A living piece of yachting history

After USA lost the 1983 America’s Cup to Australia, the 1987 edition attracted 13 challengers and four defense syndicates seeking to compete in the 26th Match. The series was held in Gage Roads off Fremantle, Western Australia, and Dennis Conner was eager to win back the Cup he lost.

His Stars & Stripes team succeeded in a remarkable story of triumph, but this was the last time 12-Metre class yachts were used in the America’s Cup. Many of these yachts remain active today, and Cup fan Gordon Baird shares a recent encounter with a living piece of yachting history:

I had been invited to Hilton Head Island to be a passenger on one of Conner’s 12-Meter yachts. Built in 1986, it had just turned 40 and was still sailing. Who knew? It was like meeting a Greek God.

At the dock, it looked exactly like it had in all those video tapes I’d set to record at 2:00 am to catch the racing from the other side of the world. That special gun-metal blue coloring, the double steering wheels – right and left – the towering white mast. It was like a ghost from my past. – Full report