Courageous successfully defended the
America's Cup in 1974 for the US with
Ted Hood at the helm. After the 1974 cup, Hood built a new boat,
Independence, which he thought was faster than
Courageous, and sold
Courageous to
Ted Turner. Turner won the
1977 America's Cup defender trials in
Courageous, beating Hood in the process, and then went on to successfully defend the America's Cup against Australia later that year. When preparing
Courageous for the 1977 America's Cup, it was re-measured for compliance with the
12-metre class rule. It was discovered that
Courageous was lighter than the weight declared in its original racing certificate for the 1974 America's Cup. Less weight typically means a faster performance in lighter winds and a slower performance in stronger winds. If
Courageous had been found to be under weight before the competition in 1974, then the designers would have had to make adjustments to sail area, the waterline length, or other attributes to make the design comply with the 12-metre rule. If
Courageous was found to be underweight during the event, it would have been disqualified. It is unknown what effect this oversight had on the result of the 1974 event.
Today Both
Courageous and
Intrepid are still sailing and racing today in
Newport, Rhode Island.
Intrepid is available for charter and
Courageous is privately owned. == See also ==