BRITANNIA RULES THE WAVES AND AMERICA WAIVES THE RULES

With the Great Depression biting across the globe, thoughts of building large, technically advanced yachts for the upper-class pursuit of yachting were not high in the minds of owners on both sides of the Atlantic. As austere times ensued, the call for smaller racing yachts was being heard by the New York Yacht Club who initiated an international competition for the growing 12-Metre class that it was thought could well all but kill off the J-Class with its huge demands on money and resources – particularly in light of the recent money-no-object campaigns of the likes of Vanderbilt and Lipton.

But over in England, a significant passing of the patriarchal baton was well underway with the emergence on the yachting scene of Thomas Octave Murdoch Sopwith, an aviation entrepreneur who had been bankrupted by punitive anti-profiteering taxes post the First World War but had re-entered the business as Chairman of Hawker Aviation in 1920 and went on to create some of the most iconic and commercially successful planes in the world.

Sopwith’s eye for innovation and a determination to apply the learnings of his aviation business into the science of America’s Cup race boats led to a swift purchase of Shamrock V from the estate of Sir Thomas Lipton and the retention of Charles Nicholson as principal designer for a new J-Class commission. Furthermore, Sopwith secured the talents of Frank J. Murdoch, one of England’s finest engineers who was subsequently described as a “genius and a gentleman” in the Herreshoff Marine Museum archives, to raise the technological approach of what would become England’s finest challenger for the America’s Cup.

The commissioning and build process for the Endeavour programme begin in earnest at the Camper & Nicholson boatyard in Gosport in 1933 when the formal challenge was issued by the Royal Yacht Squadron in Cowes on behalf of Thomas Sopwith (he wasn’t Knighted until much later in 1953) to the New York Yacht Club. Harold Vanderbilt, aware of moves afoot in England, in particular the follow-on design from Shamrock V from the design board of Charles Nicholson in the yacht ‘Velsheda,’ had already commissioned Starling Burgess to work up plans should the inevitable challenge arrive.

When it did, the Americans were at full tilt after a lengthy tank-testing programme at Ann Arbor in Michigan that produced the lines for Rainbow – a full two feet longer on the waterline and six feet longer overall than the prior defender, Enterprise. New class rules had come into effect in the J-Class which eliminated below-deck winches and demanded certain standards of accommodation but alongside the commissioning of the new Rainbow, the Morgan family’s yacht Weetamoe and the heavily modified Yankee, that was shortened and slimmed around the mid-point in a remarkable Herreshoff transformation quite unheard of at the time, were to contest the slot for the defence of the America’s Cup and secure the nomination of the New York Yacht Club.

Of note and relevance for that summer of trials was the inclusion of women in significant roles on both the Yankee and indeed the Endeavour. Elizabeth ‘Sis’ Hovey, daughter of Chandler Hover, the manager of Yankee, was appointed as an active member of the afterguard throughout the trials, whilst Mrs Phyllis Brodie Sopwith, Thomas’s second wife whom he married in 1932 after the death of his first wife Beatrice in 1930, assumed the significant role as official timekeeper in the afterguard of Endeavour throughout the summer of 1934. It was certainly not the first time that women had been involved in Cup racing, with Mrs Susan Henn, wife of skipper Lieutenant William Henn, sailing aboard the Galatea to its defeat in 1886 and Lord Dunraven’s daughter, the Honourable Enid Wyndham-Quinn sailing aboard the Valkyrie II in the 1893 Cup defeat.

Rainbow was launched at the Herreshoff Yard in Bristol, Rhode Island a month after Endeavour in May 1934. The English yacht had slipped into the water at Gosport after the customary bottle of champagne was cracked by Phyllis Sopwith over her bows on April 16th, 1934, and was immediately commissioned, with a professional crew, on trial runs in the Solent. Endeavour was a feat of engineering that fused the nautical with the aeronautical sporting wind speed and direction instruments in the cockpit, an aerofoil shaped Duralumin mast, rod rigging (fitted later) and a novel bendy boom that had been nicknamed the ‘North Circular’ after the crescent road that runs across the top of London. It was an inauspicious start though with the boom snapping on a light air test-sail in the Solent, but Nicholson was quick to replace the boom with higher tensile stringers and the boat was sent to Harwich on the East Coast to face down the fastest boats of the British fleet.

