Yankee 1930

Hand-crafted plank-on-frame wood hull with dark blue topsides, grey cove stripe . Varnished stained wood hull.

Hull size: 60cm.

Board size: 75cm X 20cm

When Chandler Hovey formed a syndicate in 1930 to build a J Class to take part in the Cup Defense against Sir Thomas Lipton's last challenger, Shamrock V, he turned to the architects office of Paine, Belknap & Skene.

The boat they built, Yankee ( 1930 ), was the only big racing yacht designed by the firm. 

Frank Paine naturally put his racing yacht experience to advantage when he designed Yankee, who came essentially from the drawing-board of Norman L. Skene.

Yankee was a very fast boat in heavy water.

We could have been forgiven for thinking for a moment that the impossible was possible, without really believing in it, but no: Intrepid was not chosen to defend the Cup in 1974. But the venerable old wooden Twelve very nearly beat the new aluminium Twelve Meter to defend the Cup for the third time in succession ! But there was no miracle.

Courageous, the  new Sparkman & Stephens aluminium Twelve finally beat Intrepid, the old S & S wooden Twelve, considered to be the fastest of her era.

Dave Pedrick was closely involved with the design of the new candidate. Courageous only took shape after numerous tank tests. The line of the boat were less radical than those of Intrepid or Valiant: Courageous seemed more conventional in her design and nearer the lineage of Vim or Columbia. In fact, the new boat was a splendid compromise, with her full, soft lines, and she was still quite light.

In 1974, Courageous easily beat the Australian challenger Southern Cross. This was Olin Stephens’ fifth success in the Cup since 1958.