MV 26

The fabulous yachting schooner
(Sc. 1:66 L. 790 mm. H. 580 mm.)

The schooner America was designed by George Steers and built in William Brown’s shipyard in 1851. Its name is still the most important and celebrated in the history of world yachting. America under Dick Brown’s command, pilot from New York, set out for England in June 1851 to take part in the regatta which was to be held on the 22nd of August around the isle of Wight, without any compensation for difference in tonnage or rigging. The prize offered was a 100 guinea cup. America carried off an overwhelming victory over the English squadron. When it appeared, America presented remarkable novelties in the form of the hull, above all where the water lines and main section were concerned, the latter pulled back in comparison with the hulls of that time. Besides that it had a low draught, refined lines, a light displacement and a new cut of sails, remarkably thinner and made of a cotton fabric.