Defender to leeward | Christie's

Defender to leeward

细节

Defender to leeward
a diorama depicting a scene from the 1895 America's Cup race showing the American yacht Defender with a safe leeward position on the British challenger Valkyrie III shortly after the start. The two models are set in a modeled and painted sea, the hull of each yacht is painted and modeled with a wood deck with the plank seams drawn in India ink. Each yacht is fitted with a single mast and rigged as a gaff cutter including deck details, sails, and rigging. Displayed in a brass bound glass case with a mahogany base and stand.
66 x 60 in. (167.6 x 152.4 cm.) on stand

拍品专文

The yacht Defender was designed by Nat Herreshoff in 1895 to meet the America's Cup challenger Valkyrie III designed by George L. Watson for Lord Dunraven of the Royal Yacht Squadron. The challenger was built in Glasgow, and was the latest of a series of sleek, fast boats which Lord Dunraven had commissioned. Defender measured just under 90 feet at the waterline and displaced just under 100 tons. In the first and only viable race of the contest Defender easily won in light and shifting winds. In the second race, after a foul just before the start, Valkyrie won only to be disqualified for the pre-start foul. In the third and final race, Lord Dunraven withdrew shortly after the start in protest to the decision against him in the second race, and Defender sailed the course un-challenegd and went on to win the series.