Over in America however, things weren’t going smoothly. A change in the J-Class rules had gone against the Rainbow and Weetamoe in that their centreboards were found to be some 1200 pounds more than was permitted causing some dramatic, and rather panicked, last-minute alterations. Meanwhile Yankee, whose designer Frank C. Paine, has conformed to the new rules in the extensive refit at Herreshoff’s yard was more than ready to start the defender trials that spring. Both Rainbow and Weetamoe made the appointed day of the trials, but the Morgan family yacht was quickly eliminated in a quick-fire round of match-races, apparently being no match for either Yankee or Rainbow with the latter suffering its own dose of the slows in the early matchups. But Vanderbilt had form in working-up boats over the course of a season and with a crew comprised of many that had sailed with him on Enterprise, they had experience combined with a bottomless budget and the ensuing races against Yankee were thrillers.

If a campaign mistake could be attributed in hindsight to the Royal Yacht Squadron challenge of 1934, the unveiling of a quadrilateral working headsail in early trials in Weymouth Bay, was one that was deeply-rooted in the character of Thomas Sopwith. The genesis of this innovative piece of sailmaking that featured a double clew on the luff, thus creating in effect four sides to the sail, is still in doubt to this day but it was John Nicholson, the son of designer Charles Nicholson, that is widely credited with the Endeavour design that was built at Ratsey’s in Cowes. Upon receipt of the sail and whilst engaged in a tight race with Velsheda out in Weymouth Bay, Sopwith couldn’t resist the call for the sail much to the chagrin of Charles Nicholson who had firmly suggested that the sail should be trialled far out to sea in the English Channel to avoid prying eyes. In a matter of days, the design was in Newport, and it was a short time before both Rainbow and Yankee sported the sails that produced so much extra power that enhanced turning blocks were required to be retrofitted to the yachts.
So sensational were the quadrilateral working-jibs that both Yankee and Rainbow sported them in a desperately close five-trial series in the summer of 1934. Vanderbilt’s well-drilled team once again extracted the maximum from their vessel, improving with each race after a loss in the opening flight by over six minutes.

Yankee was a well optimised J-Class for the lighter airs, so Vanderbilt ultimately got competitive in the pre-starts knowing that his crew were the better drilled and sailed in a way to try and force errors. In the afterguard of Rainbow, Vanderbilt eventually found the combinations that worked. Tensions were high at times between Starling Burgess and Vanderbilt who fell out briefly with the skipper bringing in Zenas Bliss as navigator at the behest of sail-manager Sherman Hoyt whilst Jack Parkinson replaced Bubbles Havemeyer as the secondary helmsman downwind. Burgess and Vanderbilt made-up and the former remained in change of rigging through the match – Bliss however remained as navigator and was to prove something of a master. Despite the trial racing being tight and hotly contested, the tale of the series saw Rainbow win four of the five races – the last by just one second – and the New York Yacht Club appointed Vanderbilt’s team to the task of defending the America’s Cup.

Over in England, Endeavour was putting all-comers to the sword in a series of races in Harwich and a further final trial series in and around the Solent and out further west to Torbay. Velsheda was the closest competitor, winning some notable battles in a variety of conditions, but ultimately Captain Fred Mountfield, skipper of Velsheda, came up short and Endeavour, with a record of eight wins from 12 races, was confirmed as the Challenger for the Royal Yacht Squadron.

