{"id":79736,"date":"2024-10-15T09:18:06","date_gmt":"2024-10-15T13:18:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/?p=79736"},"modified":"2024-10-23T10:43:32","modified_gmt":"2024-10-23T14:43:32","slug":"checkered-path-the-schooner-america","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/sailboats\/checkered-path-the-schooner-america\/","title":{"rendered":"A Checkered Path: The Schooner America"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\n\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\"Book <\/div>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n
\n The Last Days of the Schooner <\/i>America: A Lost Icon at the Annapolis Warship Factory<\/i><\/span>\n Courtesy David Gendell<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\t <\/figcaption>\n <\/section>\n\t\t\n\n\n

The schooner yacht America<\/em> was a child star and a technological marvel. Arguably the most famous yacht ever built, she won the \u00adsilver cup in August 1851, and now she represents the pinnacle of yacht racing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The story of America<\/em>\u2019s design, build, and her first 16 weeks afloat are the stuff of legend, and for good reason: The schooner\u2019s origin story is irresistible and watertight. The yacht was funded by New York\u2019s wealthiest sportsmen and created specifically for international competition; an invitation to compete had been extended to the Americans from British yachtsmen based at Cowes, on England\u2019s southern coast. The resultant design brief was ambitious: The new yacht must possess the ability to safely and swiftly cross the ocean but also to win nearshore races against yachts specifically built for that purpose. Her given name reflected the aspirations of her owners: America<\/em>. About 100 feet long on deck, America<\/em> was constructed on the Lower East Side of Manhattan in the winter of 1850 and into 1851.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

America<\/em>\u2019s design represented the latest\u2014somewhat radical\u2014ideas of how to create a fast racing yacht. Low to the water, lean, and carrying her maximum beam far forward of other racing yachts, she was rigged simply but ingeniously. A maximum of four sails meant that maneuvers could be executed quickly and by a relatively small crew. These sails were carried by a pair of dramatically raked masts. The engineless America<\/em> featured state-of-the art sailing technology, including tightly woven cotton duck sails and lead ballast carried low and carefully molded to fit the shape of her hull. A tiller\u2014more responsive than a wheel\u2014could be fitted on for racing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\"US <\/div>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n
\n America on display at the US Naval Academy in 1924.\n<\/span>\n Special Collections and Archives<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\t <\/figcaption>\n <\/section>\n\t\t\n\n\n

In June 1851, just weeks after her launching, and with her racing sails stowed below, America<\/em> bolted across the Atlantic\u2014New York to La Havre\u2014in just 19 days (a passenger-\u00adcarrying sailing ship of the era might complete the same route in 40 days). At Le Havre, her hull was painted black and, from there, she traveled to Cowes, England, to meet the British fleet. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

On August 22, 1851, America<\/em> soundly defeated the cream of the British yachting fleet in a 53-mile race around the Isle of Wight. In the wake of this landmark victory, Queen Victoria walked her decks, and her owners were awarded a 27-inch-tall 134-ounce bottomless trophy made at Garrard\u2019s, the Queen\u2019s Crown Jeweler. Just 16 weeks after her launch, America<\/em> was a legend. Her origin story is, to this day, familiar to sailors and aficionados of naval history and continues to be widely studied, written about, discussed, and analyzed in a near fetishized manner. However, what happened to America<\/em> after the win at Cowes is a decidedly less-trafficked patch of water. America<\/em>\u2019s career post-Cowes is a more checkered narrative. After winning the cup, America<\/em> was at the center of a decades-long run of \u00adadventure, neglect, rehabilitations, and hard sailing, always \u00adsurrounded by \u00adcolorful, passionate personalities. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Recognizing an opportunity to cash in on their schooner at the top of the market\u2014and harboring no sense of nostalgia or emotion\u2014America<\/em>\u2019s American owners sold the schooner almost immediately after the race around the Isle of Wight. The new owner cut down her spars and added ballast. She would still be fast but never again as racy. America<\/em> changed hands again and again. By 1854, just three years after her famous victory, she was abandoned on a mudbank at Cowes. Two years later, a shipwright bought her and began a restoration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n