AmericaNew York Yacht Club, USA, Edition 0(1851)
Designer : George Steers of Great Neck
Builder : William H. Brown
- 1851, Winner of the One Hundred Guinea Cup, August 22nd 1851, defeating 14 British yachts round the Isle of Wight, in a fleet race organized by the Royal Yacht Squadron. |
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At 1700 we drove down (from Osborne Castle) with the ladies and gentlemen to the pier, where we got into the barge and then boarded the America, which had been brought round so that we might see her. She is extremely pretty...So wrote Queen Victoria about the evening of August 23rd, 1851, in her personal diary. The America was indeed beautiful, and so fast that the previous day it had defeated 14 yachts from the Royal Yacht Squadron - the best the British could offer.
America which was modeled on the state-of-the-art pilot ships of New York astonished people from the moment she arrived in Europe. Her reversed bow, like a Clipper-ship, her tin plating, and her sails of vertical layers of cotton, laced to the masts, had never been seen before.
Her performance that summer would influence British yacht design for well over 25-years. It was true then as it is today - the America's Cup is an inspiration for designers, builders and sailors, and an opportunity for innovation and excellence like no other.
The America remains a myth. After many problems, she would compete again in 1870, the first 'America's Cup', and the last fleet race in the history of the competition until the Louis Vuitton Acts of the 32nd America's Cup. America would finish in fourth place in 1870, behind Magic, a future Cup winner, but ahead of Cambria, the British Challenger for James Ashbury (which finished eighth).
In 1873, America would become the property of General Benjamin F. Butler, a civil war veteran. He would transform her to the point that, 20 years on, her silhouette would be nothing like the one that made her so famous. The last race for America would be against the schooner Corona on July 27th in 1901. For the following 40 years America would drift from shipyard to shipyard. In March, 1942, a snowstorm would collapse the shed that was sheltering her, and the scraps of wood would later be burned. In 2001, on the 150th anniversary of that first race around the Isle of Wight, a replica of America was on hand, still startling in its beauty and design.
J.T.
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Year of building
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3/5/1851 |
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Launched
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Edition 0(1851)
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Crew
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14 |
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Hull
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Wood |
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Mast
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Wood |
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L.O.A
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30.85 |
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L.W.L
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27.39 |
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Mast
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Beam
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Boom
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6.95 |
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Sail Area
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Displacament
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170 |
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Draft
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Rating
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Ballast
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