However, things were about to turn for the worse at the conclusion of the trials on the 14th July 1934 when the professional crew of Endeavour presented Sopwith an ultimatum that they would not undertake the Atlantic crossing nor the Cup series in September 1934 unless they were paid substantially more money. The employment system at the time meant that sailors were only paid until the end of the summer sailing season after which the crew would return to their hometowns to seek work on fishing boats for the winter months. With the Cup so late, they would miss the opportunity to secure slots on the fishing boats and therefore sought compensation for their loss of earnings. This garnered little sympathy with Sopwith and in return he outlined an improved offer that fell short and resulted in 15 crew hands leaving the ship, all bar two, although all of the ‘officers’ accepted the conditions. In their place, Sopwith recruited willing amateurs from the Royal Corinthian Yacht Club on the East Coast.

With a new crew in place, Endeavour left Gosport on 23rd July 1934 escorted for the trans-Atlantic run by Sopwith’s motor-yacht Vita. Crowds lined the shoreline as it was felt that such a technical marvel had every chance, finally, of wresting the America’s Cup from the clutches of the Americans. On arrival in Bristol, Rhode Island, her huge metal, aerofoil in shape, mast was stepped at the Herreshoff yard and for the first time, the rod rigging that had been developed by Frank Murdoch at the Hawker Aircraft facility, were applied to the rig. When the two boats were lined up for inspection however, a row emerged over the interpretation of the J-Class rules regarding fixtures and fittings below deck. Rainbow was largely a stripped-out racer whilst Endeavour still featured extensive detailing and even a bath in the state-cabin for Thomas Sopwith. The English insisted on being allowed to remove the luxuries and after much debate in yachting circles, the request was finally acceded. One other contentious issue was Rainbow’s below deck winch, outlawed in the new rules, that was operated by a coffee-grinder above. Vanderbilt argued, successfully, that due to it being operated on deck it didn’t contravene the rule and the races for the America’s Cup began on 15th September regardless.

With President Franklin D. Roosevelt watching, the opening race of the 1934 America’s Cup was a thriller. A tight first leg to windward saw Rainbow round the top mark some 18 seconds up on the Challenger but a crucial error was called by the Americans who elected to launch a small parachute spinnaker whilst Endeavour set a much larger kite replete with a vertical line of holes down the centreline that aided air circulation and maintained stability. With the wind up at 15 knots, it was a big call from the English but within three miles they seized the lead and relentlessly pulled ahead. Vanderbilt took Rainbow on a circuitous course, trying desperately not to run before the wind but as the two boats came back on course deep into the run to the finish, it was Sopwith that was able to gybe for the line on a shorter course and recorded a two minute and nine second victory.

With the score at 1-0, the Americans grew worried by the threat that the English were posing, particularly in the stronger breeze and race two saw no respite with a solid 14 knots recorded at the America’s Cup buoy, the starting mark some nine miles SSE of the Brenton Reef Lightship. An uncharacteristic poor start predicated in the final approach to the line saw Vanderbilt down-speed at the starting gun despite holding the windward berth. Sopwith capitalised, driving Endeavour hard and powered through the lee of Rainbow on a fast-reaching leg to the first mark despite suffering a torn clew on the genoa in the pre-start manoeuvres when the hanks fouled on the inner forestay.

A mile from the outer mark, with the wind shifting forward, Sopwith called for the quadrilateral jib to be broken out and an additional large staysail to be set whilst the genoa was removed and in the ensuing upwind leg, the English matched the Americans tack for tack, all the while pulling ahead. Endeavour was 16 seconds up at the first mark but 1 minute 31 seconds up at the second with just a reach to the finish. However, without the powerful genoa, Endeavour set a ballooner on too shy a course and saw her lead dwindle as the Americans came fast astern. By the finish, Sopwith held on, and the final winning margin was some 51 seconds. 2-0 to the Challenger and it was game on for the America’s Cup.

