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HISTORY
Courageous is a 12-metre class yacht. She was the third boat to
win the America's Cup twice, in 1974 and 1977, after Columbia in
1899 and 1901, and Intrepid in 1967 and 1970. All three of these
boats won for the New York Yacht Club and thus the United
States. Courageous was the first all aluminum-hulled 12-metre
class yacht.
Courageous successfully defended the America's Cup for the USA
in 1974 with Ted Hood at the helm. After the 1974 cup, Hood
built a new boat which he thought was faster than Courageous,
and sold Courageous to Ted Turner. Turner won the 1977 America's
Cup defender trials in Courageous, beating Hood in the process,
and then went on to successfully defend the America's Cup later
that year.
When preparing Courageous for the 1977 America's Cup, she was
re-measured for compliance with the 12-metre class rule. It was
discovered that she was lighter than the weight declared in her
original racing certificate for the 1974 America's Cup. Less
weight typically means a faster performance in lighter winds and
a slower performance in stronger winds. If Courageous had been
found to be under weight before the competition in 1974 then the
designers would have had to make adjustments to sail area, the
waterline length, or other attributes to make the design comply
with the 12-metre rule. If Courageous was found to be
underweight during the event she would have been disqualified.
It is only conjecture what effect this oversight had on the
result of the 1974 event.
Both Courageous and Intrepid are still sailing and racing today
in Newport, Rhode Island. Intrepid is available for charter and
Courageous is privately owned.
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