By Kathleen May

Over sixty classic yachts have entered the America's Cup Jubilee at this years Cowes week to be held in South Hampton England. This much anticipated event will see some of the world's best known and loved yachts race around the Isle of Wight. In what will be a reenactment of the first America's Cup Race in 1851. Back then the cup that was to become yacht racing Holy Grail was not known as the America's Cup it had the unremarkable name of the one hundred Guinea cup, which was what it cost to have, it made.

The belles of the ball will undoubtedly will be the four surviving J Class yachts, Shamrock V, Endeavour, Velsheda and Cambria All four are America's Cup icons and are sure to get the lions share of attention for the event. Endeavour and Shamrock V will certainly be the most well known yachts of the J Class to the people of Britain. Both have under gone major refits and will be in top racing condition for the 150th anniversary celebration of the America's Cup. Shamrock V was the 1930 challenger from the British Isles owned by Sir Thomas Lipton of Lipton Tea fame. Shamrock V was the first J class sloop ever built and Lipton's last yacht he would race in his bid to win the America's Cup. She was one of the first yachts to have corporate sponsorship. Thomas Lipton saw the America's Cup race as an opportunity to market his tea to America. While he never did wrest the Auld Mug away from the United States, he did manage to sell his tea to them. Lipton Tea is still being sold and drunk in the United States today. After her America's cup campaign was over she was sold to Thomas Sopwith founder of the Sopwith Aviation Company and Sir Richard Fairley in the 1930's. The two airplane magnates improved her underwater hull shape along with reconfigurating her rudder and rig. The refit paid off she was faster and swept the British racing circuit in 1931. Shamrock V went though two owners in the years after World War II. She would eventually fall into disrepair and become a mere shadow of her former self. Ironically Lipton Tea would come to the rescue in 1986 the tea company purchased her and donated her to The Museum of Yachting in Newport Rhode Island. In 1989 Elizabeth Meyer under took another stem to stern refit of her. In 1995 The International Yacht Restoration School of Newport Rhode Island purchased the yacht to act as the schools flagship. During that time she helped raise awareness of the rich and varied history of yacht racing and the schools restoration projects. Shamrock V has spent the last eighteen months getting ready for the ball. At Pendennis Shipyard in Falmouth England she has gotten a complete make over. She was stripped to her planks and received a new interior, deck planking along with new deck hardware/ fittings, new rigging, sails and even a new engine and keel. Now owned by a South American Financier no expense that has been spared to restore her back to her previous glory. Shamrock V has the distinction of being the only wooden J Class yacht sailing today.

Endeavour originally owned by aviation mogul Sir Thomas Sopwith that was the 1934 challenger for England. From the moment she was launched in 1934 Endeavour has an enormous amount of charisma. Hailed as the most beautiful J class yacht ever built, Endeavour has beauty as well as speed. She came closer to winning the cup than any other challenger up to that time. When she returned to England she continued to dominate the British racing scene until 1938. As World War II loomed she was laid up for the duration of the war. Sold for scrap in 1947 she was saved just hours before her scheduled demise. After sinking she was refloated, then stored in an abandoned seaplane. Despite all of the neglect Endeavour managed to survive until Elizabeth Meyer brought her in 1984. Once again Elizabeth saw that the yacht could be restored to her former splendor and set out to make it happen. After a five-year restoration she sailed again on June 22, 1989 for the first time in fifty-two years. Now owned by Dennis Kozlowski CEO of the Tyco Corporation. She has under gone a refit at Little Harbor Marine in Portsmouth Rhode Island. Her cabin interior has been repainted, parts of her teak deck have been replaced and she has new electronics and generators. Her hull has also undergone a makeover. New steel plating has been added to the hull, which has been faired and repainted.

Velsheda's first owner was W.L. Stephenson owner of the Woolworth store chain. Designed by Charles Nicholson and built by Camper & Nicholson in 1933 in Gosport. She was to be Stephenson's second big yacht. Evidently Stephenson not wishing to offend any of his three stepdaughters by naming the yacht after just one of them decided to do the only thing any self respecting father could do. He named his yacht after all three of them, Velma, Sheila and Daphine. Taking the first three letters of both Velma's and Sheila's name and adding the first two of Daphine's he came up with Velsheda. Between the years of 1933 and 1936 she raced with some of best known yachts of her day, Shamrock, Endeavour and Britannia just to name a few. Under the skillful seamanship of Captain Mountifeild she won more than forty races in her second season. Unlike other J's she did not have the palatial mahogany and teak interior of her contemporaries. She was quite spartan for her day. Accommodations were limited to a main saloon an owners cabin aft with storage for sails, spare rigging and other equipment forward. The question begs to be asked where did the quests stay? Stephenson had a motor yacht built to support Velsheda's racing program and to offer accommodations for his guests aptly named the Bystander. Over the years she too was neglected suffering the same fate as the other surviving J Class yachts. In 1984 she was rescued from a Hamble mud berth by Terry Brabant who economically refitted her to use for charter work on the south coast of England along with the occasional trip to the Mediterranean and Caribbean. Later she was sold to a Swiss owner but due to funding problems he was unable to complete the refit he had planned for her. In 1996 she was purchased by her present owner. Money is apparently no object as Velsheda has undergone a comprehensive rebuild from stem to stern and has a luxurious interior compete with motor. She was re-launched in November of 1997 and true to form she has a tender that goes along as a support vessel.

Cambria built in Scotland in 1928 for the British press baron Sir William Berry by William Fife and Sons. After her run for the America's Cup ended in 1930, Berry quit racing and had her fitted out for cruising. Berry sold Cambria soon after to a Belgian owner George Plouvier who renamed her Lillias. He kept her for forty years. In that time she was to survive World War II and go on sailing well into the 1960's. Tragedy was to strike when Plouvier's son died in a sailing accident. Cambria/Lillias was laid up until she was brought in 1972 by Mike Sears an American Businessman. He restored the yacht and sailed her to Fremantle Australia for the 1986-87 America's Cup. Sears then sold her to a New Zealander; once again Cambria was laid up. She remained this way hardly being moved in seven years with a university student living onboard as caretaker. John David a grocery wholesaler and Sydney developer Denis O'Neil were thinking of building a large yacht for racing when they heard the Cambria was available. It did not take them long to decide on a course of action. Building plans were shelved they brought Cambria. David and O'Neil immediately set out to restore her, as a result of their efforts Cambria now graces the waters of Sydney Harbor. For Cambria the America's Cup Jubilee will be a homecoming and she will no doubt have to come the farthest to participate in the race.

During the first weeks of August 2001 all the surviving J class yachts will be together in all their resplendent glory for the first time in sixty-five years. They will race in the Solent and around the Isle of Wight much as they did in that golden age of yachting. And unlike 1851when the long low elegant black schooner from America crossed the finish line with not another boat in sight to the amazement of everyone. Queen Victoria turned to Prince Albert and asked "who is second?" The prince turned to her and replied matter of factly "Madam there is no second." This time it will be different Queen (Queen Elizabeth II) and Prince (Prince Philip) watching the outcome of the race and there will undoubtedly be a first, second, third and forth.