Visitors could be forgiven next weekend if they thought they were in 1970s Newport, not Edgartown in 2017. On Nantucket Sound, with a fleet of 12-metre racing yachts heeling into the wind, it will look like fierce competition for the America’s Cup, with time warped back 50 years and more.
On August 11, 12 and 13 the Edgartown Yacht Club will host its annual 12-metre regatta, with at least eight, and perhaps nine boats recreating the glory days of the international sailing competition that was dominated for nearly a century by American boats.
While the boats are part of history, the racing will be very much in the present.
“It’s becoming a competitive class again,” said David Vietor, a seasoned America’s Cup sailor who lives in Edgartown. “It’s more than nostalgia, the boats are terrific boats to sail. They are tactical, they require a lot of good crew choreography, and also they have an aesthetic appeal.”
Mr. Vietor will sail aboard American Eagle, an America’s Cup challenger in 1964.
Named after a formula which governs design, not the length of the boat, the first of the 12-metre class was built in 1907. The 12-meter rule promotes competition both in designing and sailing the boats. The best known of the fleet were built from 1958 to 1987, to compete for the America’s Cup. Boats of that era range from 65 to 75 feet, with masts about 85 feet tall.
The 12-metres compete in four classes: Vintage, for boats built before 1958; Traditional, for boats built from 1958 to 1968; Modern, for boats from 1969 to 1983; and Grand Prix, for boats after 1983.
This year, two new competitors will join the fleet in Edgartown.
Defender underwent a complete refurbishment last year and is back in the water competing. Defender raced in the 1983 challenger competition to represent the United States against the rest of the world. She was unsuccessful, but has survived as a private vessel, then as part of a Florida maritime museum, and now as a competitor once again, based in Newport.
Also new to the regatta this year is Freedom. In 1980, with legendary skipper Dennis Connor at the helm, Freedom defeated Australia to keep the America’s Cup in the United States.
Returning to compete will be Intrepid, the 12-metre which won the America’s Cup in 1967, and 1970.
Also returning is Courageous, which won the Cup in 1974, and 1977.
“A lot of the visitors have been coming for a long time,” said Cynthia Alten-DeLotto, chairman of the event. “Edgartown fortunately happens to be one of their favorite regattas. It’s nice to see it coming back again with some more boats.”
Mr. Vietor said he is looking forward to the 12-metre competition. It is as much a reunion of crews as it is of boats. The reunions are a little larger these days, and the muscles a little sorer.
“We used to race with a crew of 11, now we race with a crew of 16,” he said. “We’re all getting a little older.”
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