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''New Zealand (KZ 7)'' "Kiwi Magic" was the
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 boat sailed by Chris Dickson in the
Louis Vuitton Cup The Louis Vuitton Cup was the name of the Challenger Selection Series sailing competition from 1983, named after its sponsor, Louis Vuitton. The winner of the competition became the challenger to compete with the defender of the America's Cu ...
Challenger series held in
Gage Roads Gage Roads is an area in the outer harbour area of Fremantle Harbour in the Indian Ocean offshore from Fremantle, Western Australia. It incorporates a deep water sea channel as part of its function. Gage Roads serves as a shipping lane and ...
off
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 ...
,
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 ...
during the summer months of 1986 through 1987. She was
New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
's first America's Cup entry and was the premier boat in the New Zealand Challenge syndicate.


Enter: New Zealand

With
Alan Bond Alan Bond (22 April 1938 – 5 June 2015) was an English-born Australian businessman noted for his high-profile and often corrupt business dealings. These included his central role in the WA Inc scandals of the 1980s, and what was at the time ...
's
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.
victory in 1983, and the arrival of the America's Cup in Australia, a sailing event that had been prohibitively far away and expensive suddenly was delivered to the near doorstep of New Zealand. Realising this presented an opportunity to become involved, a Belgian businessman named Marcel Falcher surprised one and all in 1984 by entering New Zealand as represented by the
Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron The Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron is a New Zealand yacht club, and the club behind New Zealand's America's Cup campaigns, under the guises of New Zealand Challenge and Team New Zealand. It held the America's Cup from 1995 America's Cup, 1995 ...
as a challenger for the America's Cup. Soon thereafter Falcher was forced to leave New Zealand while being investigated by the New South Wales government on counts of fraud. The pieces of the challenge effort were picked up by businessman and financier Michael Fay, merchant banker and co-owner of Fay-Richwhite. Combining experienced sailors under the leadership of
Brad Butterworth Bradley William Butterworth (born 1959) is a New Zealand yachtsman known for the role he played as tactician and skipper in the America's Cup for Team New Zealand and the Alinghi team of Switzerland. Butterworth was born in Te Awamutu, New Zeal ...
with talented young match racer Chris Dickson, a team was assembled to compete in the 1985
12-Metre The 12 Metre class is a rating class for racing sailboats that are designed to the International rule. It enables fair competition between boats that rate in the class whilst retaining the freedom to experiment with the details of their designs. ...
World Championships. The team made use of former US 12 Metre ''Enterprise'' (now registered as ''KZ 1''). The exercise was intended to train up the crew for a future challenge at the Cup. During this time, planning and construction of the world's first fibreglass 12 Metre, ''New Zealand (KZ 3)'' was being constructed by
Bruce Farr Bruce Kenneth Farr (born 1949 in Auckland) is a New Zealand designer of racing and cruising yachts. Farrdesigned boats have won, challenged for, or placed highly in the Whitbread Round the World Race, America's Cup, and Sydney to Hobart Yacht Ra ...
and would be the first in a series of fiberglass 12 Metre yachts, all named ''New Zealand'' and constructed with a view to the 1986 12-Metre World Championships and subsequent America's Cup. ''KZ 5'' was completed shortly after ''KZ 3'' and was shipped straight to Fremantle.


1986 12-Metre World Championships

The 1986 12 Metre Championships were staged off Fremantle as a precursor to the America's Cup event to be held a year later. ''KZ 7''s sister boats ''KZ 3'' and ''KZ 5'' competed, with ''KZ 5'' finishing runner-up behind the Bond Syndicate's ''
Australia III Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...
'', which was the comfortable winner. The boat finished ahead of the New York Yacht Club entry ''America II'', a considerable achievement that made the sailing community stand-up and take notice that the New Zealand challenge was serious. Information gained from ''KZ 3'' and ''KZ 5'' went into the planning of ''KZ 7''. All three were designed by
Farr Yacht Design Farr Yacht Design, founded by Bruce Farr in Auckland, New Zealand, is a racing yacht design firm based in Annapolis, Maryland, United States. The firm is led by Patrick Shaughnessy. Its yachts measure from to . Farr develops custom and produc ...
, and comprised the first successful efforts of
Bruce Farr Bruce Kenneth Farr (born 1949 in Auckland) is a New Zealand designer of racing and cruising yachts. Farrdesigned boats have won, challenged for, or placed highly in the Whitbread Round the World Race, America's Cup, and Sydney to Hobart Yacht Ra ...
in America's Cup Racing.


The New GRP 12 Metres

While the 12-Metre Championships were going on, ''KZ 7'' was being constructed at the Auckland boatyard of McMullen & Wing. Michael Fay instructed the signwriter to add, "Kiwi Magic" as the final touch to the stern of the boat. She then was shipped to Fremantle for sea testing alongside ''KZ 5'', while ''KZ 3'' was retired from competition. The selection of skipper was down to the two men that helmed KZ 3 and KZ 5 during the 1986 12 Metre World Championships, Graeme Woodroffe and Chris Dickson. Eventually it was announced that Chris Dickson was selected to skipper team New Zealand.


