The Winged Keel
In 1983 "Australia II" competing for the America's Cup in Newport, RI – stunned the sailing community by winning possession of the world's oldest continuously awarded trophy.
This year will mark the 80th year for the Sydney to Hobart Yacht race. [Ed: My father raced in 1949, one of the very first events. See “Finding Eolo” at base of post.] The America’s Cup is another famous sailing event, predating the American Civil War. All was well for the New York Yacht Club until …
The America’s Cup is the oldest continuously awarded trophy in the world. The race it is associated with predates the American Civil War. Between 1851 and 1983, the New York Yacht Club (NYYC) had won every race and had even bolted the Cup to a stand in their trophy room. Such was their confidence that the “Auld Mug” would be forever theirs.
But in the 1970s, Australian entrepreneur Alan Bond came up with a plan to unseat it from NYYC’s altar, and enlisted the help of self-taught boat designer and Novacastrian Ben Lexcen.
In May 1983, when the crew of Australia II arrived at the start of the cup in Newport, Rhode Island, the eyes of the media locked on the skirt drawn tightly around the keel. The design of the boat’s keel was a closely guarded secret, but its reputation had preceded it. Lexcen’s design featured a reduced waterline length and a winged keel which gave the boat a significant advantage in manoeuvrability and heeling moment (lower ballast centre of gravity). The sailing world was caught off guard and stunned.
The winged keel was a major design advance. During the summer of 1983, as selection trials took place for the Cup defence that autumn, the New York Yacht Club challenged the legality of the keel design. The controversy was ultimately decided in Australia II’s favour.
The Cup – won by the best of seven races over several weeks – was tied at three-all at the final start line. Australia II’s crew battled nerves after a false start, but after swapping the lead with the NYYC’s Liberty three times, ultimately won by 41 seconds.
Back at the dock, Bond ordered the boat to be lifted out of the water to show off the mysterious keel. People jumped into the water to touch it, someone still wearing his dinner suit.
On the other side of the world, sleep-deprived Australians who had been rising day after day for the 2:00am AEST starts to the races began to celebrate in earnest. Bob Hawke, the Prime Minister at the time (wearing a jacket of questionable taste) famously declared to the assembled media throng: “I’ll tell you what: any boss who sacks a worker for not turning up today is a bum.” [Ed: Onya Hawkie.]
In 2009, more than two decades after Lexcen’s death, Dutch naval architect Peter van Oossanen claimed that the winged keel was actually designed by him and his group of Dutch designers, and not Lexcen. If true, this would have been reason to disqualify Australia II, since the rules then stated that challenging yachts were to be designed only by citizens of the nations they represented.
The suggestion that the vessel was not designed by Australians has been refuted by both Australia II’s skipper John Bertrand and project manager John Longley. Furthermore, it is well established that Lexcen had been experimenting with wing adaptations to the undersurface appendages of boats before, including his 1958 skiffs Taipan and Venom.
In 1983 Lexcen commented on the design issue:
“I have in mind to admit it all to the New York Yacht Club that I really owe the secret of the design to a Greek guy who helped me out and was invaluable. He’s been dead for 2,000 years. Bloody Archimedes …”
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