President Kennedy and wife watching Americas Cup, 1962

The 1962

America's Cup The America's Cup, informally known as the Auld Mug, is a trophy awarded in the sport of sailing. It is the oldest international competition still operating in any sport. America's Cup match races are held between two sailing yachts: one f ...

, the second to be sailed in 12-metre yachts, marked the first challenge for the Cup from a country other than

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

, and was the first challenge from a country in the southern hemisphere. An

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

n syndicate headed by

Sir Frank Packer Sir Douglas Frank Hewson Packer (3 December 19061 May 1974), was an Australian media proprietor who controlled Australian Consolidated Press and the Nine Network. He was a patriarch of the Packer family. Early life Frank Packer was born in K ...

, representing the

Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron The Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron is a yacht club located in North Sydney, Australia in the suburb of Kirribilli. The squadron was founded in 1862. It has occupied its grounds in East Kirribilli, near Kirribilli House, since 1902. History The R ...

, challenged with their yacht '' Gretel.'' Although the

New York Yacht Club The New York Yacht Club (NYYC) is a private social club and yacht club based in New York City and Newport, Rhode Island. It was founded in 1844 by nine prominent sportsmen. The members have contributed to the sport of yachting and yacht design. ...

won the regatta four races to one represented by the yacht '' Weatherly,'' the challenger, '' Gretel'' won the second race, beating the Americans for the first time since the 1930s, and only lost the fourth race by twenty-six seconds. The NYYC was so shocked at the closeness of the contest that they immediately changed the rules to ban the use of American design and technology by Cup challengers.

Defender Series

The NYYC ran a regatta to determine the yacht they would name as defender in the match. Competing were ''Weatherly'', with Emil (Bus) Mosbacher Jr. at the helm, ''Easterner'', ''Columbia'', skippered by Paul V. Shields, and ''Nefertiti'', helmed by

sailmaker A sailmaker makes and repairs sails for sailboats, kites, hang gliders, wind art, architectural sails, or other structures using sails. A sailmaker typically works on shore in a sail loft; the sail loft has other sailmakers. Large ocean-going sail ...

and

naval architect This is the top category for all articles related to architecture and its practitioners. {{Commons category, Architecture occupations Design occupations Architecture, Occupations ...

Ted Hood Frederick Emmart Hood (May 5, 1927 — June 28, 2013) was an American yachtsman and naval architect. He founded the sailmaker Hood Sails in Marblehead, Massachusetts in 1952. Hood Sails operated until purchased by Quantum Sails in 2017. Hood fou ...

. ''Weatherly'' was chosen as the defender.

Weatherly

'' Weatherly'' (USA-17) was designed by

Philip Rhodes Philip Leonard Rhodes (1895–1974) was an Americans, American naval architect known for his diverse yacht designs. Life Rhodes designed a wide variety of vessels from 7' dinghies to 123' motor-sailors, from hydrofoil racers to America's Cup win ...

, built by Luders Marine Construction Company at Stamford,

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap ...

, USA, and owned by a

syndicate A syndicate is a self-organizing group of individuals, companies, corporations or entities formed to transact some specific business, to pursue or promote a shared interest. Etymology The word ''syndicate'' comes from the French language, Frenc ...

headed by Henry D. Mercer, Cornelius Walsh, and Arnold D. Frese. The boat was built for the trials for the

1958 America's Cup The 1958 America's Cup marked the first Cup match sailed in 12-metre class yachts. Twenty years had passed since the last Cup match, held between immense Universal Rule J-class yachts in 1937 besides World War II, and the New York Yacht Club sough ...

but had performed poorly. For the 1962 trials, ''Weatherly'' was extensively modified by shortening the bow, reducing the wetted surface area, reducing weight wherever possible and moving the weight saved to increase the weight of the

keel The keel is the bottom-most longitudinal structural element on a vessel. On some sailboats, it may have a hydrodynamic and counterbalancing purpose, as well. As the laying down of the keel is the initial step in the construction of a ship, in Br ...

Gretel

''Gretel'' (KA-1) was the first Australian 12-meter. She was designed by Alan Payne, built at Lars Halvorsen Sons Pty. Ltd., and owned by a

headed by

plus Richard Dickson, William H. Northam, William G. Walkley, and Noel Foley. She was helmed by

Jock Sturrock Alexander Stuart "Jock" Sturrock MBE (14 May 1915 in Melbourne11 July 1997 in Noosa Heads) was a noted Australian yachtsman who won over four hundred international, national, state and club championship yachting races. Sports career Between 19 ...

The races

References

External links

The ''Gretels Brush with the Cuban Missile Crisis
at History in Pieces
Weatherly article at AC-Cyclopaedia

Gretel article at AC-Cyclopaedia
* {{America'sCup

1962 Events January * January 1 – Western Samoa becomes independent from New Zealand. * January 3 – Pope John XXIII excommunicates Fidel Castro for preaching communism. * January 8 – Harmelen train disaster: 93 die in the wors ...

A 1962 in sailing 12-metre class Ameri