Billing Boats America 1/72 scale model boat kit BB609
The America was a 19th century racing yacht which gave its name to the international sailing trophy it first won the America's Cup. The schooner was designed by George Steers for Commodore John Cox Stevens and a syndicate from the New York Yacht Club. On August 22, 1851, the America won by over 20 minutes the Royal Yacht Squadron's 53 mile regatta around the Isle of Wight, capturing the "One Hundred Sovereign Cup." Watching the race, Queen Victoria asked who was second, and received the famous reply: "There is no second, your Majesty".
Plank on Frame Construction
Scale 1:72
Length 56cm
Beam 10cm
Billing Boats Level: Advanced Beginner
Advanced Beginners Range: Once you've built a few models, you'll probably find the sets in this category well within reach. Some of the more detailed work on these models, however, is left up to you.
Billing Boat Paint Colours recommended for this model:
BCA001 White
BCA003 Emerald
BCA007 Sea Blue
BCA009 Bright Red
BCA011 Black
BCA016 Gold
BCA017 Clear Poly
BCA022 Flat Black
BCA036 Mahogany
1850 - On the urging of the New York Yacht Club to build a fast sailing boat, George Steers creates plans for the AmericA. The low black schooner is designed using the reversal of the "cod-head-and-mackerel-tail style."
1851 - Answering a challenge from the Royal Yacht Squadron, the schooner AmericA enters the Hundred Guinea Cup race, a 53-mile race around the Isle of Wight. It easily defeats the 14 British ships and is awarded the Hundred Guinea Cup. On August 25, Queen Victoria herself visits the ship. AmericA returns home and presents the New York Yacht Club with its prize, which is renamed America's Cup.
1863 - For the next 12 years, the AmericA had a number of owners on both sides of the Atlantic. In 1863, the schooner returns to Newport, Rhode Island to serve as a training ship for the United States Naval Academy.
1870 - The AmericA races in the America's Cup where it finishes fourth of 15 entries.
1901 - The AmericA sails in her 51st, and last race. For the next 15 years she will lay under cover in Boston.
1921 - After years of different owners, the AmericA is once again returned to the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, where she is poorly maintained.
1940 - The AmericA, already decaying, is left to rot in a shed in the Annapolis Yacht Yard during World War II. President Roosevelt pressures Congress to appropriate $100,000 to turn the AmericA into the National Naval Museum. Unfortunately, the war takes priority. In 1942, under heavy snow, the roof of the shed collapses and the heavily rotted wood gives way. What wood was salvageable is used to make a model of the ship, which is at the Naval Academy museum.
