A superb image was posted on The Reliance Project’s blog yesterday to celebrate the 110th anniversary of the launching of the 1903 America’s Cup defender “super cutter” Reliance at the Herreshoff yard, Bristol, RI., USA.
No skirts needed to hide her beautiful and potent lines: her adversary, the William Fife Jr. designed Shamrock III had already been launched – on Paddy’s Day, of course – at Wm. Denny Bros. of Dumbarton, Scotland.
And everyone seemed to have supreme confidence in her minimalistic cradle – presumably designed by the the master engineer himself, Nathanael Herreshoff.
Progress with this fascinating and meticulous project – to build a one-sixth scale museum-quality fully rigged model – seems to be warming up with the season.
Martin Black’s biography of G.L. Watson, designer of Sir Thomas Lipton’s previous America’s Cup challenger, Shamrock (II), reveals how the challengers handled the knowledge that the little known tank testing of Shamrock III had indicated that she would be slower than Shamrock II…
IM
