CHANGING OF THE GUARD

In July, 22 12-Metres from six countries gathered in Newport, Rhode Island, for the quadrennial the 12-Metre World Championship—the second largest 12-Metre gathering ever, only topped by the America’s Cup Jubilee in Cowes, England, in 2001.

The famed class is best known as the choice boat of the America’s Cup from 1958 to 1987. However, the first 12’s were built in the early 1900s and used in three Olympic games at around that time.

“Prior to World War II they were the kids’ boats. The parents raced J’s,” said Dick Enersen, skipper of for this year’s World Championship, referring to the huge J-Class boats that contested the Cup until the 1930s. He adds that the generational nature of the class changed when the America’s Cup resumed after WWII. “They had to figure out an economical and still dramatic way to carry the tradition on,” he