The 2nd Louis Vuitton Cup was held in Fremantle, Western Australia in 1987. The winner, Stars & Stripes, went on to challenge for and win the 1987 America's Cup.
Teams Twelve syndicates from six countries (Canada, France, Italy, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States) competed in 25 boats for the right to challenge. A further two syndicates entered but failed to compete in the Cup itself. The first syndicates arrived in Fremantle in 1984 with most having established a presence by late 1985 for the 1986 12-Metre World Championships.
It was estimated that the foreign syndicates spent $200M in the challenge efforts.
ClubTeamSkipperYachts New York Yacht ClubUS Merchant Marine Academy Foundation John KoliusAmerica II (US-42, US-44 & US-46) Chicago Yacht ClubHeart of America Challenge Buddy MelgesHeart of America (US 51), Clipper (US 32) Newport Harbor Yacht ClubAmerican Eagle Foundation Rod DavisEagle (US 60), Magic (US 38) St. Francis Yacht ClubGolden Gate Foundation Tom BlackallerUSA I (US 49), USA II (US 61) San Diego Yacht ClubSail America Foundation Dennis ConnerLiberty (US 40), Stars & Stripes 83 (US 36), Stars and Stripes 85 (US 54), Stars and Stripes 86 (US 56) and Stars and Stripes 87 (US 55) Yale Corinthian Yacht ClubCourageous Challenge David VietorCourageous IV (US 26) Yacht Club Costa SmeraldaAzzurra Lorenzo BortolottiAzzurra I (I-4), Azzurra II (I-8), Azzurra III (I-10), Azzurra IV (I-11) Yacht Club ItalianoItalia Flavio Scala & Aldo MigliaccioVictory 83 (I 6), Italia I (I 7) & Italia II (I 9) Société des Régates RochelaisesChallenge Kis France Marc PajotFreedom (US 30), Enterprise (US 27), French Kiss (F 7) Société Nautique de MarseillesMarseilles Syndicate Yves PajotChallenge 12 (F 5), France 3 (F 3), Challenge France (F 4) Royal Nova Scotia Yacht Squadron & Secret Cove Yacht ClubSecret Cove/True North challenge Terry NeilsonTrue North, Canada I/Canada II (KC 1) Royal New Zealand Yacht SquadronNew Zealand Challenge Chris DicksonNew Zealand (KZ 3), New Zealand (KZ 5) and New Zealand (KZ 7) Royal Thames Yacht ClubBritish America's Cup Challenge Harold CudmoreWhite Crusader I (K 24) & White Crusader II (K 25)
US Merchant Marine Academy Foundation (USA) The syndicate from New York Yacht Club was the first foreign syndicate to arrive at Fremantle in 1984. It had two 12-Metre boats, US-42 and US-44 (both named America II) sailing in the following year, skippered by John Kolius. A third sister boat, US-46 arrived shortly after. The challenge cost the NYYC $15M.
Kolius later resigned and was replaced by John Bertrand and Tom McLaughlin. Lexi Gahagan was the navigator.
Heart of America Challenge (USA) Heart of America was from the Chicago Yacht Club and used 1980 defender candidate Clipper as a trial horse. After receiving commercial support from the Chrysler Corporation the team built Heart of America (US 51) to sail in the Cup. Because of concerns about the "arm of the sea" clause of the Deed of Gift of the America's Cup, the Royal Perth Yacht Club requested and received an interpretive ruling from the New York Supreme Court to allow a challenge from a club based on the Great Lakes. The boat was skippered by Buddy Melges and included Bill Shore, Larry Mialik, Andreas Josenhans, Jim Gretzky, Wally Henry, John Stanley, Fred Stritt and Dave Dellenbaugh.
