''Australia II'' (KA 6) is an Australian 12-metre-class

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 ...

challenge racing yacht that was launched in 1982 and won the 1983 America's Cup for the

Royal Perth Yacht Club The Royal Perth Yacht Club (RPYC) is a yacht club in Perth, Western Australia. It is the third oldest yacht club in Australia after the Royal Yacht Club of Victoria and the Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron.

. Skippered by John Bertrand, she was the first successful Cup challenger, ending a 132-year tenure (with 26 successful defences) by 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. ...

Design

''Australia II'' was designed by

Ben Lexcen Benjamin Lexcen AM (born Robert Clyde Miller, 19 March 1936 – 1 May 1988) was an Australian yachtsman and marine architect. He is famous for the winged keel design applied to ''Australia II'' which, in 1983, became the first non-American ya ...

, built by Steve Ward, owned by Alan Bond and skippered by John Bertrand. Lexcen's ''Australia II'' design featured a reduced waterline length and a short chord

winged keel The winged keel is a sailboat keel layout first fitted on the 12-metre class yacht ''Australia II'', 1983 America's Cup winner. Design This layout was adopted by Ben Lexcen, designer of ''Australia II''. Although Ben Lexcen "had tried the winged ...

which gave the boat a significant advantage in manoeuvrability and heeling moment (lower ballast center of gravity) but it was a significant disadvantage in choppy seas. The boat was also very quick in stays. The winged keel was a major design advance, and its legality was questioned by the New York Yacht Club. During the summer of 1983, as selection trials took place for the Cup defence that autumn, the New York Yacht Club challenged the legality of the keel design. The controversy was decided in ''Australia II''s favour. ''Australia II'' sported a number of other innovative features that contributed to her success, including radical vertical sail designs, all-

kevlar Kevlar (para-aramid) is a strong, heat-resistant synthetic fiber, related to other aramids such as Nomex and Technora. Developed by Stephanie Kwolek at DuPont in 1965, the high-strength material was first used commercially in the early 1970s a ...

running rigging and a lightweight carbon fibre boom. Australia-II-keel (1)

Later claims of Dutch design

In 2009 (i.e., more than two decades after Ben Lexan's death), Dutch naval architect Peter van Oossanen claimed that the winged keel was actually designed by him and his group of Dutch designers, and not Lexcen. If true, this would have been reason to disqualify ''Australia II'', since the rules then stated that challenging yachts were to be designed (only) by citizens of the nations they represented. The controversy arose due to Cup rules allowing designers to use model basins for testing that were not located in the challenging country. Model testing was performed in the Netherlands and Peter van Oossanen and another Dutch engineer, Joop Sloof, performed measurements and analyses related to evaluation of winged keel designs. The suggestion that the vessel was not designed by Australians has been refuted by both John Bertrand and project manager John Longley. Furthermore, it is well established that Lexcen had been experimenting with wing adaptations to the undersurface appendages of boats before, including his 1958 skiffs ''Taipan'' and ''Venom'', although in the latter application they were not determined to be effective and not further adopted. In 1983 Lexcen commented on the design issue: "I have in mind to admit it all to the New York Yacht Club that I really owe the secret of the design to a Greek guy who helped me out and was invaluable. He's been dead for 2000 years. Bloody

Archimedes Archimedes of Syracuse (;; ) was a Greek mathematician, physicist, engineer, astronomer, and inventor from the ancient city of Syracuse in Sicily. Although few details of his life are known, he is regarded as one of the leading scientists ...

..."

Competitions

Louis Vuitton Cup

''Australia II'' dominated the 1983 Louis Vuitton Cup before defeating ''

Azzurra Azzurra is a yacht racing team that competed in the America's Cup, the Audi MedCup and the 52 Super Series for the Italian Yacht Club Costa Smeralda. History Funded by business magnate Aga Khan IV and industrialist Gianni Agnelli, and mana ...

'' in the semi finals and ''Victory 83'' in the final to win the trophy and earn the right to challenge for the America's Cup.

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. The defender, the

, had held the cup since 1851, dominating challengers and sustaining the longest winning streak in sport. ''Australia II'', skippered by John Bertrand, faced

Dennis Conner Dennis Walter Conner (born September 16, 1942) is an American yachtsman. He is noted for winning a bronze medal at the 1976 Olympics, two Star World Championships, and three wins in the America's Cup. Sailing career Conner was born September ...

sailing the 12-metre ''

Liberty Liberty is the ability to do as one pleases, or a right or immunity enjoyed by prescription or by grant (i.e. privilege). It is a synonym for the word freedom. In modern politics, liberty is understood as the state of being free within society fr ...

