Sail Number: Aus 772
Type: Maxi Yacht (Aux. Sloop/keel, interchangeable yawl 1968)
LOA: 73’7” / 22.43m – LOD: 73’7” / 22.43m – LWL: 54’11” / 16.74m – Beam: 14’11” / 4.55m – Draft: 10’10” / 3.30m – Displacement: 92,250 lbs / 45,000k – Ballast: 40,000 lbs / 2,000 lbs inside – Hull material: Aluminium – Sail Area: 2,700 sq ft. – Designer: Sparkman and Stephens, no. 1713 – Built by: Yacht Dynamics, Harbor City, California – Year Launched: 1964 – Current Name: Kialoa II – Original Owner: John B. “Jim” Kilroy – FLAG: Australia (AU) – Location: Marine Traffic
Kialoa II 1971 Sydney Hobart Dare to Win – Kilroy Family
Historical:
Kialoa II (name derived from a Hawaiian word for ‘long, beautiful canoe’) was designed by Sparkman & Stephens and built by Yacht Dynamics, in Harbor City, California out of aircraft grade aluminum (largest aluminum yacht built in the United States in 1963) for Jim Kilroy.
Jim Kilroy – “a comfortable 12 Meter.” Cruising comfort, regardless of weather conditions for her crew, wife and five children. Forced-draft system, air-conditioned, and useable underway…unknown to most of her racing competitors at this time.
The Class A boat weighs approximately 92,250 lbs / 45,000k, carrying 2,700 square feet of sail area, accommodating a crew of 16, with auxiliary power from an aluminum GM 4-53 130 hp. diesel.
Dynamic’s President Kenneth Watts comments at the time of building Kialoa II – Aluminum shapes and special developmental sections for the racing sloop are being produced by Harvey Aluminum. Built Cheaper “Cost-wise,” said Watts, “we believe aluminum boats can be built cheaper than boats out of wood. The value of a boat like Kilroy’s Kialoa II 20 years from now will be worth a lot more than the money paid for it. “An aluminum boat will not get what we call tired. After 30 years of use, it will be just as rigid and strong as it is today. A wooden boat has a tendency to get sort of lax or hogback, just like a chair. It requires greater upkeep and takes on a musty odor in a few years. “An aluminum boat won’t.
Kialoa II won numerous races on the Eastern and Western seaboard, the Transpacific Race to Hawaii in 1965, the Transatlantic race to Ireland, the Sydney-Hobart in 1971 and many other races. Rigged sometimes as a sloop and sometimes, a yawl, Kialoa II won one of every four races she sailed, and finished on the podium in more than half of them.
When Mr. Kilroy built his third Kialoa, he donated her to the U.S. Coast Guard to be used as a training vessel. In 1978 she was sold by the Coast Guard to a Martin Crowley. After considerable repairs Crowley took her through the Panama Canal to the West Coast. In 1982 she was chartered for the Victoria – Maui race, and was subsequently entered in the Clipper Cup in Hawaii. Kialoa II was chartered for a while in Maui, and then was brought back to California and put up for sale.
In 1999 Jos Fruytier, a Dutch sailor with a soft spot for historic sailing vessels, flew to Honolulu on Christmas Day and bought her on the spot. A sound hull was one reason that Fruytier decided to point Kialoa’s bow southwest into the South Pacific and begin a 20,000-mile voyage lasting over a year. He flew home periodically to attend to family and business, but eventually delivered Kialoa II to Metur Yachts in Bodrum, Turkey for a full refit, completed in 2003, before continuing to cruise Kialoa II mainly in the Med and northern Europe.
Patrick and Keith Broughton bought the 73’ yawl in 2016 with the view to compete in the classic ocean races as Kialoa II did under Jim Kilroy.
Provenance (The Wall of Remembrance – The Owners, Crew & Notable Guest):
- Owner/Guardian: (1964-1973) – John B. “Jim” Kilroy, Newport Harbor Yacht Club, Balboa Yacht Club. (May 1, 1922 – September 29, 2016) – In his memoir about racing, business and life, Kilroy described being born in Ruby, Alaska, on May 1, 1922, and then growing up in Southern California during the Great Depression. In 1940 he was hired at Douglas Aircraft, where he started off as an inspector and quickly studied manufacturing processes. After serving in the US Army Air Corps Reserve (1944–46) and no longer with Douglas, he began to realize the potential of commercial real estate. Kilroy focused on prime sites across Southern California airports, founding Kilroy Realty Corp, which today is a major Real Estate Investment Trust.In 2011, he was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award by Real Estate Forum and GlobeSt.com at their annual conference. In 2014 Kilroy was inducted into the National Sailing Hall of Fame.Having set up the John B. and Nelly Llanos Kilroy Foundation, Kilroy said proceeds from his memoir would go to benefit youth.
- Owner/Guardian: (1973) – United States Coast Guard Academy, New London, CT.
- Owner/Guardian: Martin Crowley
- Owner/Guardian: (1985-1999) – Frank and Cynthia Robben
- Owner/Guardian: (1999) – Jos Fruytier
- Owner/Guardian: (2016) – Patrick and Keith Broughton
Resources
Kialoa2.com.au
Rolex Sydney Hobart website
Marine Traffic
Palos Verdes Peninsula News, Volume XXVI, 21 November 1963
Wikipedia
Kenneth Watts (Yacht Dynamics, Harbor City, California)
Yacht World (John Burnham)
US-1: Dare to win, by Jim Kilroy
Andrea Francolini @afrancolini