America’s Cup World Series Chicago

Heart of America Challenge

Chicago Yacht Club’s Attempt to Win the America’s Cup

Excerpts from past Blinker magazines supplied by FRED GORR, Additional Summary by ERNIE SUMMERS, Submitted by CYC History Committee

February 1985 Blinker -An enthusiastic, overflow crowd in CYC’s Main Dining Room on December 6, 1984 was ready for this challenge. Though skipper Buddy Melges was stranded in a snowstorm, Commodore Gable, Gary Jobson, Gene Kinney and Eric Schlageter painted the picture of how the America’s Cup can come to reside in Chicago at the CYC, and described how exciting a victory parade down Michigan Avenue would be. Spreading the word is one of the major efforts at this stage of the campaign. Funds generated so far are sufficient to begin the effort. Designing, building, and campaigning a 70-foot, state-of-the-art racing machine is what has to be done. Gary and Buddy filled several pages with names of potential crew members.

April 1985 Blinker -Americans are suddenly very aware of the Challengers’ Elimination Series of the America’s Cup; never before had we had to battle a whole fleet, just to get a chance to sail for the America’s Cup. But the Aussies changed that all in 1983 when they took the Cup down to Perth and dared the rest of the world to come and get it. Twenty-four yacht clubs from around the world paid the $12,000 Australian entry fee. Ten of the twenty-four are American clubs, leaving fourteen among Italy, France, Germany, Switzerland, Sweden, England, Canada and New Zealand. Over fifty pages of conditions were proposed and included were proposals that the crew of eliminated yachts may not sail on remaining challengers and that no form of assistance or support be allowed between challengers. If taken literally, this would have disqualified a challenger if two competing crew members had dinner together or loaned a screwdriver to another challenger.

June 1985 Blinker – Chicago Yacht Club’s America’s Cup Challenge is rolling along. Tests of the first model began on May 23rd. This one-third scale model is 23 feet long and is specially built to allow keels and certain underwater sections to be interchanged to test different configurations. We are particularly grateful for the support of two Chicago Yacht Club members whose contributions purchased this first model - Tom Neill, of L. Neill Cartage Company, Inc., and the Willett Foundation. On March 28, Governor Jim Thompson hosted a reception at the new State of Illinois Center for Midwesterners interested in backing the Challenge.

August 1985 Blinker – The Heart of America Challenge trail horse is now in Chicago. Clipper was purchased by the Challenge, and will be used as a practice platform for the Challenge’s sailing team. Clipper was built in Newport, RI, and her designer worked refinements into her aluminum hull, which were previously used in Courageous and Enterprise. Clipper is 65 feet long, has a beam

of twelve feet, six inches, and draws nine feet of water. She has a fine bow, double counter stern, and a ridge on the keel to close the trim tab slot.

August 1986 Blinker – During six weeks of racing against Canada, Heart of America confirmed the earlier results of Newport sailing, that Heart of America is indeed a fast boat. In races where a full America’s Cup course was sailed against the Canadians, Heart of America won all three races. “The boat is very controllable and Buddy does a tremendous job of steering through the large swells out here. He is on the offense most of the time,” said Bill Shore. Heart of America will race against the Canadians in August and it will be the last exhibition race before the competition begins on October 5th in Australia.

October 1986 Summary by Ernie Summers Heart of America was the longest and heaviest of the 12-meter yachts competing in Australia. It was designed for the gusty, prevalent trade winds from Antarctica known as the “Freemantle Doctor.” Unfortunately, the late summer meant no trade winds for the first round-robin. Heart of America lost every race in the first round. However, once the trade winds started, Heart of America was competitive. In the final heat, the Freemantle Doctor was in full force. Heart of America was one of the fastest boats in the competition and moved into fifth place. Four boats would advance to the semifinals and finals. In a match race that would decide the fourth boat, fifth-place Heart of America lost an extremely close race to the fourth-place French boat. Heart of America won the start and opened up a significant lead until the gusty winds shredded the spinnaker, and the team lost 14 minutes replacing the sail and retrieving a man overboard. Even so, Heart of America made up almost all of the time lost, and finished less than a minute behind the fleet.

