Stars & Stripes (yacht)
Stars & Stripes is the name of a series of regatta yachts used by the US sailor Dennis Conner in the competition for the America's Cup . The name "Stars & Stripes" refers to the nickname for the flag of the United States of America .
12 meter class yachts
26th America's Cup 1987
The well-funded Sail America Foundation commissioned four 12-meter class yachts for the 1987 America's Cup recapture campaign off Fremantle , Western Australia , led by Dennis Conner of the San Diego Yacht Club :
- Stars & Stripes 83 (US-53) built in 1985 by the Geraghty Marine shipyard and designed by the designer team Chance / Nelson / Pedrick.
- Stars & Stripes 85 (US-54) built in 1985 by the shipyard Robert E. Derektor Inc., designed by the designer team Chance / Nelson / Pedrick. This yacht was faster than Stars & Stripes 83 .
- Stars & Stripes 86 (US-56) built in 1987 by the shipyard Robert E. Derektor Inc., designed by the designer team Chance / Nelson / Pedrick. The yacht differed in a modified keel and a larger sail area.
- Stars & Stripes 87 (US-55) built in 1987 by the shipyard Robert E. Derektor Inc., designed by the designer team Chance / Nelson / Pedrick. The design was based on the experiences of the first three designs. Stars & Stripes 87 won the eliminations to determine the challenger Louis Vuitton Cup and beat the Australian defender of the America's Cup Kookaburra III in four races with 4-0 in the 26th America's Cup in 1987 and won the bottomless pitcher for the USA back.
The story of the loss in the 25th America's Cup in 1983 by Dennis Conner against Australia II with helmsman John Bertrand and the role of the yacht Stars & Stripes is themed in the film Wind , even if the yacht is not called Stars & Stripes in the film , but Geronimo .
Catamaran yachts
27th America's Cup 1988
According to the open America's Cup rules of 1988, Dennis Conner had the revolutionary catamaran , Stars and Stripes (US-1) built with the help of yacht designers Morrelli, Chance & Hubbart & MacLane and aircraft manufacturer Scaled Composites . With this boat he beat the New Zealand challenger in the 28th America's Cup in 1988, the yacht New Zealand, KZ1 , with 2-0. This America's Cup went down in history as an unequal duel (mis match), as the New Zealanders competed with an oversized boat and Dennis Conner successfully countered with a comparatively small catamaran. The team from New Zealand sued in court and won the Bottomless Kanne, the trophy of the America's Cup. The San Diego Yacht Club went into revision and won the trophy back.
The Dennis Conner team chose the catamaran because the surprising challenge with the very large yacht KZ1 by Sir Michael Fay did not leave the Americans enough time for a J-class yacht to sail under the same conditions. Since the challenge used the original Deed of Gift foundation deeds , there were no explicit design provisions. Dennis Conner and the San Diego Yacht Club chose the supposedly faster multihull design.
Two Stars & Stripes catamarans were built. One boat, the "Stars & Stripes S1" with a conventional sail (soft sail), and a second, the "Stars and Stripes H3" with a rigid sail (hard sail), both built by the Scaled shipyard. The rigid sail appeared faster. Even so, the conventional sail was used to defend the America's Cup because it appeared fast enough and less rigging problems were expected.
Whereabouts
After winning the 32nd America's Cup, the yacht with the rigid sail was sold to the Mexican sailor Victor Tapia and is now sailing in Mexico. The catamaran with the conventional sail was bought by Steve Fossett and used by him in various regattas. He set various speed records.
The yacht Stars & Stripes , which Steve Fossett used in the 84th edition of the annual Mackinac regatta from Port Huron (Michigan) to Mackinac in 2008, won and set a new record.
International America's Cup Class
28th America's Cup 1992
The International America's Cup Class yacht Stars & Stripes (USA-11) , skipped by Dennis Conner, lost the elimination regattas of the defenders in the Citizen Cup 1992 against the yacht America³ (USA-23) owned by Bill Koch .
29th America's Cup 1995
In 1995 Dennis Conner won the defender regatta in the 1995 Citizen Cup with the IACC yacht Stars & Stripes (USA-34) against Young America (USA-36) and Mighty Mary (USA-43) thanks to outstanding sailing tactics. However, his yacht was the slowest of the three defender yachts and since the defender can choose the yacht with which he wants to defend the America's Cup, the Dennis Conner team chose the fastest yacht in the qualifying races, Young America instead of the Stars & Stripes . Dennis Conner was unable to build a second boat for cost reasons, so there was no second Stars & Stripes . Dennis Conner lost the America's Cup against Team New Zealand .
30th America's Cup 2000
Dennis Conner was only able to finance one Stars & Stripes (USA-55) for cost reasons like in 1995 . He was eliminated from the OneWorld Challenge in the semifinals (hope race) .
31st America's Cup 2003
The IACC yacht Stars & Stripes (USA-77) from 2002, built for US $ 5 million, sank on July 23, 2002 due to a broken rudder during preparations for the races in 2003. The boat was 17 m lifted into deep water off the port of Long Beach . Dennis Conner was able to fall back on his replacement and training yacht Stars & Stripes (USA-66) until USA-77 was repaired. With his limited resources, Conner could not do anything against the well-financed syndicates Alinghi and Oracle BMW Racing .
32nd America's Cup 2007
Dennis Conner announced that he was unable to raise the money for a new AC campaign.
See also
Individual evidence
- ↑ Photo: KZ-1 Photographer: Gilles Martin-Raget
- ↑ Detroit Free Press Queens of speed are set to sail - July 12, 2008
