Ranger (yacht)
 Crack ranger
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Ranger is the name of a sailing yacht that was built in 1937 by Bath Iron Works in Bath (Maine) according to the J-class rules for the America's Cup . Her sail number was J 5 or J-US5. The client and skipper was Harold S. Vanderbilt . It was the largest ever built J-class yacht and was therefore Super J called.
construction
The Ranger was built for one purpose only: to defend the America's Cup in its 16th edition in 1937 for the United States . Harold S. Vanderbilt first successfully defended the America's Cup in 1930 with the Enterprise . In 1934 he then competed with the Rainbow against the challenger Thomas Sopwith with the Endeavor built by Camper & Nicholsons . Thomas Sopwith had the Endeavor II built for him by the same shipyard , which was even larger than any other J-class yacht built up to now. The name came from the frigate USS Ranger under the command of John Paul Jones .
Vanderbilt commissioned Starling Burgess , who had already designed the winning yachts of his first two Cup defenses, and this time also the designer Olin Stephens . A hitherto unprecedented effort was made: Stephens owned the Stephens Institute of Technology in Hoboken (New Jersey) with the possibility of carrying out experiments in the towing tank and in the wind tunnel . Both designers were asked to develop their own design, the model of which was then tested in the tow tank. In fact, three models of each were built and compared in the tow tank and there was at least one further, seventh line plan. Modern computer calculations have shown that the worst model at a nautical mile was only three seconds slower than the fastest, which was correctly selected in the tow tank tests in 1936. This model was called the 77C-20 and came from Burgess, but was later jointly developed by both. In August 1936 the shape of the hull was finally determined.
construction
The Ranger was laid down in December 1936. The hull's hull was not built with mahogany planks, as is usually the case, but with flush riveted steel plates. In order to save weight, the deck was not built from teak on steel or aluminum, as usual , but from cedar wood .
The mast consisted of riveted duralumin plates that had 20 different thicknesses depending on the expected point load. The shrouds were made of heat-treated rod . The ship was completed on May 11, 1937. Only the material costs in the amount of 500,000 were Vanderbilt dollars calculated that he paid out of pocket.
As soon as the transfer drive from Cape Cod , the upper shrouds loosened and the mast broke. The ship had to be towed to the Herreshoff shipyard in Bristol . A new rig was built there in 21 days from parts of the Rainbow and the Enterprise .
16th America's Cup
Vanderbilt described the yacht as being a little slower in turning and accelerating but superior in maintaining speed and perfectly balanced on the wind. Vanderbilt competed as usual for the New York Yacht Club at the 16th America's Cup in 1937 . He clearly outclassed Sopwith and his Endeavor II with 4-0. In the same year Vanderbilt drove a total of 37 races and won 35 of them.
scrapping
At the end of 1937 the Ranger was taken out of service and never sailed again. The ship was scrapped in 1941 and the material was used for the war. The scrap value was $ 12,000. Only the mirror remained of the yacht .
Replica
The Ranger was faithfully reproduced in 2004 by the Danish Yachts shipyard in Skagen . Danish Yachts is a consortium of several Danish shipyards that offer yacht construction with composite materials, steel or aluminum.
The Ranger was built according to the regulations of the classification society Lloyd’s Register of Shipping , the MCA safety regulations and the rules of the J-Class Association. The Ranger regularly takes part in classic and J-class regattas with Shamrock V , Velsheda and Endeavor .
A remarkable rule of the J-Class Association requires replicas of J-Class yachts to be built according to original designs from the 1930s. Six of the Rangers' plans are now owned by Sparkman & Stephens . According to one of these plans, called the 77F, a yacht was built by Hoek Design in the Netherlands . Completion took place in 2010 and the yacht was named Lionheart and sail number J-H1. In 2012, the Ranger and the Lionheart and other J-Class yachts met in a race during Cowes Week , which the Lionheart won.
Web links
- Ranger. jclassyachts.com (English)
- cupinfo.com (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b The history of the J class yachts (English)
- ↑ a b c d America’s Cup - J-Class Yachts - Ranger (J US 5) TheUltimateSail (English)
- ^ A b Alessandro Vitelli: J Class Renaissance . Boat International USA; jclassyachts.com (PDF; 1.1 MB; English)
- ^ Explosion of interest in J Class Yachts. SuperYachtTimes.com; March 25, 2008
- ↑ a b c d Story of the J-Class Yachts. cupinfo.com (English)
- ↑ www.sy-ranger.com
- ↑ Ermann Braschos: The resurrected . In: Yacht , year 2007, issue 20
- ↑ jclassyachts.com (English)
- ↑ J Class yachts: Spotter's Guide. (English)
- ^ Lionheart. hoekdesign.nl (English) ( Page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ 'Lionheart' wins the J Class King Hundred Guinea Cup . ( Memento of the original from June 12, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (English)