On February 4, 1987 the boat Stars & Stripes, skippered by Dennis Connor, won the America’s Cup, taking it to the San Diego Yacht Club.

April 1987 Blinker – Chicago Yacht Club members and Heart of America Challenge supporters showed their overwhelming enthusiasm for the Midwest’s first America’s Cup challenge at a sell-out Welcome Home/Sink the Deficit dinner dance. The guests filled the reception area and dining room of the Westin Hotel to capacity to congratulate Buddy Melges and his crew for their outstanding effort.

A Preview of the America’s Cup World Series Chicago

By CATE MULLER

If you are anything like me, you’re probably stoked for the Louis Vuitton America’s Cup World Series coming to Chicago June 10-12. You’ve been watching the previous events, keeping up with the latest technological advancements, researching the various sailors, maybe you’ve even considered a wager on whether there will be wind…

To be honest, even I haven’t gotten that far. Sure I’ve read about the boats a bit and I know who’s driving ORACLE, and because I’ve grown up sailing in the very same waters that the ACWS will be held, I do have an opinion on what the weather will be like (find me at the club to place your bets). I have not, however, fallen head over heels for the new format of the ACWS. I could give you a lot of reasons: I’m more of a Volvo Ocean Race fan; I don’t love the cats; and I miss the days of two mile long upwind beats! But when I was asked to help write this article, I wanted to inform all of you about this truly unique and awesome event happening in our front yard. So I fired up YouTube, cracked open a beer and watched some America’s Cup sailing.

Now, I suggest that you all do the same. Maybe go ahead and do it right now while you’re reading this… I’ll give you a moment… Okay, now that we have a cocktail and the noise of winches creaking in the background, we can really get into the heart of this event.

The reality is: no matter what, this will be AWESOME and we are REALLY LUCKY!

The America’s Cup, nor the races surrounding the America’s Cup (like the Louis Vuitton Cup and other ACWS events) have never before been held on fresh water. In fact, until the Heart of America Challenge came along in 1986, the notion of sailing on a freshwater lake was pretty much against the rules. Yet here we are, some 30 years later, preparing to reap the rewards of a lot of ground work done by CYC and some of our members. We continued on page 22

get to watch America’s Cup action, literally right outside Monroe Station.

So now that you are properly excited about the event that’s taking place, what can you actually expect to see? If you’ve come to watch match racing, you might be disappointed, but you can get your fix of that on Tuesday nights at Belmont. If you’re coming to watch boats slowly beat upwind on a two mile course, just hold off until the NOOD the following weekend. If you’re coming because you’ve heard the rumors that there are 45 foot boats literally FLYING, well then, you won’t be disappointed!

The Louis Vuitton America’s Cup World Series (known as the ACWS), is the first series of events that allow teams to put points on the board for the eventual America’s Cup. A team’s overall ranking at the conclusion of the ACWS will determine their starting points score for the America’s Cup Qualifier in 2017. The event will be run in a fleet racing format, with six teams competing for points. Currently, Emirates Team New Zealand leads the overall standings for the ACWS, but with an event in New York before the boats head to Chicago, things could look different by June. ORACLE Team USA is only six points behind the leader, and subsequently only one point ahead of Land Rover BAR (the British entry).

The boats themselves are another thrilling aspect of the ACWS. You might not be a fan of catamarans in the America’s Cup, and I certainly flip-flop on the issue myself, but there’s no denying that between foiling, close racing and pure all-out speed, these boats are going to be really fun to watch. These 45-foot racing machines are built mainly of carbon fiber, and with a rig height of 70 feet, they can reach speeds in excess of 35 knots. The boats only require five crew members: skipper, helmsman/tactician, grinder, bow/grinder and trimmer/grinder. For anyone who’s ever told you that sailing wasn’t much of an athletic sport, you can let them know that these guys are pulling about 400 meters of line per race, have 8-10% body fat, and maintain an average heart rate of 170 beats per minute while racing.

