Maritime Wood

Many of the most famous names in yacht design, construction, and competition appear in the history of early (pre-World War II) 12-meter racing in the United States. Such designers as L. Francis Herreshoff, Clinton Crane, and Olin Stephens, builders such as Abeking & Rasmussen and the Henry B. Nevins Shipyard, and racing sailors of the caliber of Harold Vanderbilt (twice defender of the America’s Cup), Briggs Cunningham, William Strawbridge, and A.L. Loomis were among those involved with one of the most important yacht racing development classes in history. This decade- long period of 12-meter development is an important part of sailing history, because it served as the foundation for the renewed America’s Cup races in the boats starting in 1958.

The measurement calculations that were the genesis for the 12-meter class were first laid out in 1907 when representatives from 13 nations assembled, to form what would later become the International Yacht Racing Union and to design a rule (the “International Rule”) that would attempt to bring order to the chaos of racing yacht measurement up until then.

A 12-meter yacht has no single dimension that is exactly 12 meters. Rather, the figure is the result of a complex series of calculations involving such factors as overall and waterline lengths, measured girth, draft, sail area, etc.

The goal of the International Rule was to allow manipulation of these calculations to encourage the design of racing sailboats that would be not only fast and exciting but also seaworthy and long-lived. In the interest of encouraging sailors of all budgets to become involved in the sport, the committee formulated rules for boats that would measure 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 15, 19, and 23 meters. Implicit in the rule as originally formulated was that waterline length would approximate the boat’s rating; i.e., a 12-meter could be expected to have a waterline length of about 39’.

As has been true with most racing yacht measurement rules over the decades, the International Rule met with both success and resistance. Alternate rules were established by other sanctioning authorities, but the International Rule had enough support so that when it expired in 1919, the committee met again to establish another International Rule closely paralleling the first but with a life expectancy of 17 years. The second International Rule went into effect on January 1, 1920. It limited masthead height for 12-meters to 82’ above the deck, penalized long overhangs, and encouraged greater beam. These changes were postulated on the success of the class to date, as nearly forty 12-meters had been built and raced by 1920.

The International Rule, though popular in Europe, met with a collective yawn in the United States until the late 1920s. In 1928, however, the design firm of Burgess, Rigg, and Morgan created a 12-meter design (as well as an 8-meter). Six boats were built to this plan by Abeking & Rasmussen (the well-known German firm) and shipped to the States for their new owners. The boats, though planked and partially framed in wood, also had some steel frames. These first six boats were 69’2” overall, 42’11” on the waterline, and had a sail area of about 1,970 sq ft.

These 12s were all marconi rigged, a trend that had only recently evolved for the 12s in Europe, as many of the early European boats carried gaff rigs. In fact, gaff-rigged and marconi-rigged 12s raced against each other, on a boat- for-boat basis, through the ‘20s.

The first six Burgess-designed 12s (named Watandance, Isolde, Tycoon, Iris, Anitra, and Onawa) were soon joined by two other boats that had been built in Europe but were brought stateside for the emerging class competition. Cantitoe had originally been named Magda XI and was built in Norway by Anker and Jensen on a Johan Anker design. Though Anker’s name is not well known to modern U.S. racers and designers, he had had a successful career in Europe that included designing and building some twenty 12-meters.