Eagle Foundation (USA) From the Newport Harbor Yacht Club, the Eagle syndicate was based in Newport Harbor, California. The skipper was Rod Davis and designer was Johan Valentijn. The syndicate purchased Magic, a 1983 light displacement Johan Valentijn design, and retrofitted the vessel with a Joop Sloof designed wing keel similar to Australia II. Magic was fitted with Optim data acquisition equipment and extensively tested in Newport, Rhode Island. Data from these tests, large scale model testing and design assistance from Boeing, and Chrysler senior engineers resulted in Johan Valentijn's design Eagle. This 12 meter was close in size to Liberty, but due to a very low center of gravity winged keel design was optimised for Fremantle conditions. Eagle was shipped to Perth while Magic remained in the United States of America.
The crew included Doug Rastello and Jim Allsopp.
Golden Gate Challenge (USA) The Golden Gate Challenge by the St Francis Yacht Club, was the first America's Cup Challenge by the city of San Francisco. Its mayor Dianne Feinstein lead a council of 60 Bay Area mayors to build regional support. The Challenge built two new yachts. The first, built by Stephens Marine in Stockton, California, was a conventional 12-meter boat code named "E-I" (for evolutionary one) (12/US-49) with a winged keel. The second yacht, built by Derecktor Shipyards in Mamaroneck, New York, dubbed "R-1" (for revolutionary one)(12/US-61). Nicknamed "USA-61", the yacht introduced two major innovations. The first was that R-1's classic trim tab was moved from the trailing edge of the keel to the front of the boat and renamed the bow rudder. These twinned rudders could be operated in either the collective mode, where the rudders turned in unison, or the cyclical mode, where the rudders turned in opposite directions. Steering the bow rudder from the stern cockpit presented the engineers with a mechanical challenge and the helmsman with a steep learning curve. R-1 was fastest in smooth water because the bow rudder stayed submerged. Unfortunately, the 20+ knots of breeze and 5–6 foot waves on the race course offshore of Fremantle, Australia didn't provide ideal conditions for the world's first bow-ruddered boat. Competitors smiled whenever they saw R-1's bow rudder come out of the water in the steep waves of Freo. On the other hand, R-1s second innovation was its very narrow keel. It was just 19 inches, fore and aft, with an elongated ellipsoid bulb made of 47,000 pounds of lead (known as the geek) on the bottom edge. While the bow rudder was seldom imitated, the bulb keel has endured and been copied by virtually all racing monohulls since its introduction on this boat. The management team was composed of Cyril Magnin, Honorary Chairman; Bob Scott, Founder and chairman; Bob Cole, Vice Chair; Tom Blackaller, President and Skipper; Ron Young, General Manager and Development; Gary Mull, Naval Architect; Heiner Meldner, Hydrodynamicist; Alberto Calderon, Aerodynamicist; Ken Keeke, Director Onshore Operations. The crew: Tom Blackaller, Skipper; Paul Cayard, Tactician; Craig Healy, Navigator; Stevie Erickson, Mainsail Trimmer; Russ Silvestri, Hank Stuart and Jim Plagenhoef Jib and Spinnaker Trimmers; Brad Lewis, Mikey Erlin and Jeff Littfin Grinders; Kenny Keefe, Pit; Bruce Epke, Mastman/Sewerman; Tom Ducharme, Scott Easom, Scott Inveen, Bowmen. Both boats were named "USA". Tom had skippered "Defender" in the 1983 America's Cup, with Paul Cayard as tactician and Peter Stalkus as navigator.
Sail America Foundation (USA)
After the 1983 loss, Dennis Conner found sponsors and built a syndicate to challenge for the America's Cup. Based at San Diego Yacht Club, the syndicate made use of Conner's 1983 America's Cup defender Liberty (US 40) and refit the 1982 built Spirit of America (US 34), re-commissioning her as Stars and Stripes 83 (US 53). In addition, they commissioned the building of three new boats: Stars and Stripes 85 (US 54), Stars and Stripes 86 (US 56) and Stars and Stripes 87 (US 55). Conner practiced for the Fremantle conditions by training in Hawaii, taking the three new boats with him down to Fremantle to compete for the Cup.
Tom Whidden was the tactician, Peter Isler the navigator and the crew included Scott Vogel, Kyle Smith, Jon Wright, Jay Brown, Adam Ostenfeld, Jim Kavle, Henry Childers, Bill Trenkle and John Barnitt.
