The 1983 America's Cup was a 12-metre class yacht racing series which pitted the defending

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. ...

's ''Liberty'' against 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.

's challenger, ''

Australia II ''Australia II'' (KA 6) is an Australian 12-metre-class America's Cup challenge racing yacht that was launched in 1982 and won the 1983 America's Cup for the Royal Perth Yacht Club. Skippered by John Bertrand, she was the first successf ...

''. The September 1983 series of match races was won by ''Australia II'', with four race wins to three, in the first successful challenge of the

's 132-year defense of the

Cup A cup is an open-top vessel (container) used to hold liquids for drinking, typically with a flattened hemispherical shape, and often with a capacity of about . Cups may be made of pottery (including porcelain), glass, metal, wood, stone, pol ...

. The

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

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 word ''syndic ...

's boat, skippered by John Bertrand, fought back from a 3–1 deficit to best the Dennis Conner-helmed defender, ending both the longest winning streak in

sport Sport is a physical activity or game, often Competition, competitive and organization, organized, that maintains or improves physical ability and skills. Sport may provide enjoyment to participants and entertainment to spectators. The numbe ...

ing history and U.S. domination of the racing series.

The defender: ''Liberty''

''Liberty'' won all the Defender trials and on 2 September 1983, the

confirmed that ''Liberty'' was to represent the club as defender of the America's Cup. The crew included team principal Dennis Conner as skipper, Tom Whidden, navigator Halsey Chase Herreshoff, Scott Vogel, and mainsheet trimmer

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. During the summer preceding the trials Conner had been the focus of extensive media attention in the U.S., including an appearance on the cover of ''

Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with a circulation of over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellen ...

'' magazine, a rare recognition for a sailor. Liberty had competed with John Kolius' '' Courageous'', and

Tom Blackaller Thomas David Blackaller Jr. (January 6, 1940 – September 7, 1989) was a world-champion American yachtsman, America's Cup helmsman, sailmaker, and racecar competitor. He was a two-time world champion in the Star class keelboat, a world champi ...

's Defender (sail no. US–33), in a defender series before being selected by the New York Yacht Club. Gary Jobson was the founder and tactician of the Courageous/Defender syndicate.

The challenger: ''Australia II''

Alan Bond arrived at Newport with ''

'', billed as one of the biggest threats to American dominance of the 12 Metre class. The boat was designed by

Ben Lexcen Benjamin Lexcen Order of Australia, 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 fir ...

and skippered by John Bertrand. The revolutionary "

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 wi ...

" of the Australian yacht was a subject of controversy from the outset of the challenger series, with the New York Yacht club alleging that the winged keel boat was not a legal 12 Meter, and that the keel design itself was the result of Dutch engineers, and not by Lexcen. This second point could have made ''Australia II'' illegal under the requirement that the boat be "designed and constructed in country" as the Deed of Gift that governed the competition stipulated. The boat was ruled a legal 12 Meter, and she was allowed to participate in the regatta. The speed of the new contender, along with the controversy and protests intensified international media attention to the series. ''Australia II'' dominated the challenger series and entered the America's Cup finals as the most promising contender to date.

The races

The U.S. yacht won the first and second races by margins of more than a minute when the Australian yacht suffered equipment failure, but the ''Australia II'' took the third race, and came back to win the fifth and sixth races after ''Liberty'' won the fourth. This was the first time the America's Cup had needed a sixth race, let alone a seventh. The cup title came down to the seventh and final race. For the seventh and deciding race on 26 September 1983 the wind was light at around eight knots. The pre-start was not a typical match race start. "Neither party wanted to make a mistake and end up in the protest room," Conner would explain later."32nd America's Cup - Print - An Anniversary of Legendary Proportions." 32nd America's Cup Official Website. Web. 20 February 2011. ''Liberty'' won the start by eight seconds ahead of ''

