Sparkman & Stephens INTREPID

12 Meter Intrepid with Gerry Driscoll at the helm and Baron BICH close by. Intrepid was designed by Olin Stephens, and was built of double-planked mahogany on white oak frames. She featured important innovations both above and below the waterline. The rudder was separated from the keel and a trim tab was added. This new general underbody type, with relatively minor refinements, was used on every subsequent Cup boat until the 12-metre Australia II’s winged keel of 1983. Above decks, Intrepid featured a very low boom, made possible by locating the winches below decks. The low boom caused an “end-plate effect”,[clarification needed] making the mainsail more efficient.

Sail Number: US-22

Type: 12 Metre (Third Rule)

Intrepid Specifications:

LOA: 64’0″ / 19.50m – LWL: 48’0″ / 14.63m – Beam: 12’3″ / 3.73m – Draft: 9’0” / 2.74m – Design Number: 1834 – Designer: Olin J. Stephens – Original Owner: Intrepid Syndicate, U.S.A. – Current Owner: John P. Curtain, Jr. (Intrepid Charters LLC) – Former name(s) Windancer
Year Built: 1967 – Built By: Minneford Yacht Yard, City Island, NY – Hull Material: Double-planked mahogany on white oak frames – Gross Displacement: 60,000 lbs / 27,215kg – Sail Area: 1,756 sq ft


 

Historical:

Designed by Sparkman & Stephens and built and launched by the Minneford Yacht Yard, City Island, NY in 1967. Design number 1834 was S&S’s 6th 12 Metre, incorporating a revolutionizing innovative hull shape, first fin and skeg configuration with a trim tab. Adding to greater stability the crew and winches were moved below deck to facilitate a lower innovative bending boom, with the top portion of the mast was made out of titanium. She easily won the 1967 America’s Cup Races 4-0 against Dame Pattie.

For the 1970 Cup defense INTREPID was modified by Britton Chance. Her keel was redesigned and recast, she was given a longer waterline, a reduced wetted area and her weight increased. She became the second yacht (after Columbia 1899 and 1901) to successfully defend the America’s Cup twice, the first 12 metre to do so. Intrepid won the Caritas Cup (NYYC) in 1970 and the Chandler Hovey Gold Bowl (NYYC) in 1967 and 1970.

Redesigned yet again by Olin Stephens and his team at S&S, she was back again for a third time in 1974 under the command of Californian Gerry Driscoll. Intrepid came within one race of becoming the only three time America’s Cup Defender in history, losing the final race of the Defender trials to Ted Hood on the brand new Courageous.

Intrepid had many home ports from Miami, FL to Seattle, WA to Monaco, FRA where she was briefly owned by the L’Association Francaise pour La Coupe de l’Amerique (Marcel Bich) in 1979. From there she was returned to the US to Luskegon MI, renamed Windancer and was hired for charters on Lake Champlain. In 1993, Intrepid Sailing Inc. brought her to Seekonk, MA, she was run aground on the Nantucket breakwater in 1994.

Now owned by Intrepid Charters LLC (John P. Curtain, Jr.) she was completely rebuilt at Brewer’s Cove Haven Marina in Barrington, RI under the direction of Herb Marshall (American Eagle) and George Hill (Weatherly) of America’s Cup Charters. She had a new deck and deck beams, floor timbers, ring frames, bottom planking and ballast keel. She is actively sailed and raced in the Newport fleet.

Chartering Information: America’s Cup Charters

Content Credit: The Twelve Metre Class by Dyer Jones & Luigi Lang | America’s Cup Charters

 

Provenance. (The Wall of Remembrance – The Owners, Crew & Notable Guest):

Owner: (1967-1971) – Intrepid Syndicate, U.S.A.
Captain: Bus” Mosbacher (1967 America’s Cup Winner)
Captain: Bill Ficker (1970 America’s Cup Winner)
Owner: (1971-1972) – International Oceanographic Foundation, Miami
Owner: (1972-1976) – George F. Jewett
Captain: Gerry Driscoll (1974 Defender Trials)
Owner: (1976-1978) – Robert H. Fendler, Seattle, WA
Owner: (1978-1980) – Pierre G. Goemans, Monaco
Owner: (1979) – Marcel Bich (AFCA)
Owner: (1993-1996) – Intrepid Sailing Inc
Owner: (1996) – John P. Curtin, Jr. (Intrepid Charters LLC)

 

 

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Time limit is exhausted. Please reload CAPTCHA.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.