Rounds Robin

''KZ 7'' was surprisingly successful through the rounds robin. The boat was clearly fast, well crewed and capably skippered. She went through the first round suffering but one loss, to '' Stars and Stripes 87''. The second and third rounds saw her to be a consistently fast sailor, losing not another match race. Through three rounds she had thirty-three wins in thirty-four starts. ''Kiwi Magic'' had the highest point total and was the clear leader of the challenger series.


Glassgate

Prior to the
Louis Vuitton Cup The Louis Vuitton Cup was the name of the Challenger Selection Series sailing competition from 1983, named after its sponsor, Louis Vuitton. The winner of the competition became the challenger to compete with the defender of the America's Cu ...
protests were lodged by the ''French Kiss'' team, challenging whether ''KZ 7'' was in compliance with the 12 Metre formula. A Lloyd's Register of Shipping had been present throughout the construction of the boats, and he had checked each part of the laminate and the amount and type of resin used against the building schedule which Lloyd's had approved. As the round robins progressed and the New Zealanders continued to be fast, the controversy surrounding the fiberglass hulled boat intensified, brought famously to the fore at a media conference where Tom Blackaller and Dennis Conner answered questions about their concerns of whether or not the fiberglass boat met the 12 Metre standard. At one point Conner stated "There have been seventy-eight 12 Metres built, all in aluminum. Why would you want to build one in glass... unless you wanted to cheat." New Zealand had twice been measured, and twice certified by Lloyds before the first race of the series. Some small holes were drilled into the hull to check thickness, and the hull ultra-sonically checked for pockets of air in the construction of ''Kiwi Magic''. All proved negative. These were provided for inspection by race officials. The boat was found to have a hull thickness consistent with the 12 Metre formula and the matter was settled.


Louis Vuitton Cup Semifinals and Finals

''KZ 7'' was the top qualifier of the round robins, followed in the points competition by ''Stars and Stripes 87'', ''USA'' and ''French Kiss''. In the Challenger semi-finals ''KZ 7'' easily defeated ''French Kiss'' 4–0, with none of the races closely contested. Meanwhile, a far more spirited competition between ''Stars and Stripes 87'' and ''USA'' ensued, with ''USA'' leading all of the first race till the final mark. In the end the overall result was the same, with ''Stars and Stripes 87'' coming away the winner, taking the series 4–0. Going into the Louis Vuitton Finals, ''Kiwi Magic'' was the clear favorite, having won thirty-seven of her previous thirty-eight races. The boats were very closely matched, but by this point in the regatta ''Stars and Stripes 87'' was showing a slight edge in speed going to windward, especially in heavy airs and seas. In the most tightly contested series of the regatta, ''Stars and Stripes 87'' took the series, four wins to one.


Aftermath & Crew changes

''Stars and Stripes 87'' went on to defeat ''
Kookaburra III ''Kookaburra III'' (KA 15) was the Australian 12 Metre yacht sailed by Iain Murray in the 1987 America's Cup held off of Fremantle, Western Australia. Murray won the Defender Selection and ''Kookaburra III'' represented Australia in the America ...
'', 4-0 to reclaim the America's Cup. The New Zealanders meanwhile regrouped and returned to race in the 1987 World Championships in
Sardinia, Italy Sardinia ( ; it, Sardegna, label= Italian, Corsican and Tabarchino ; sc, Sardigna , sdc, Sardhigna; french: Sardaigne; sdn, Saldigna; ca, Sardenya, label=Algherese and Catalan) is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, afte ...
. For the regatta Chris Dickson and Brad Butterworth were taken off boat, replaced with David Barnes as skipper while future NZL 20 skipper Rod Davis acted as tactician. The New Zealanders sailed competitively, and ended up winning the event in the protest room, achieving victory over the Japanese entry ''Bengal'' (previously the Bond syndicate's ''Australia III''). ''Kiwi Magic'' won the last two fleet races in the series, the three semifinal races and two out of the three final races against ''Bengal''.


After the America's Cup

Since competing in the America's Cup ''KZ 7'' has been chartered by a number of sailors, including Bill Koch (Skipper of ''America 3'' 1992 America's Cup winner) and Patrizio Bertelli (
Luna Rossa Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli, originally named Prada Challenge, then Luna Rossa Challenge, is an Italian sailboat racing syndicate first created to compete for the 2000 America's Cup. It won the Louis Vuitton Cup on their first attempt in 2000, but ...
syndicate head), who went on to win World 12-Metre titles on-board ''Kiwi Magic''. Both men were tempted to change the name of the boat but declined due to their respect for the boat's history in the America's Cup and the affection and pride felt for her by all of New Zealand. Post the 1987 America's Cup challenger series, ''Kiwi Magic KZ 7'' was donated to the US Merchant Marine Academy's Sailing Foundation for the offshore sailing program at the school. In 2016 the yacht was sold to Mr. Johan Blach Petersen, of Aarhus, Denmark and is now actively racing in the growing Baltic 12mR fleet.


References


External links


12 Metre Class Yachts, KZ 7
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kz 7 12-metre class yachts America's Cup challengers 1987 America's Cup
Louis Vuitton Cup The Louis Vuitton Cup was the name of the Challenger Selection Series sailing competition from 1983, named after its sponsor, Louis Vuitton. The winner of the competition became the challenger to compete with the defender of the America's Cu ...
Individual sailing vessels 1980s sailing yachts Sailing yachts designed by Bruce Farr New Zealand design Sailing yachts built in New Zealand Louis Vuitton Cup yachts