'' on paper but the Australians held a controlling position at the favoured end sailing toward the favoured side which gave them the early lead. ''Australia II'' was subsequently overtaken by Conner who built up what seemed to be an unassailable margin. At the start of the penultimate leg (a square run) the America's Cup looked like it would stay in Newport. However, Conner knew Australia II was not beaten. He and his tactician checked Australia II’s relative speed and realised that Australia II would overtake Liberty before the leeward mark, despite Liberty’s lead. Liberty had been reconfigured for light air performance, sacrificing downwind speed. This leg was the only square run of the race (Fremantle had two) so the issue had not yet been a factor in the race. Conner opted not to “cover” ''Australia II'' (it is not possible to “cover” when running downwind because the astern vessel blankets the lead boat’s breeze) and instead kept well clear of Australia II’s wind-shadow and went searching for favourable wind shifts. He was unsuccessful in this and ''Australia II'' overtook Liberty by the leeward mark. Conner then engaged ''Australia II'' in a spectacular tacking duel with nearly 50 tacks including a number of faked "dummy" tacks trying to break the Australians' cover. ''Australia II'' held on until both boats reached the starboard layline in amongst the spectator fleet and tacked several boat lengths ahead of ''Liberty'' and sailed to the finish to take the race. ''Australia II'' crossed the finish line with a winning margin of 41 seconds, becoming the first successful challenger in the 132 years "since the schooner ''

America The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

'' won it in a race around England's

Isle of Wight The Isle of Wight (Help:IPA/English, /waɪt/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''WYTE'') is an island off the south coast of England which, together with its surrounding uninhabited islets and Skerry, skerries, is also a ceremonial county. T ...

in 1851".Bob Fisher and Bob Ross (1987). The America's Cup 1987: The Official Record. Pierson.

Aftermath

The final race was televised in Australia in the early hours of 27 September 1983 (Australian time) just before dawn, and the victory was celebrated in public venues across Australia.

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

Bob Hawke Robert James Lee Hawke (9 December 1929 – 16 May 2019) was an Australian politician and trade unionist who served as the 23rd prime minister of Australia from 1983 to 1991. He held office as the Australian Labor Party, leader of the La ...

was interviewed at the dawn celebration at

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

. After humorously fending off repeated questioning by journalists about whether he would declare a public holiday he admitted this was a state matter and outside his power as Prime Minister. He joked that he thought it should be and that any state Premiers who disagreed with him might "find themselves in a spot of bother". To rapturous laughter and applause, he said with finality: "Any boss who sacks a worker for not turning up today is a bum". In stark contrast to Australia, the loss of the 1983 America's Cup was considered a time of shame in U.S. sailing, as the U.S. had been able to defend the Cup for 132 years in a row. Dennis Conner took the loss hard. Asked about how he felt initially after losing the Cup, Conner said: "It was awful. I just did not want to get out of bed in the morning. I am usually full of life and energy... I just wanted to hide". The America's Cup was transferred from the

to the

located in

Perth, Western Australia Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

, which subsequently hosted its first, but unsuccessful, defense in the 1987 America's Cup. After losing the Cup, the U.S. had been determined to bring it back. Conner went to work on the next US America's Cup Campaign. With the help of designers Britton Chance Jr., Bruce Nelson and David Pedrick, the boat '' Stars and Stripes 87'' was created which, after progressively gaining speed in a grueling challenger series, became the 1987 challenger. Stars and Stripes sailed against Kookaburra, the Australian defender, with Conner winning the 1987 America's Cup and returning it to the U.S. The 1992 film ''

Wind Wind is the natural movement of atmosphere of Earth, air or other gases relative to a planetary surface, planet's surface. Winds occur on a range of scales, from thunderstorm flows lasting tens of minutes, to local breezes generated by heatin ...

'' portrays in large part the loss of the 1983 Cup and the journey to regain it at the 1987 Challenge. While parts of the film take some creative license with the actual events, ''Wind'' has generally been acclaimed as the single most accurate and realistic sailing film ever made, capturing not only the technical and physical challenges of sailing, but also the realistic and daily culture and lifestyle of professional yachtsmen and yachtswomen.Interviews with Dennis Conner, Australian experts and many critics and others In retrospect, Conner said that losing the Cup in 1983 had been good for the sport of sailing and the Cup itself: "Me losing after 132 years was the best thing that ever happened to the America's Cup and the best thing that ever happened to Dennis Conner...Before the win by the Australians, the America's Cup was only big in the minds of the yachties, but the rest of the world didn't know or care about it at all. But when we lost it... it was a little bit like losing the Panama Canal - suddenly everyone appreciated it. If I hadn't lost it, there never would have been the national effort... without that there never would have been the ticker-tape parade up Fifth Avenue in New York, lunch with the President at the White House and all the doors of opportunity that it opened".

References

External links

Alan Bond and John Bertrand at America's Cup celebrations, The Esplanade, Perth

''Australia II'' KA 6
{{America'sCup

1983 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning of the ...

America's Cup The America's Cup is a sailing competition and the oldest international competition still operating in any sport. America's Cup match races are held between two sailing yachts: one from the yacht club that currently holds the trophy (known ...