''Kookaburra III'' (KA 15) was the Australian 12 Metre

yacht A yacht is a sailing or power vessel used for pleasure, cruising, or racing. There is no standard definition, though the term generally applies to vessels with a cabin intended for overnight use. To be termed a , as opposed to a , such a pleasu ...

sailed by Iain Murray in the

1987 America's Cup The 1987 America's Cup was the twenty-sixth challenge for the America's Cup. The American challenger '' Stars & Stripes 87'', sailed by Dennis Conner, beat the Australian defender '' Kookaburra III'', sailed by Iain Murray, in a four-race swee ...

held off of

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 ...

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

. Murray won the Defender Selection and ''Kookaburra III'' represented Australia in 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 ...

, where she lost to American challenger

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 '' Stars & Stripes 87''.

Design

Preparing for the defense of the America's Cup,

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 ...

expressed concerns that there was a lack of adequate competition in Australia to prepare for the event. Business rival

Kevin Parry Kevin John Parry (1933 – 26 November 2010) was a businessman from Western Australia, most noted for his backing of the Taskforce '87 syndicate which unsuccessfully defended the 1987 America's Cup in Fremantle, Western Australia. The defence c ...

took him up on the challenge. Gathering together top sailors from across Australia, Parry's Taskforce 87 syndicate generated a top flight campaign, comprising an investment of some A$28M. ''Kookaburra III'' was built in

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

by Parry Boat Builders. She was the third of the Kookaburra boats built by the Taskforce 87 syndicate, all of which were designed by Iain Murray and John Swarbrick. The golden hulled Kookaburra's were fast and evenly matched, particularly ''Kookaburra II'' and ''Kookaburra III''. ''Kookaburra II'' was intended to be a bench mark boat and was left unaltered from May 1986 on, while significant changes went into the hulls and keels of ''Kookaburra I'' and ''Kookaburra III''. Throughout ''Kookaburra II'' remained a very fast sailer. Iain Murray believed her to be the syndicates fastest right up until the defender finals, when ''Kookaburra III'' finally became faster as a result of a keel modification.

Career

Defender round robin series

The defender series was extremely competitive, with ''Kookaburra II'', ''Kookaburra III'' and '' Australia IV'' all very close in boat speed. This led to extremely close racing, marred only by the large number of protests raised. The red protest flag was a frequent flyer from the stern of a defender boat, with the results of the day's sailing protested nearly every other race. In all, fifty protests were lodged during the 101 races of the defender selection series. The end of the selection round robins series found ''Kookaburra III'' the leading yacht, with 83 points, followed by ''Australia IV'' at 77 and ''Kookaburra II'' at 70. ''Steak and Kidney'' was eliminated on points halfway through the final round. With ongoing protests over the legality of ''Australia IVs balloon jib, an agreement was reached in which ''Australia IV'' and ''Kookaburra III'' would race in a best of nine set. The winning syndicate could then use ''Kookaburra II'' as the defender yacht if they so chose.

Defender finals

Keel modifications to ''Kookaburra III'' in the break following the final round robins finally gave her the edge in boat speed she had been looking for. For their part, the Bond syndicate was unable to come up with anything extra for ''Australia IV''. The finals saw ''Kookaburra III'' sweep ''Australia IV'' five races to nil to win the Defender selection process. In doing so, she placed Alan Bond's syndicate on the outside of an America's Cup regatta for the first time in thirteen years.

America's Cup

In the America's Cup, defender ''Kookaburra III'' lost to American challenger Dennis Conner and '' Stars & Stripes 87'', four races to nil.

References

{{Australian 12-metre class yachts America's Cup defenders 1987 America's Cup 12-metre class yachts Individual sailing vessels

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 ...

Sailing in Australia Sailing yachts built in Australia 1980s sailing yachts Sailing yachts of Australia