After a cancelled day with no wind, the next race was held on the 20th September 1934 and it was a race where all seemed lost for the Americans until a remarkable piece of navigating turned the tide on the whole Cup contest. On a leeward / windward start, both boats set away under full canvas in a light and shifting north-easterly and quickly the more-canvassed Endeavour ground into a commanding lead. Some careless sail calls and debatable tactics from Vanderbilt saw Rainbow slip further and further behind, eventually reaching the outer mark some 6 minutes and 39 seconds behind with only a long reach on starboard to the finish. Handing the wheel over to Sherman Hoyt, Vanderbilt had all but given up and retired below for coffee and sandwiches, but Newport was about to serve up a classic.

Keeping close eyes on the boat ahead, Hoyt noticed the English falling into a hole in the wind and headed high to sail around. The wind was now well forward and both boats were headed close hauled. Sopwith threw in two tacks to try and stay to windward of Rainbow and in doing so, paid away her lead as the American boat straight-lined and the final of those tacks saw Endeavour wallow badly, unable to get up to speed. Rainbow sailed through to leeward and gained the lead whilst the navigators on both boats desperately tried to ascertain the position of the finishing buoy. Zenas Bliss on Rainbow called it to leeward and with that, a returning Vanderbilt gave the order to “carry on” with Endeavour up to windward and far off the lay-line to the mark. At the finish, Bliss had called it correctly and in a most dramatic and unexpected fashion, secured a 3 minute and 26 second victory.

2-1 but the pendulum had swung.

Now came a masterstroke from Vanderbilt, the undisputed genius at building his boats into winners. Recognising that Rainbow was at a considerable disadvantage downwind when dead-running under parachute spinnaker, he remembered that Yankee had enjoyed a similar advantage in the trials and immediately contacted Frank Paine, the designer of the yacht and who had sailed onboard during the trials, to join the Rainbow afterguard. Paine arrived and with him came one of the Yankee spinnakers whilst during the lay-day, Vanderbilt instructed for some 4,000lbs of ballast to be added in a search for better waterline performance.

And it was fireworks in the starting box for race four with Vanderbilt now determined to capitalise on his momentum, but it was a race where sharp practices, according to an English standpoint, were to be displayed and led to considerable dismay with the New York Yacht Club’s protest committee. An incident before the start as Endeavour gybed from a starboard reach to head back to the line with Rainbow not keeping clear and forcing the English to take avoiding action was the first debatable point but the protest wasn’t heard due to the absence of a protest flag. The second however, on the first reaching leg where Endeavour came up for a luff, is one that is still debated to this day. Having rounded the top mark ahead, the Challenger was caught short with less sail area up on the reach carrying her quadrilateral sail whilst the Defender had opted to change for a large genoa late on the beat into the top mark.

With more horsepower, Rainbow held high and started to close the gap whilst Endeavour had borne away below the rhumb-line in order to change up her sails. Once complete, Endeavour narrowed the gauge and went into a luff to defend her position which the Americans failed to respond to with Vanderbilt believing that the English angle meant she could not touch forward of the rigging. Sopwith bore away to avoid an inevitable collision but again, the protest flag wasn’t flown as the custom under the Yacht Racing Association rules in England was to fly the flag at the end of the race. The NYYC reverted to its own rules on the matter and held firm, insisting that a flag must be flown immediately in order to give the protested yacht the chance to counter-protest should they see fit. Rainbow seized the lead and sailed on to a bitter-sweet 1 minute 15 seconds victory and draw the series level.

Stepping ashore, Sopwith, having seen the improved performance of Rainbow on the reaching leg, reversed the decision to strip out the below-deck quarters taken when the two boats were measured and inspected before the series started, and ordered the 3,360lbs of weight to be replaced as ballast – whether Sopwith’s bath came back is not known!

Race five was held in 12 knots of building breeze on Monday 24th September 1934 and featured a leeward / windward course. Rainbow was first to set her parachute spinnaker under the control of Frank Paine and quickly established a lead whilst Endeavour struggled with crew work. Vanderbilt was looking imperious and even a slight chafing of the spinnaker that turned into a tear towards the bottom mark and a very near man overboard incident that was thankfully recovered through very quick thinking by the well-drilled crew, they drew out a lead of some 4 minutes 38 seconds before the turn and beat home. Rainbow camped on Endeavour’s wind and the result was never in doubt, recording a win by 4 minutes and 1 second to take the lead in the series.

