1983 America's Cup

1983 changed the course of America's Cup history forever, and with it the fate of Newport. Twenty-five years ago this September, a bittersweet anniversary.

I was not participating , I did go to see the final race aboard a syndicate member's boat to watch. Liberty did lead 5 of 6 legs, and gained on the last leg.

I went to watch the cup literally be handed to Alan Bond on the terrace of Marble House. The NYYC was gracious in defeat and naturally the Australians were overjoyed. I took the photo of Ben Lexan around 6:30 the next morning, still basking in the afterglow of success.

VERY COOL BOATS

What do Bill Hubbard, Jimmy Gubelmann, Jack Cummiskey and Stephen Lirakis have in common beyond a love of sailing? Two very cool boats. These are exact one-third scale full sailing models of the IACC class boats that competed for the America's cup.

Where did they come from? You might notice the BMW/ORACLE logo on the bow.

27 feet long, 4 feet wide, and a draft of 5 feet. displacing 2050 pounds.(1650 pounds are the lead package) All carbon fiber, with six suits of sails. awesome.