Too good to refuse?


That the New York Yacht Club has played so little part in the America’s Cup since the turn of the century is a running sore for many American yachtsmen. But with a couple of weak challenges in 12 Metres and ACC yachts since the Cup headed down to New Zealand in 1995, club members have been understandably nervous of another poor showing. This time, however, the mountain really did come to Mohammad, as Cup aficionado and Cup-winning spar builder Eric Hall explains


Once again an America’s Cup contender will be built in Bristol, Rhode Island. Bristol’s place in America’s Cup history is unchal- lenged and needs no introduction. More America’s Cup winners have been built here in Bristol than in any other country. And it’s not even close. Beginning in 1893 with Vigilant through the America3 in


1992, nine Cup winners have been built in Bristol. Of course, except for America3 built by Eric Goetz, all the Bristol-built


56 SEAHORSE ,


defenders were built by the Herreshoff Manufacturing Company, also more than any other country. And six alone were designed by Nathaniel G Herreshoff, aka Capt Nat and The Wizard of Bristol. And, yes, also more than any other country. I have a long personal connection with


America’s once frenetic epicentre of the racing yacht industry. It started in 1959, when on a Cruising Club of America cruise near Newport, we ended up in an anchor- age between residential Bristol and Hog Island, a small island at the head of Bristol Harbor. Clint Pearson was building boats nearby and offered our small fleet the use of his new 17ft Tigercat catamaran. Well, we sailed it all day and until just after dark and if we weren’t hooked on cats before then, we were now. We also made some quaint 8mm home movies that still exist! Looking at them again today, it’s nice to


see that area where we did this sailing hasn’t changed a bit. Decades later we bought a house overlooking the same anchorage. It was also years later that I learned of Bristol’s incomparable America’s Cup history. It doesn’t take much for Bristol to start coursing through your veins.


After watching Team New Zealand win


the final 2017 America’s Cup race in Bermuda, NYYC Commodore Phil Lotz muttered loudly to himself, ‘Now we can be in this thing!’ By October Lotz and the New York


Yacht Club were in business. After a flurry of rumours, on 5 October 2017 the club made it official: a team headed by Hap Fauth (of Bella Mente) and Doug DeVos (of Quantum Racing) would challenge for the Cup under the NYYC burgee with Terry Hutchinson as executive director and skipper. The club’s representative on the team would be Commodore Lotz. Unquestionably the key guy on this


team is Terry. A veteran of five America’s Cup programmes, Terry’s the one who brought the team together. He’s the reason Hap Fauth and Doug DeVos are in. He has sailed extensively for, and is highly respected by, both. Neither Fauth nor DeVos had any inter-


est in doing it alone, although they probably could have. But when Terry brought them together, each saw the same attractive opportunity. And each had not only some- one with whom to share the costs, but also a


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