America's Cup Jubilee Preview

Everything from racing schedules to social extravaganzas for next week

Intrepid
1967, 1970 Defender

Designer: Olin J. Stephens (modified by Britton Chance for '70)
Builder: Minnefords Yacht Yard
12 Metre class
Sail no: USA-22
LOA: 64 ft 3 in / 19.5 m
LWL: 48 ft 4 in / 14.7 m
Draft: 9 ft 4 in / 2.8 m
Sail area: 1,720 ft2 / 524.2 m2
Launched: 1967

Intrepid was only the second boat to successfully defended the America's Cup twice, in the hands of Bus Mosbacher in '67, and Bill Ficker in 70, defeating Australia boats Dame Pattie ('67) and Gretel II ('70)

This was a breakthrough boat from the ever fertile brain of Olin Stephens, the second time he had been involved in a design that was a significant step forwards, his first being the J class Ranger in 1937.

Intrepid was the first 12 Metre class boat to have the rudder separated from the keel, and she also had an arrangement, whereby the rudder and trim tab could be controlled independently, or linked to move together.

There was also innovation in both the positioning and operation of the winch system, with the big winch drums being below deck level, and for the first time, able to be linked so that four crew could operate the grinders simultaneously.

With the winches below decks, the rig was designed with a deck-sweeping boom, and only five men could be seen when racing, the helmsman, tactician, navigator and two sail trimmers.

In 1967 Bus Mosbacher inflicted a 4 - 0 defeat on Jock Sturrock, at the helm of Dame Pattie, a boat that would have been competitive by any former benchmark.

For the 1970 series, Intrepid underwent some modifications under the instructions of Britton Chance, and with Bill Ficker at the helm, beat Gretel II steered by Sir James Hardy.

Freedon
1980 Defender

Designer: Olin J. Stephens
Builder:
12 Metre class
Sail no: USA-30
LOA: 63 ft 2 in / 19.2 m
LWL: 45 ft 8 in / 13.9 m
Draft: 8 ft 6 in / 2.6 m
Sail area: 1,800 ft2 / 548.6 m2
Launched: 1980

This was the last Olin Stephens designed boat to sail in a Cup match, and was the boat with which Dennis Conner successfully defended the Cup off Newport, Rhode Island, in 1980.

There was doubt as to whether Freedom was faster than the challenger, the Ben Lexcen designed Australia, which was being used as the challenger for the second time.

However, Dennis Conner's skills as a sailor, leader and motivator more than made up for any deficit in the boats performance, and he only lost one race to Alan Bond's team, taking the match 4 - 1.

Freedom, now owned by Ernest Jacquet, has had a major refit, and was relaunched in early July in Newport, and will be representing the New York Yacht Club at the Jubilee

Australia II
1983 Challenger

Designer: Ben Lexcen
Builder: S.E. Ward
12 Metre class
Sail no: KA-6
LOA: 63 ft / 19.2 m
LWL: 43 ft / 13.1 m
Draft: 8 ft 6 in / 2.6 m
Sail area: 1,830 ft2 / 557.7 m2
Launched: 1983

Australia II was the winged keeled wonder, that was the first boat to take the Cup away from the New York Yacht Club, and started a whole new trend in keel design, the boat came from the fertile and eccentric brain of Ben Lexcen, a self taught designer from the Australian bush.

Though not the first yacht ever to have wings on its keel, Australia II was certainly the one that bought the advantages of a winged keel into the public consciousness.

However, while it was the radical keel that caught the public's imagination, the rig and sails probably contributed as much, to that historic victory off Newport, Rhode Island.

The man responsible for Australia II's powerhouse was New Zealand sailmaker Tom Schnackenberg of North Sails, who was making his Cup debut in '83, but now heads Team New Zealand.

Any boat as radical in design as Australia II was bound to attract controversy, and it certainly did that, and the more races it won during the Louis Vuitton Cup of '83, the more it's legality was challenged.

As soon as the New York Yacht Club sensed that they may be in danger of losing the Cup, they first attacked the method of measuring the boat, saying it did not conform to the 12 Metre rule.

When this failed, they tried to prove that Peter van Oossenen, who ran the test tank in Holland where Lexcen had done his research, had designed the boat, not Ben Lexcen.

Australia II has spent the last few years in the National Maritime Museum, at Sydney's Darling Harbour, but was recently returned to Fremantle, where a new Western Australian Maritime Museum is being built to house her.

This historic boat is on loan from the museum for the Jubilee celebrations in Cowes, and will be sailed by most of her original crew.


Kookaburra III
1987 Defender

Designer: John Swarbrick & Iain Murray
Builder: Parry Boatbuilders
12 Metre class
Sail no: KA-15
LOA: 66 ft / 20.1 m
LWL: 45 ft / 13.7 m
Draft: 8 ft 9 in / 2.7 m
Sail area: 1,750 ft2 / 533.3 m2
Launched: 1986

Three boat of this name were built by Kevin Parry for the first and only Australian defence of the America's Cup, all with identical gold paint, it was difficult to tell which was which during the build up to the Cup, and the defender trials.

Iain Murray, who was until then best known for designing and sailing successful 18 Foot Skiffs on Sydney harbour, co-designed these boats with Western Australian designer John Swarbrick.

The Kookaburra team, financed by Western Australian furniture store owner Kevin Parry, set up their own in-house boat building unit to build and modify their boats.

While most of the other defence contenders had raced against the challengers during the 12 Metre World Championships off Fremantle, a year before the Cup, the Kookaburras remained aloof, so little was known about their relative performance before they started the defender trials.

Iain Murray and Peter Gilmour, with a mostly young and inexperienced crew, went on to beat Alan Bond's Australia IV for the right to defend the Cup for the Royal Perth Yacht Club.

Kookaburra faced Dennis Conner's Stars & Stripes on the waters of Gage Roads, off Fremantle, in the Cup match of '87, but was outclassed by the Americans, who won in four straight races.

Iain Murray and Peter Gilmour then bought two of the three Kookaburras, and took them to Sydney, where they were used for a number of showcase events in which such well known names as Dennis Conner and Rod Davis competed.

Both boats are still used on Sydney Harbour for corporate team training, and are available for charter.

See page 1 for information about the racing...
See pages 2,3, and 4 for boats to watch out for...
See pages 5,6, and 7 for people to watch out for...