ENTERPRISE
America's Cup first J-yacht winner
You are viewing the only
accurate model of the famed j-yacht Enterprise. 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.
Sailboat
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.
The sailboat
Enterprise had a mast as tall as 165 feet and over
120 feet in length. 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.
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 $1,140
Shipping and insurance in
the contiguous USA included.
Other places: $400 flat rate.
18"
L x 36" T x 3.25" W $850
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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