Word: keels
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...first controversy involved the radical keel of the leading foreign challenger, Australia II. The brainchild of ebullient Australian Designer Ben Lexcen, the keel has provided Newport with gossip, speculation and creative chicanery all summer. Swathed in blue-green skirts whenever Australia II is out of the water, the supersecret keel has been the target of camera-wielding scuba divers from rival camps. One local cartoon lampooned the mysterious keel by depicting it in the shape of a bottle of Swan Lager, a major corporate backer of the Australia II effort...
...midsummer, however, the basic features of the keel were common knowledge around Newport: the unusual appendage rakes forward under the hull into a bulb, then sweeps aft into two delta-shaped wings designed to give the boat an advantage while heeled over sailing upwind (see diagram). The exact dimensions of the keel were well known to the International Yacht Racing Union's Measurement Committee, which had formally examined Australia II for conformity to the complicated 12-meter standards well before the racing began...
With Australia II on its way to an impressive 37-4 won-lost record, Halsey Herreshoff, navigator of the leading American boat, Liberty, drafted a complaint, claiming that the keel was illegal and that the Australians should be penalized, disqualified or forced to change its configuration. Otherwise, wrote Herreshoff in his memo to New York Yacht Club officials, Australia II "will likely win the America's Cup." No foreign boat has ever done that in the 132-year history of the races, and some of the challengers quickly charged that the N.Y.Y.C. was doing its best to make sure...
...three Australian entries (Advance and Challenge 12 the others) that began round-robin trials last weekend, Bond's Australia II is favored to be the one to face the defender in the best-of-seven series commencing Sept. 13. Australia II is a vessel of intrigue: her secret keel is shrouded when she is lifted out of the water...
...righting an unbalanced rowboat, the ship's crew was ordered to assemble on the carrier's port side. Their combined weight, coupled with the shifting of water in the vessel's ballast tanks, was meant to tip the ship in hopes of freeing it. But the keel, which normally requires 36 ft. of water for safe clearance, remained stuck. Only with the help of the outgoing tide did the Enterprise finally break loose from its unwanted mooring and finish its long journey home...