Courageous Challenge (USA) From the Yale Corinthian Yacht Club, sailing Courageous, winner of the America's Cup in 1974 and 1977. The boat had been heavily redesigned and updated to make her more competitive for the 1987 campaign. Unfortunately she was largely outclassed by the competition, winning just one race (over Challenge France) but losing to the major contenders by eight to ten minutes an outing. The team withdrew from the Cup before the end of the first round.
The afterguard included Dave Vietor, Warwick Tomkins and Mike Buonvino.
Consorzio Italia (Italy) From Yacht Club Italiano, the Consorzio Italia syndicate was backed by Gucci. The syndicate was inspired by the success of Azzurra in 1983 and began by purchasing Victory '83 to give them a bench mark. The boats were skippered by Flavio Scala and Aldo Migliaccio, with Italophile Rod Davis in the afterguard alongside Tommaso Chieffi and Stefano Roberti. Italia II was seriously damaged during its launch but was repaired in time for the Cup.
Azzurra (Italy) Azzurra was the challenger of record for 1987. From the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda and backed by the Aga Khan, the syndicate eventually had four boats at its disposal. Azzurra I (I-4) competed in the 1983 Louis Vuitton Cup at Newport. Then Azzurra II (I-8) managed to come fifth in the 1986 World Championships, a disappointing result which prompted the construction of two new boats, Azzurra III (I-10) and IV (I-11), from competing designers. The skipper was Olympian Mauro Pelaschier with support from Tiziano Nava, Matteo Plazzi, and Francesco de Angelis.
Challenge Kis France (France) From the Societe des Regates Rochelaise yacht club, the Challenge Kis France was skippered by Marc Pajot and included Marc Bouet and Bertrand Pacé. The boat performed well, winning the second and seventh race in the World Championship series. The syndicate was owned by French businessman, Serge Crasnianski who invested $10 million in the challenge. He later estimated that the venture may have cost his company as much as $70 million in lost revenue. His company, KIS France developed an instant photo development system in 1981 which cornered 60 percent of the world photo laboratory market. The RPYC challenged the legality of the French Kiss name, claiming that it was too commercial being associated with the KIS photo-labs. However, the name was subsequently cleared by an international jury.
Marseilles Syndicate (France) The Societe Nautique de Marseilles challenge began with the purchase of France 3 and Challenge 12 and the confirmation of skipper Yves Pajot, brother of Marc Pajot (French Kiss syndicate skipper). Both twelves were then sailed in Fremantle. However, soon after the construction of Challenge France that the syndicates financial position became known, and it was in deep financial difficulty. The afterguard included Francois Brenac.
New Zealand Challenge (New Zealand)
Originally backed by Marcel Fachler, and later Michael Fay, the team consisted of several Fibreglass boats designed by Ron Holland, Bruce Farr and Laurie Davidson. KZ 3 and KZ 5 were built identically and KZ 7 was then developed after further testing and editing. Skippered by Chris Dickson, the crew were: Brad Butterworth, Ed Danby, Simon Daubney, Brian Phillimore, Mike Quilter, Tony Rae, Jeremy Scantlebury, Kevin Shoebridge, Andrew Taylor and Erle Williams.America's Cup '87, Aurum Press, 1986. p.25
David Barnes was the alternative skipper and the crew included Warwick Fleury, Alan Smith, and Ross Halcrow.
Secret Cove/TrueNorth (Canada) A combined challenge from Canada's Secret Cove Yacht Club and Royal Nova Scotia Yacht Squadron. True North performed well in the World Championships and was heavily modified afterwards. Canada I was designed by Bruce Kirby and became Canada II after being heavily redesigned before the event began. The two teams merged after both were unable to attract the big name sponsors needed for a serious challenge. After extensive training, only Canada II was sent to Fremantle.America's Cup '87, Aurum Press, 1986. p.60 Skippered by Terence Neilson, the crew included Hans Fogh and Andy Roy.
British America's Cup Challenge (United Kingdom)