'' in the ocean off

Newport, Rhode Island Newport is an American seaside city on Aquidneck Island in Newport County, Rhode Island. It is located in Narragansett Bay, approximately southeast of Providence, Rhode Island, Providence, south of Fall River, Massachusetts, south of Boston, ...

. ''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. The achievement was underscored when ''Australia II'' was awarded the

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

'' Wide World of Sports'' Athlete of the Year for 1983. The crew of ''Australia II'' for the America's Cup races was John Bertrand (skipper),

Will Baillieu Will Baillieu (born 15 August 1951) is an Australian rower. He competed in the men's coxed four event at the 1972 Summer Olympics. He is a brother of former Premier of Victoria, Ted Baillieu Edward Norman Baillieu (born 31 July 1953) is ...

Colin Beashel Colin Kenneth Beashel (born 21 November 1959) is an Australian sailor who crewed on the winning America's Cup team Australia II in 1983 and competed at six Olympics between 1984 and 2004, winning bronze in 1996. He became, jointly with Brazili ...

, Rob Brown , Peter Costello, Damian Fewster, James Hardy (alternate helm), Ken Judge, Skip Lissiman, John Longley, Scott McAllister, Brian Richardson, Phil Smidmore,

Grant Simmer Grant Simmer (born 1957) is an Australian sailor and yacht designer who has competed in multiple America's Cups. He sailed as navigator on ''Australia II'' when it won the 1983 America's Cup. He stayed with Alan Bond's syndicate and was navigato ...

, and Hugh Treharne. Beashel was an Olympic medal winning sailor who competed at six Olympic games. Richardson was a dual-Olympian oarsman who had stroked the Australian men's eight at the Moscow 1980 Olympics and Baillieu had also rowed for Australia, in a coxed four at the 1972 Munich Olympics.

Popular culture

The ''

Boxing Kangaroo The boxing kangaroo is a national symbol of Australia, frequently seen in pop culture. The symbol is often displayed prominently by Australian spectators at sporting events, such as at cricket, tennis, basketball and football matches, and at t ...

'' was the official mascot of the ''Australia II'' effort. The win was received with much enthusiasm in Australia, with the

Men at Work Men at Work are an Australian rock band formed in Melbourne in 1978 and best known for breakthrough hits such as " Down Under", "Who Can It Be Now?", " Be Good Johnny", " Overkill", and " It's a Mistake". Its founding member and frontman is C ...

song "

Down Under The term ''Down Under'' is a colloquialism which is differently construed to refer to Australia and New Zealand, or Pacific Island countries collectively.Oxford English Dictionary (Electronic), Version 4.0, entry fordown under. The dictionary ...

" becoming the official anthem for the crew.

Retirement

In the mid-1980s, ''Australia II'' was sold by Alan Bond to the Australian government. She was lent to the

Australian National Maritime Museum The Australian National Maritime Museum (ANMM) is a Australian government, federally operated maritime museum in Darling Harbour, Sydney. After considering the idea of establishing a maritime museum, the federal government announced that a nation ...

in Sydney for display in 1991. In 2000, ''Australia II'' was removed from the National Maritime Museum and transferred to the

Western Australian Maritime Museum The Western Australian Museum is a statutory authority within the Culture and the Arts Portfolio, established under the ''Museum Act 1969''. The museum has six main sites. The state museum, now known as WA Museum Boola Bardip, officially re-ope ...

Fremantle Fremantle () () is a port city in Western Australia, located at the mouth of the Swan River in the metropolitan area of Perth, the state capital. Fremantle Harbour serves as the port of Perth. The Western Australian vernacular diminutive for ...

. For the 150th anniversary celebrations of the America's Cup in 2001, she was removed from the museum and shipped to the

Isle of Wight The Isle of Wight ( ) is a county in the English Channel, off the coast of Hampshire, from which it is separated by the Solent. It is the largest and second-most populous island of England. Referred to as 'The Island' by residents, the Isle of ...

, sailing with the original crew for several days of commemorative regattas. ''Australia II'' was returned to the Western Australian Maritime Museum, where she is on permanent display. In 2017, the Team of Australia II were among the inaugural inductees to the Australian Sailing Hall of Fame.

References

External links

33rd America's Cup: Where are they now: Australia II KA 6
{{Coord, display=title, -31.949560, 115.861391, type:landmark_region:AU America's Cup challengers Individual sailing vessels 12-metre class yachts Sailing in Western Australia Ships of Australia Museum ships in Australia Ships preserved in museums Tourist attractions in Western Australia Sailing yachts designed by Ben Lexcen 1980s sailing yachts Sailing yachts built in Australia Louis Vuitton Cup yachts 1983 America's Cup 1982 ships