So at this point, I’m guessing you are on the edge of your seat playing YouTube videos of foiling cats and shouting to your significant other to ensure nothing is on your schedule for the weekend of June 10-12. But where do you go from here? How do you plan your weekend of epic ACWS fun? Have no fear; here is the game plan.

•Make sure you get yourself a discounted ticket to the action at Navy Pier through CYC. It’s going to be worth it no matter where you’ll be enjoying the racing. Simply go to enjoy the Race Village atmosphere and take it all in. •Figure out if you want to be on the water or on shore to view the races. Discounted Boater’s Passes are available through CYC for upfront on the water access and include a pass for the Skyline Dash. •Plan on going to Navy Pier for the Opening Ceremony on Friday night. Having been to my fair share of sailing parties, I can only imagine that this is going to be insane. And knowing Chicago, it could evolve into a “place to be seen,” if that’s your thing. •If you have the time or can take off work, practice starts at 1:30 p.m. on Friday. This will probably be the least crowded day to enjoy the sight of the boats flying outside Monroe Harbor. •Rouse yourself Saturday morning with some breakfast at the Club, and then either head out on the water or take the shuttle over to Navy Pier for a 1:30 p.m. race start. There will be autographs and a racer Q&A session immediately following racing, so head over to Navy Pier and get your #sailornerd on. •Insider Tip: Pre-order box lunches prepared by Chef Larry for a hassle-free weekend! •Don’t forget that there are fireworks off Navy Pier on Saturday night! You’ll have access to the best seats on the lakefront on Monroe’s patio. •Wake up chipper and ready to go, it’s Sunday Funday, and you should probably be participating in the Skyline Dash. If you’re on a boat, power or sail, head out to the ACWS start line at for a fun cruise around the course complete with a photo of your boat as you cross the finish line. Check out acwschicago.com for more information. •Settle yourself in for another great day of AC45 sailing starting at 1:30 p.m. Remember, points are on the line, and these guys are racing hard for their rankings. •If you have the ability, take Monroe’s shuttle over to Navy Pier at 3:30 p.m. for the Awards Ceremony. Show your support for the teams as they leave our awesome city and head out to their next stop in Portsmouth. •Relax and unwind at Monroe Station’s BBQ Dock Party. You have work tomorrow, but you’ll probably have some pretty sweet photos to show off in the break room.

Meet Matt Cassidy, ORACLE Team USA

Content from oracle-team-usa.americascup.com

Position: Bowman/Grinder CYC Member Since: 2015 Hometown: Delray Beach, FL Birthdate: February 21, 1978 College: College of Charleston

Cassidy has raced on a variety of boats from Farr 40s and TP52s to America’s Cup and Maxi Yachts, the World Match Racing Tour and M32s. In 2011, he was part of victories in the three primary grand prix championships – he won the TP52 Worlds and Audi MedCup with Quantam Racing; won the World Match Racing tour title with GAC Team Pindar; and with Team Aqua won the RC44 class overall championship.

Prior to moving to Bermuda, Cassidy had spent seven years living in Chicago. He has a degree in business from the College of Charleston, and when not sailing, tries to take advantage of local surf spots during his travels.

Skyline Dash Hosted by Chicago Yacht Club

By JAY KEHOE

Imagine walking out on Wrigley Field just before a game, yes the actual field, or the ice at the United Center right before the puck drops for a Hawks game. Pretty cool, right? Well, that opportunity is available for the Louis Vuitton America’s Cup World Series here in Chicago with the Skyline Dash.

The Skyline Dash is a rally starting at the Chicago Lighthouse, sailing/motoring around Harrison Dever Crib and returning for a finish between the Louis Vuitton race marks off of Navy Pier. You’ll even have a photo of your finish as a keepsake.

After the finish, Skyline Dash participants receive access to a designated mooring zone right on the race course perimeter. Don’t forget to fly your commemorative brag flag to gain access!

CYC Members receive a discounted registration rate of $119 per boat. Registrants receive two tickets to the Opening Ceremony, Skyline Dash brag flag, photo of your boat crossing the finish line and an invitation to the Boaters’ Bash presented by Westrec on Saturday.