America's Cup winner Australia II

The Australia II is a 12-metre class yacht, and the first successful challenger for the America's Cup after 132 years. A yacht is a recreational boat It designates two rather different classes of Watercraft, sailing and power yachts The America’s Cup is the most prestigious Regatta and Match race in the sport of Sailing, and the oldest active Trophy in international

Design

Winged keel of Australia II

Designed by Ben Lexcen, built by Stephan Ward, owned by Alan Bond and helmed by John Bertrand. Ben Lexcen AM (19 March 1936 – 1 May 1988 was an Australian yachtsman and marine architect Alan Bond (born 22 April 1938 is a notorious Australian businessman famous for high-profile business ventures including what was at the time the biggest corporate collapse John Edwin Bertrand AM (born December 20, 1946 in Melbourne Victoria) is a yachtsman from Australia, who skippered Australia II featured an innovative winged keel design developed by Lexcen which helped to make it very fast and manoeuvrable in many conditions and was the most controversial but legal design feature of the boat. A winged keel is a sailboat Keel, usually of high aspect ratio, that uses a nearly horizontal foil, the " Wing " at the bottom to provide ^[1] During the summer of 1983, as selection trials took place for the Cup defence that autumn, it was unclear whether the keel design was legal within the strict rules governing the 12-metre class. Year 1983 ( MCMLXXXIII) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link displays the 1983 Gregorian calendar)

The keel design was eventually confirmed as legal. Despite being the first 12-metre to sport the new design, Australia II was not the first boat to have a winged keel, though its success did much to make the concept popular.

Also helping the Australians was new sail technology, finally equalling or exceeding that of the Americans. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the Further, Bertrand made sure he and his crew was trained and refined to execute at the highest levels despite the pressure of this historical match up.

America's Cup

Australia II, bearing sail number KA6, represented the Royal Perth Yacht Club of Australia in its September 1983 challenge for the America's Cup. Club flag At a general meeting in 1891 the old blue PYC burgee was replaced with a triangular St George's Cross with a St Edward's crown in the upper For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Australia topics. The defender, the New York Yacht Club, had held the cup since 1851, dominating challengers and sustaining the longest winning streak in sport. Clubhouses In 1845 the club’s first clubhouse was established -- a modest Gothic-revival building in Hoboken New Jersey, on land donated by Commodore 1851 ( MDCCCLI) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian Calendar (or a Common year

The Australia II, skippered by John Bertrand, faced Dennis Conner sailing the 12-metre Liberty in the ocean off Newport, Rhode Island. John Edwin Bertrand AM (born December 20, 1946 in Melbourne Victoria) is a yachtsman from Australia, who skippered Dennis Conner is one of the world's most famous and successful racing sailors having competed and been successful in Olympic events the America's Cup, many different offshore Newport is a city on Aquidneck Island in Newport County, Rhode Island, United States, about 30 miles (48 km south of Providence Australia II came from behind to prevail 4 races to 3. The victory on 26 September 1983 was a landmark event for the nation of Australia, not to mention the Royal Perth Yacht Club, and it eventually earned Australia II the ABC's Wide World of Sports Athlete of the Year for 1983. Events 46 BC - Julius Caesar dedicates a The American Broadcasting Company ( ABC) is an American Television network. ABC's Wide World of Sports was a long-running Sports Anthology show on American Television that ran as a series from 1961 to 1998

Popular culture

Boxing Kangaroo flag, design used in the successful 1983 Americas Cup challenge by Alan Bond and his Australia II team

The Boxing Kangaroo was the official mascot of the Australia II effort. For the film of the same name see Das Boxende Känguruh. The boxing kangaroo is a National personification of Australia The win was received with much enthusiasm in Australia, with the Men at Work song Down Under becoming the official anthem for the crew. For the 1990 movie "Men at Work" see Men at Work (film. " Down Under " is the title of a pop song of Reggae flavour written by Colin Hay and Ron Strykert, recorded in 1981 by the Australian

In the film Wind, Australia II is portrayed as Boomerang. Wind is a Film released in 1992 The movie was directed by Carroll Ballard and starred Matthew Modine, Jennifer Grey, and

Retirement

In the mid-1980s, Australia II was sent to the Australian National Maritime Museum in Sydney, Australia for display. The 1980s was the decade spanning from January 1 1980 to December 31 1989. The Australian National Maritime Museum, a Maritime museum operated as a statutory authority of the Australian Government, is located at Darling Harbour Sydney (ˈsɪdniː is the most populous city in Australia, with a Metropolitan area population of approximately 4 For the 150th anniversary of the America's Cup, the boat was removed from the museum and shipped to the Isle of Wight, sailing with the original crew for several days of commemorative regattas. The Isle of Wight is an English Island and county in the English Channel between three and five miles (8 km from the south coast of the The boat has since been returned to Fremantle, Western Australia where it is on permanent display in the Western Australian Maritime Museum. Fremantle (commonly known as Freo is a Port City in Western Australia, located southwest of Perth, the state capital at the mouth of The Western Australian Museum is the main Museum for the state of Western Australia.

References

Further reading

• Schmitt, Hugh. (1987) Australia II - details on the housing of the yacht The West Australian 28 May 1987, p. The West Australian (often simply called The West) is the only locally-edited daily newspaper published in Perth Western Australia, and is owned by 16a-c b