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ENTERPRISE
America's Cup first J-yacht winner
You are viewing the only
accurate model of the famed j-yacht Enterprise worldwide. Note the hull
shape, the rigging,
the important features on the boom, and the beautiful deck planks
that can be only achieved by high skilled artisans.
In
answer to Thomas J. Lipton's challenge of 1929, the
Americans designed four J Class yachts as possible
defenders. Enterprise, Whirlwind, Yankee, and Weetamoe
were launched within a month of each other.
J yacht Enterprise was the first, launched on 14 April 1930,
and was later chosen as the Cup defender. When designing
Enterprise, Starling Burgess collected 20 years worth of
information on races and analyzed wind conditions to get
an idea of what the conditions in the 1930 Cup might be. Enterprise
was the one because she had lightweight rigging and was
the fastest of the four.
J yacht Enterprise was
ordered by a syndicate headed by Vice-Commodore Winthrop
Aldrich and launched on April 14, 1930 in Rhode Island.
The syndicate named Harold S. Vanderbilt as their
captain and engaged Starling Burgess to design their
yacht and
Herreshoff Manufacturing Company to build it. The
precise waterline length of the Enterprise j yacht was
fixed after analysis of historical meteorological data
to predict the likely wind conditions during the races,
followed by experiments with a 15-foot 544-pound model
hull at the Naval Model Basin. Using data from these
tests, Burgess determined the minimum drag under
predicted conditions would be generated with the hull
scaled to a waterline length 80 feet.
To
maximize sail area, j yacht Enterprise's mast was
designed to the maximum height allowable under the
Racing Rules: 152 feet 6 inches. Her construction was of
steel frames and deck beams, with wooden decks and a
hull was built from very expensive Tobin bronze.
The J Class yacht Enterprise had a mast as tall as 165 feet. Her revolutionary aluminum
mast and Vanderbilt's unparalleled skills
beat Lipton's J-Yacht Shamrock V all four races. Lipton's dream of
lifting the America's Cup ended with this challenge.
He died the following year, after being awarded a
special prize for sportsmanship.
Shortly
after the America's Cup competition, Enterprise was dry
docked, never to sail again. Enterprise was scrapped in
1935. Her duralumin mast was donated to the police
barracks at Scituate for use as a radio mast.
After Enterprise, an era
of magnificent J-yachts debuted. Gone were the gaff
rigs, long bowsprits and booms, clouds of sail, and the
enormous crews, to be replaced by the "marconi" or
"Bermuda" rigs, 150-foot masts, 120-foot hulls and
sophisticated "coffee-grinder" winches to control the
sails. The yatchs were so expensive to build that there
were only 10 units in existence.
We build this primarily
wood America's Cup J yacht Enterprise model the
following
sizes:
36" L x
68"
T x 5" W $1,740
Shipping and insurance in
the contiguous USA included.
Other places: $400 flat rate.
18"
L x 36" T x 3.25" W $950
Shipping and insurance in
the contiguous USA included.
Other places: $300 flat rate.
Learn more about the
Enterprise sailboat here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enterprise_(yacht)
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