Three Baltic fleet competitors– Blue Marlin (K-17) Kiwi Magic (KZ-7) and Vema III (N-11) were off-loaded yesterday from SevenStar’s SINGELGRACHT at Portsmouth, RI., in preparation for the 12 mR Worlds
Blue Marlin (K17) – Charles E. Nicholson, the then world’s premier naval architect, started 1936 to plan and build a new 12 Metre for Marion B Carstairs (1900-1993), a citizen of Bermuda. The yacht was built at the Camper & Nicholson Gosport Yard in the U.K as plan # 454, for a yacht named “Hurricane”.
New Zealand (KZ 7) – “Kiwi Magic” was the America’s Cup challenge boat sailed by Chris Dickson in the Louis Vuitton Cup Challenger series held in Gage Roads off Fremantle, Australia during the summer months of 1986 through 1987. She was New Zealand’s first America’s Cup entry and was the premier boat in the New Zealand Challenge syndicate.
Vema III (N 11) – Was designed by Johan Anker of Norway. She was built by Anker & Jensen in 1933, with a total refit by Walsteds in 1999/2000.
List of 12mR World Championship Competitors:
https://12mrworlds.com/2019-competitors/
The 12 Metre World Championship – comes to Newport, R.I. this summer (July 8-13), it will celebrate one of the greatest classes in world sailing history. The 112-year-old International 12 Metre Class encompasses a living history of racing yacht design by the world’s foremost naval architects who pushed their designs to the very limits of innovation. The resulting boats represented the pinnacle of yacht development from 1907-1987 for the highest levels of international sailing competition: the Olympic Games (1908-1920) and the America’s Cup (1958-1987).
Photo Credit:
Photographer Stephen R. Cloutier
What a pity that Australia II, historically the greatest 12 metre of the class, won’t be there. By beating the USA’s 132 year stranglehold of the America’s Cup, and ending the longest winning streak in sporting history, tiny little Australia showed that any nation, no matter how big and powerful they might seem, can be pushed aside in a fair fight by ingenuity, courage and sheer determination.
The yacht Australia II is displayed inside at the Western Australia Maritime Museum in a defining moment of the final race. KA 6 is heeled to approximately 9 degrees as it approaches the mark, to begin the final leg to the finish. At 5.21pm the yacht crossed the line to win the America’s Cup.
Tiny Australia?