Reliance was
the 1903 America's Cup defender,
reportedly the largest sloop ever
built.
She was designed by the famous
designer Nat Herreshoff, his fourth
America's Cup defender design. Her
design took advantage of a loophole
in the contemporary '90-foot' rule,
to produce a vessel with long
overhangs at each end, so that when
she heeled over, her waterline
length (and therefore her speed)
increased dramatically.
Crew of Reliance was one of
the earliest pure large racing
yachts; she was completely
unfinished below deck, with exposed
frames. She was also the first to
employ winches (below deck), in an
era when her competitors relied on
sheer man-power.
Her sail plan was massive: from the
tip of her bowsprit to the end of
her 108 foot boom, she measured 201
feet, and the tip of her mast was
199 feet above the water (the height
of a 20-story building). Everything
else was to an equally gargantuan
scale; her spinnaker pole was 84
feet long, and her total sail area,
around 17,000 square feet, was the
equivalent of 8 12 meter class
yachts.
Her racing career was
extraordinarily brief -- and
undefeated. She bested her America's
Cup challenger, Sir Thomas Lipton's
Shamrock III, designed by William
Fife, in both races they actually
finished (the third was called off
due to light air). Sadly, this
magnificent vessel was broken up the
very next year; the 90-foot rule
which had produced such extreme,
dangerous and expensive vessels was
abandoned, and Reliance became
obsolete.
"They tell me I have a beautiful
boat. I don't want a beautiful boat.
What I want is a boat to lift the
Cup -- a Reliance. Give me a homely
boat, the homeliest boat that was
ever designed, if she is as fast as
Reliance." -- Sir Thomas Lipton,
after his 1903 defeat