America's Cup: Australia's yacht won 1983

America’s Cup history began around Britain’s Isle of Wight as the Royal Yacht Squad­ron’s £100 Cup, awarded to the race winner. Comm­odore of the Ro­yal Yacht Squa­d­ron, Earl of Wi­l­ton, had invited the Americans to take part in 1851, the first for­eign yac­ht to enter the race. The Americans played up the rad­ic­al new design of their yacht and hinted they had a secret weapon i.e a new hull design AND less sail aloft. In any case, the race was won by the schooner America rep­resenting the young New York Yacht Club.

The two ships, Australia II and Liberty

With this single victory, America transformed yachting into an in­ternational competition. The New York Yacht Club Commodore John Cox Stevens and his syndicate members sold the winning schooner before returning home. They donated the trophy to New York’s Yacht Club in 1857 under a Deed of Gift: that the trophy would be a perp­etual challenge cup for friendly competition between nations.

The New York Yacht Club’s first defence of the Cup took place in 1870. Britain repeatedly challenged for the Cup, with one compet­it­or, Sir Thomas Lipton, mounting five failed challenges from 1899-1930. As years passed, the hope of breaking this extraordinary winning streak made the America’s Cup even more desirable.

Britain and Canada were the only nations to challenge for the Cup until 1962 when an Australian syndicate headed by Sir Frank Packer and based at the Royal Sydney Yacht Club challenged, in Gre­tel. Al­though the Amer­icans won again, the competition was close; in fact Gretel was the first boat to win an America’s Cup race for decades.

The Australians sailed in 1970 on Gretel II but again failed. Serious Australian involvement st­arted when entrepren­eur Al­an Bond entered the Cup challenges in 1974 with South­ern Cross. Southern Cross and Aust­ralia had failed in their previous attempts, but they prov­ided crucial training for the team and for John Bert­r­and, future captain.

 Training on Australia II   

Before the Australians could chall­enge for the Am­er­ica’s Cup, they had to beat the Canadians, Fr­ench, British and others. So the crew, based in Per­th and rigorously trained, prepared themselves for the series of races to det­ermine the final challen­g­er. In the 5 mon­ths leading up to the Cup, Australia won 47 of the 56 qualif­y­ing races.

Alan Bond bankrolled Royal Perth Yacht Club’s entry, Aus­tralia II which was built in Perth by local boatbuilder, Ben Mil­ler Lexcen. The most noted advance was Lexcen’s new winged keel design which was se­cretly tested in Holland, out-performing regular keels. The team kept it a secret, exposing only at the end.

Patent for the keel

The 1983 America’s Cup race was a best of 7 race tournament. Skip­pered by John Bertrand, Aus­tr­alia II lined up ag­ainst America’s Li­b­erty, skippered by Dennis Con­ner until the race was cancelled due to weat­her problems. Race I was started the next day, but Aus­t­ral­ia II was tr­oubled by eq­uip­ment failure. Lib­erty won by 1 min­ute 10 seconds. The Austral­ians’ Race II was also marred by eq­u­ip­ment failure, with Conner winning by 1 minute 33 seconds.

Race III was abandoned as neither yacht could complete the course in the time limit, and was restarted the next day. Australia II won by 3 minutes and 14 seconds, which brought jubilation to the Austral­ians and their fans. Howe­ver when Liberty won Race IV, it might have been all over for the Australian cam­paign. Australia II had to win every one of the next three races to take the Cup. In Race V, the Americans were winning yet they lost their ad­vantage due to equipment failure. Australia won by 1 minute, 47 seconds. Race VI made history by Australia winning. It was the first time a defender had gone 3-all, the biggest winning margin recorded.

Bond(L) and Bertrand acknowledge the fans

  
2,000 boats watched the vital Race 7, which was post­­poned due to unstable weather. The Austral­ians started well in the delayed race but Liberty increased its lead at every mark. Designer Ben Lexcen couldn’t bear watching so he went below on the Bond laun­­ch, Black Swan. Lexcen was only alerted to Australia’s amaz­ing comeback by the screaming of those on board the officials’ boat. Two vital dif­f­erences let Australia II regain the lead. The spin­naker was set and held better than Liberty, and Australia II found a few extra winds. Once in the lead, Liberty attacked vigorously on the final leg, tack­ing 45 times in attempting to regain the lead. But the Australians won by 41 seconds. Against all the odds Austr­alia II became the first non-American yacht to win the Cup!

In Australia, Race 7 was in the wee hours of our morn­ing; still, much of the nation watched the historic victory on tv. Australia erup­t­ed, captivated by the Newport Rhode Island drama!! Pre­viously of in­t­er­est only to yacht­ies, The Am­er­ica’s Cup had energised the ent­ire public. The 1983 chal­l­enge was seen as a summer-long epic that wiped wars, politics and economics from the pages of news­pap­ers. It evoked the spirit of ANZAC heroism in WW1.

Alan Bond accepting the trophy

New York Yacht Club

 
In Sept 1983 Australia II made history when the oldest sporting trophy in the world, America’s Cup, was wrested from the Amer­icans for the first time in 132 years. In May 1984 the Federal Cab­inet proudly bought Australia II from Alan Bond!! In 1988 the race material was bought by the Australian government for $2,000,000, and accessioned into the National Museum of Australia coll­ection. The yacht was displayed in Fremantle before a new home in Sydney, the Australian National Maritime Museum, was prepared.

In 1995 the Australian government offered the yacht back to Western Austral­ia, recognising the value of conserving objects in their or­iginal homes. A purpose-built facility to house the yacht became a museum in 2002, located on Victoria Quay in Fremantle.

40 years on, Austral­ia II skipper John Bertrand 76 and thriv­ing, is chairman of Sport Australia Hall of Fame and Pres. Swimming Aust­ral­ia. For people who remember 1983, the Amer­ic­a’s Cup, its skipp­er and the most popular prime minister Bob Hawke, became part of the nation’s culture.

 Western Australian Museum  

The Australia II team had a reun­ion in 2023 in Perth to mark the 40th anniversary of their win. The incredible 1983 team flew in from around the world.