Tiny 12s

America's Cup spawns replicas

Racing for the America's Cup is no cheap thrill. When the 12-meter sloops Liberty and Australia II begin tacking toward the Cup this week near Newport, R.I., multimillion-dollar investments will be on the line. With a length of about 65 ft., a sail area of 1,800 sq. ft. and a crew of ten, a yacht of this class needs a captain who is courageous with a checkbook. The Liberty and Australia II each cost an estimated $500,000 to build, excluding sails.

Boatbuilders, though, have now discovered a way for less wealthy skippers to act out their 12-meter fantasies. Several companies in the U.S. and Europe have sold hundreds of scaled-down versions of the yachts. The boats accommodate just one sailor and carry a price tag of $2,500 to $4,000.

Dock denizens in Newport Beach, Calif., will probably do double takes this week when two of the Lilliputian yachts engage in a mini-America's Cup series. Both boats in the regatta are the products of Illusion 12, a San Diego-based company that has sold 72 of its $3,520 mini-12s since it began producing them under license from a British firm in April. Says Richard Seay, a partner in the firm: "The boat is called the Illusion because if you didn't see the skipper's head poking above deck, you'd think it was an actual 12-meter."

Modeled on Courageous, the America's Cup winner in 1974 and 1977, the little Illusion has the feel of a big boat. Most one-man competitive craft like the Force Five (price: $1,925) are faster than the mini-12s, but they are lightweight and prone to tipping. The mini-12s have keels weighted with lead ballast to make them self-righting. So instead of hanging out over the side to keep the boat upright in a stiff breeze, the skipper stays tucked inside the cockpit in roughly the position of someone sitting on a chaise longue. He steers the boat with a foot bar. In addition, the mini-12s boast more sails and ways to adjust them than most small boats. Besides carrying a mainsail and a Genoa jib, a mini-12 can hoist a spinnaker, those colorful parachute-like sails flown when a ship sails downwind.

Illusion 12's Seay got the idea in January at a London boat show, where he discovered that a company in Britain had built commercially successful America's Cup minireplicas. Says he: "This thing was going like brushfire in Europe, so I decided to get into it." Seay estimates that about 500 Illusions have been sold worldwide, including South Africa, New Zealand and Australia. About 15 mini-12 skippers met for a regatta last month at Cowes, England.

The race to market mini-12s in the U.S., where several hundred of the boats have been sold, has led to some feisty competition off the water as well. The San Rafael, Calif., firm of Millimeter offers a mini-12 ready-to-sail for $2,495 or in kit form for $1,550 without sails or deck hardware. Millimeter President John Taylor considers his design superior to other replicas. Says he: "Our boat is faster than the Illusion. It sails better and has cleaner lines." His company has delivered 35 boats and taken orders for 50 more. Another California firm, Svendson's Boat Works of Alameda, imports the $4,000, 10-ft. Mini Zwolfer from West Germany. "The other boats are basically toys," sniffs Ralf Morgan, Svendson's general manager. "Ours is the original high-tech boat."

Most mini-12s have a dozen or so adjustable pulleys and winches that make them alluring to seamen who like to fine-tune the sails. "These are established sailors who want to race one-on-one," explains Gould Ryder, vice president of Ventura Yacht Services in Port Washington, N.Y., which sells the Illusion. "It's a tactical boat more than a muscle boat. You don't do anything overly strenuous, and you can't yell at the crew because you do everything yourself." Mini-12 skippers may be yelling anyway if the Aussies win the America's Cup in their radically designed yacht. No one yet makes a replica of the Australian sloop, with its controversial winged keel. This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.