With Sopwith smarting from the perceived injustices he felt from the incidents in race four and Vanderbilt determined to establish his dominance and close out the series, race six began yet again with an incident in the dying seconds of the pre-start. In the final approaches to the line again on a leeward / windward course, Endeavour was heading to the line reaching on port tack whilst Rainbow was borne away running for the portside of Endeavour on starboard gybe. At the last minute, Vanderbilt passed underneath the stern of Endeavour, tacked and broke out his large genoa. Both boats protested but ultimately both were withdrawn, with Sopwith the first to retract, but it was Endeavour that held the lead and crossed the start line with a 46 second advantage.

After half an hour, with both boats sailing under genoa, Rainbow drew level and Endeavour luffed her head to wind gaining a significant 100-yard advantage immediately afterwards as the boats came back on course, but the race was ultimately decided on Vanderbilt’s decision to launch a small spinnaker a little while later, whilst Endeavour continued under her genoa.

As the first mark approached, and with Rainbow’s forestay hidden from view as the trailing yacht, Vanderbilt called for her quadrilateral jib to be hoisted as he recognised that the wind had built too much for a larger genoa on the returning windward leg. Sopwith’s crew had failed to see the move and rounded 1 minute and 9 seconds up but with too much sail area in the genoa to control. Immediately Vanderbilt initiated a tacking duel that the Challenger was simply no match for and with her quadrilateral working perfectly and under the expert trim of the Rainbow crew and a fortunate 25-degree shift in her favour, by the final top mark, the American’s lead was almost three minutes.

But the final race of 1934 was anything but done. Rainbow rounded and were forced to launch a parachute spinnaker borrowed from the Morgan family’s Weetamoe that was full in the foot and refused to set properly. Endeavour meanwhile launched her enormous race spinnaker and closed the gap, bring up fresh breeze coming out of Buzzards Bay. Vanderbilt asked for Sherman Hoyt to replace Jack Parkinson on the wheel for the tense run to the finish and the Hoyt / Bliss magic was once again re-enacted. Hoyt asked Bliss for the bearing to the finish mark but also a point one mile to leeward of the finish, gambling on Sopwith’s tendency to try and keep a cover regardless of course. True to form, Sopwith was forced to sail lower and slower, and almost by the lee, to try and cover Rainbow who were steering a false course knowing that if Endeavour got to her lee quarter, they could harden up and steer directly for the finish line. The tactic worked a treat by two master tacticians and with just a mile left to run, they sheeted on and held course to record a stunning 55 second victory against the odds and retain the America’s Cup for the New York Yacht Club.

Sopwith had genuinely come closer than any challenger before but ultimately was outclassed on the water by a team operating at the very maximum of what their boat was capable of. In Harold Vanderbilt, they met a fierce competitor whose working-up of boats was now legendary but in Sherman Hoyt and Zenas Bliss, the Endeavour afterguard simply had no answer to their navigational and tactical genius. Speaking afterwards, Sopwith, still unhappy with how the series had unfolded, commented: “I do not feel vindictive at my treatment at the hands of the New York Yacht Club, but I do feel completely disillusioned. I came over here for the good of the sport but found that the races were run as a big business, something I was not prepared to contend with.”

The aftermath of the 1934 regatta was mired in accusation and counter-claims played out in communications between the yacht clubs and in the media by Sopwith, Charles Nicholson and Vanderbilt with questions around sailing rules interpretations high on the agenda. The Americans stuck to their lines, the English contested furiously and the famous headline recorded on both sides of the Atlantic after the infamous race four became part of America’s Cup legend: “Britannia rules the waves but America waives the rules.”

Thomas Sopwith would be back – more the wiser for the experience.