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} Newport Regatta
12 Metre Pre-Worlds:
LAST BLAST BEFORE
THE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
By Barby MacGowan
Photo Credit: Ian Roman
Nyala (US-12), winner in Vintage Division, at the 12 Metre
Pre-Worlds, part of Sail Newport’s Newport
In preparation for the recent 12 Metre World
Championship (July 8-13) in Newport,
R.I., a fleet of 16 12 Metres competed in
Sail Newport’s annual Newport Regatta
and counted it as their official 12 Metre Pre-
Worlds. After five races over two days (July
6-7), New Zealand (KZ-3), Victory ’83, (K-22)
Columbia (US-16) and Nyala (US-12) became
the names to beat, winning their respective
divisions, but not without a fight. This regatta
foreshadowed the intense competition to come
when 22 of these yachts – considered some of
the most iconic in the history of sailboat design
and spanning the decades between the 1920s
and 1980s – compete at the Worlds.
“It was unprecedented and awesome to see so
many 12 Metres together on Narragansett Bay
and Rhode Island Sound (where they sailed,
respectively, on Saturday and Sunday),” said
12 Metre Worlds Event Chair Peter Gerard,
“And it will be even more spectacular next
week when another six 12 Metres join the
racing, making it the largest gathering of 12
Metres since the 2001 America’s Cup Jubilee.”
The 12 Metres, most famous as America’s Cup
boats but also with ties to the Olympics in the
early 1900s, are divided into divisions based
mainly on when they were built. They are
Grand Prix (for 12 Metres built between 1983
and 1987 with winged keels), Modern (1967-
1983), Traditional (1958-1964) and Vintage
(1907-1958).
Photo Credit: Ian Roman
Victory ‘83 (KA-22), winner in Modern Division
After two firsts and a second on one Saturday,
Dennis Williams’ Victory ‘83 (KA-22) had
four points on Enterprise (US-27) going into
Sunday’s Modern Division racing. “We just
wanted to sail the racecourse as fast as we
could,” said Williams, who won Sunday’s first
race by 20 boat lengths or so and “never looked
back” after establishing an early lead on the
eight-mile twice-around windward-leeward
course. “In the second race, a start near the pin
end didn’t really work for us; we got pinned
out by Intrepid (US-22) and couldn’t sail the
course we wanted to sail. We finally got free
and ended up second but took a penalty (2
points) for fouling Challenge XII (KA-10) at
the weather mark.
“If you make a mistake you get shot out
the back; it’s pretty simple,” said Williams.
“You can’t find big boat around-the-buoys
racing like this anywhere else. There’s lots
of very close competition, and the boats are
technically challenging; it’s really a lot of
fun. We hope we can go out and show our
competitors the way around the course next
week!”
Continued on page 35
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