How a radical winged keel ended the longest winning streak in sporting history
In short: In 1983, the yacht Australia II shattered a 132-year American dominance of the America's Cup. By introducing a controversial winged keel and advanced materials, the Australian team overcame the New York Yacht Club. Yet, decades later, the true origin of that winning design remains a subject of intense debate.
Launched in 1982, Australia II was a 12-metre-class racing yacht owned by Alan Bond and skippered by John Bertrand. Its design, attributed to Ben Lexcen, featured a short chord winged keel that provided superior manoeuvrability and a lower centre of gravity. While this innovation offered a significant advantage in certain conditions, it proved difficult in choppy seas. The yacht also incorporated cutting-edge technology for the era, including all-kevlar running rigging, a carbon fibre boom, and vertical sail designs.
The New York Yacht Club, which had successfully defended the America's Cup since 1851, challenged the legality of the winged keel during the 1983 selection trials. The controversy was ultimately decided in Australia II's favour. The yacht went on to dominate the Louis Vuitton Cup before facing the American defender, Liberty, off the coast of Newport, Rhode Island. In a historic turnaround, Australia II won the series 4 races to 3, with the final victory occurring on 26 September 1983.
The legacy of the design has faced scrutiny since 2009, when Dutch naval architect Peter van Oossanen claimed he and his team were the true designers. Because Cup rules required challengers to be designed by citizens of their own nation, such a revelation could have led to disqualification. While project manager John Longley and skipper John Bertrand have refuted these claims, pointing to Lexcen's earlier experiments with wing adaptations, the debate persisted as recently as 2024. Lexcen himself famously joked that his design secret was owed to Archimedes, who had been dead for 2,000 years.
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- Summary by Intellect · source: Australia II
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