Liberty (yacht)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 Liberty in 1983. | |
| Yacht club |  New York Yacht Club |
|---|---|
| Nation |  United States |
| Class | 12-metre |
| Sail no | US–40 |
| Designer(s) | Johan Valentijn |
| Builder | Newport Offshore, Ltd. |
| Launched | 1983 |
| Owner(s) | Freedom syndicate |
| Racing career | |
| Skippers | Dennis Conner |
| Notable victories | 1983 America's Cup Defender Selections Series |
| America's Cup | 1983 America's Cup |
| AC Defender Selection Series | 1983 America's Cup Defender Selections Series |
Liberty (US-40) was an American racing yacht in the 12-metre class that unsuccessfully defended the 1983 America's Cup.
After a competition with Defender and Courageous, Liberty was selected as the defender.[1] She lost to Australia II by 3–4 in the America's Cup.[2]
Following the 1980 America's Cup where Freedom defeated Australia, the Freedom ’83 Defence Syndicate, whose fundraising was run through the Maritime College at the Fort Schuyler Foundation, decided to commission two new 12 metre yachts for the 1983 defence. Dennis Conner asked the designers to take risks so that the new boat would not simply be a refined version of Freedom, but rather a new design that broke through her.[3]
The first boat, Spirit of America (US-34), was designed by Bill Langan from Sparkman & Stephens. Langan described it as a "large, light twelve."[4]
The second boat, Magic (US-38), was designed by Johan Valentijn. Valentijn sought to build a small, light displacement 12 metre and Magic was several feet shorter than Spirit of America and displaced a mere 45,000 pounds (20.4 metric tonnes) – about three-quarters of most contemporary 12 metres. Both Spirit of America and Magic were commissioned at Fort Schuyler, New York, on 17 April 1982.[5]
Both boats, however, were failures. Despite the best efforts of the designers with input from computers, wind tunnels, and test tanks, Freedom dominated its new stablemates: Magic was uncompetitive in strong wind and Spirit of America would have needed major modifications to become competitive. On 8 September 1982, Dennis Conner announced that Magic would be sold and that the proceeds would be used to design a third boat for the Freedom ’83 syndicate.[6]
Design and construction
The initial proposal for the third boat was that Sparkman & Stephens and Johan Valentijn would collaborate to design a refined version of Freedom. This idea was eventually abandoned and ultimately Valentijn was asked to design the third boat himself with the input of Halsey Herreshoff, Conner’s navigator and a designer in his own right.[7]
Liberty was built by Newport Offshore and was delivered to the Freedom ’83 Syndicate in January 1983. Early results were mixed, but she was a clear improvement over Spirit of America and the Sparkman and Stephens’ boat was retired.[8]
By early spring 1983, it was clear some modifications were needed to improve Liberty’s performance. In particular, its seaway motion needed to be steadied and, in the process, make its performance in heavy winds comparable to Freedom’s. Three feet were cut from the boat’s stern and both the keel and rig were moved forward.[9] The alterations worked. Just before the defender races began, Conner announced that Liberty would be the boat he would be sailing on behalf of the Freedom ’83 syndicate.[10]