's Cup win in 1983. Almost everyone knows about its upside-down winged keel designed by Australian Ben Lexcen that was unbeatable that year. In May 1981 Ben Lexcen sent this ...
America's Cup Winner's List
From 1851 to 1983, the USA won the America's Cup. After that, Australia, New Zealand, and Switzerland have been sharing the crown. Home > Events > Sailing > America's Cup > Winners. ... Australia Royal Perth Yacht Club: 1980: Newport: United States New York Yacht Club: 4-1: Australia Royal Perth Yacht Club: 1977: Newport: United States New ...
America's Cup
The America's Cup is the oldest competition in international sport, and the fourth oldest continuous sporting trophy of any kind. [8] [better source needed] The cup itself was manufactured in 1848 and first called the "RYS £100 Cup".It was first raced for on 22 August 1851 around the Isle of Wight off Southampton and Portsmouth in Hampshire, England, in a fleet race between the New York Yacht ...
THE CUP THAT CHANGED EVERYTHING
With no passing lanes, Conner was beaten and although the finishing margin shortened to 3 minutes 25 seconds, it was a resounding win for Australia II and for the first time in the event's history, the America's Cup would go to a deciding seventh race. It was 3-3, the hand of history was on the shoulder of the Australians, and they knew it.
1987 America's Cup
The 1983 America's Cup off Newport, Rhode Island was the most significant America's Cup regatta since the first event off the Isle of Wight. Alan Bond's Australia II pulled off a major upset by winning the series from Conner's Liberty to become the first success in twenty-five challenges for the Cup. The New York Yacht Club had previously built the longest winning streak in international ...
America's Cup 1983
The action for final race for the America's Cup in 1983, dubbed 'the race of the century' by US skipper Dennis Conner, began well before the race started. Mindful of some starting issues, the Australians called for a lay day after race six to put some practice in. Meanwhile, the US team used this to optimise their yacht Liberty with ...
FREEMANTLE PUTS IT ON
The dust took a very long time to settle on the against-all-odds win by Australia II in 1983. A White House reception was hosted by President Ronald Reagan before the Americans finally relinquished a trophy that had been under the custodianship of the New York Yacht Club for 132 years. As Reagan's magnanimous speech ended, he uttered the rousing words: "But I have one final piece of advice ...
THE MIGHT OF COURAGEOUS
The winning margin was an astonishing 7 minutes and 19 seconds - the final nail in the Australian's ambitions and kick-started a huge party in Newport that evening with the America's Cup safely in West 44 th Street at the New York Yacht Club. The late, great America's Cup historian and broadsheet journalist, Bob Fisher, wrote in the ...
History of the America's Cup
1851. On August 22, the New York Yacht Club's schooner America wins a 53-mile race around England's Isle of Wight organized by the Royal Yacht Squadron. It is awarded a "100 Guinea Cup" or "Queen's Cup," as it was variously known. Later the trophy comes to be known as the "America's Cup," in honor of the schooner that won it.
'The America's Cup has always been pushing boundaries'
The 1851 event was actually the £100 Cup. The first America's Cup race was in 1870, 19 years later in New York and was a 40-mile race starting from Staten Island and heading out to the light ...
History of the America's Cup
The America's Cup is the oldest competition in international sport, and the fourth oldest continuous sporting trophy of any kind. [7] The cup itself was manufactured in 1848 and first called the "RYS £100 Cup". It was first raced for on 22 August 1851 around the Isle of Wight off Southampton and Portsmouth in Hampshire, England, in a fleet race between the New York Yacht Club's America and 15 ...
New Zealand's Thrilling Win Gets the America's Cup Off to a Rip-Roaring
The 2021 America's Cup Defenders start off the 2024 series with a big win. Last week's round-robins gave a glimpse of how the next races could unfold as the five Challenger teams compete ...
THE CUP THAT CHANGED EVERYTHING
The considerable advantage that the New York Yacht Club had exerted on the Cup since it first defended with a fleet of yachts on home waters in New York against the railway heir James Ashbury in 1870 was, by the 1960's, beginning to erode. A memorandum in 1962 had declared that if multiple challenges were received within 30 days of a successful defence that they would be 'received ...
How the schooner America won the first America's Cup
Adrian Morgan admires the great gamble - and the gambler's luck - that won the £100 Cup - the race that became the first event in the America's Cup. On 28 March, 1942, an unusually heavy ...
America's Cup: When is it, who competes and everything you need to know
The 37th America's Cup is about to get underway, with the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron aiming to defend the title they won four years ago in Auckland.. They will face determined challengers, though, as all eyes turn towards the most prestigious sailing competition and one of the world's oldest sporting events.. Here is everything you need to know before things begin.
America's Cup sets sail in Barcelona with New Zealand defending the
1 of 12 | . NYYC American Magic's AC75, left, and Luna Rosa Prada Pirelli Team's AC75 boat sail during America's Cup Preliminary Regatta ahead of the 37th America's Cup sailing race at the Barcelona's coast, Spain, Friday, Aug. 23, 2024.
INEOS Britannia dream start to Louis Vuitton Cup with race win over
Sailweb Sailing and yacht racing news, results, editorial and quality commentary. Including Olympic, SailGP, Club, One design circuit, offshore, Americas cup, and beginners Dinghy, Keelboat, classic and vintage, and kite boarding and windsurfing ... INEOS Britannia dream start to Louis Vuitton Cup with race win over NYYC American Magic Sailweb ...