The America’s Cup Match in 1992 was the first to be raced with the new America’s Cup Class boats. To be competitive it was necessary to reinvent, to innovate, to master new materials.

In this game, Bill Koch was the right man at the right time. A scientist by training, he had already demonstrated the efficiency of his method when he had dashed into the Maxi World Championship, winning the title in 1990 and 1991 with Matador2. In deciding to undertake the America’s Cup defense, the Texan created the America3 Foundation which would deliver four boats, all within one year.

Jayhawk (USA-9) was launched on May 1, 1991 just before the IACC World championship in San Diego. Defiant (USA-18) was delivered shortly afterwards. Then came America3 (USA-23), a boat designed for the light winds prevalent off San Diego and launched in February 1992. Finally, Kanza (USA-28), a boat designed for slightly stronger, steadier winds, was handed to the team at the end of February 1992.

To develop the four boats, Koch and his team went through:
- 75 designs, 135 appendage configurations (keel blades, trim tabs, bulbs, winglets and rudders), optimisation of 4 drawings;
- 256 days of sailing with one or two boats, to test hulls, booms, masts, rudders, keel blades, bulbs, fins, trimmers and sails;
- 102 tow tank tests, 37 tested models;
- 343 wind tunnel tests, 132 tunnel configurations;
- Design, engineer, build, test and improve 250 sails
- 2473 metres of carbon IACC masts, 9 booms, 12 spinnaker booms, 8 rudders, 9 keel blades, 15 bulbs, 10 trim tabs

During the first Round Robin, Jayhawk and Defiant raced against Stars & Stripes. Defiant won six races, Jayhawk did not win a single race and Conner’s Stars & Stripes won three times against three losses. America3 raced in the second Round Robin while Jayhawk was confined to the dock. Designed for light airs, America3 was clearly different compared to the other 27 beamy ACC boats sailing at the time. America3 was the most narrow at the beam (deck and load flotation), the first to introduce this design feature that would become more and more pronounced with each subsequent edition of the Cup.

During the second round, America3 won five races, beaten just once by Defiant. During the third round, America3 stayed on course and added seven more victories. Stars & Stripes succeeded in beating it once. However the fourth round was far more balanced. Defiant withdrew from the races, giving its place to Kanza. America3 suffered three losses, falling twice to Conner, and once to Kanza. Koch did however earn five victories, three over Kanza and two over Stars & Stripes.

During the finals America3 won seven races over Stars & Stripes in 11 starts. Bill Koch's balance sheet was very positive. In 22 races, his boat had beaten Dennis Conner’s on 15 occasions.

America3 successfully defended the 1992 America’s Cup.  Koch’s scientific method had worked. Indeed, the defeated Italian challenger, Il Moro di Venezia won only one race, by three seconds, and was never outstripped extravagantly in any of the four races won by America3, falling by 0:30, 1:58, 1:04 and 0:44.

America3 went back for the 1995 America’s Cup with the ‘all-women’s’ team. It was sailed as a training boat by the female crew and then raced during three rounds of the defender selection trials. America3 won three races against the two new-generation boats sailed by Paul Cayard (Young America USA-36) and Dennis Conner (Stars & Stripes USA-34).  The Team was on its way to the 1995 America's Cup, in the lead of the last race of the Challenger Series over Stars & Stripes. Unfortunately, on its way to the finish line, the mast broke in half.  Stars & Stripes sailed past the helpless boat to win the race and move on to the 1995 America's Cup.

Four years later, America3 was bought by the Italian Patrizio Bertelli for his Prada Challenge to sail as a training boat and trial horse for Luna Rossa (ITA-45) and (ITA-48) during the 2000 America’s Cup campaign in Auckland.

It was then bought back by Bill Koch who also acquired Il Moro di Venezia (the 1992 challlenger). Koch restored both boats to their original configuration and sailed them for the America’s Cup Jubilee at Cowes, in August 2001. Still owned the Texan, Il Moro and America3 were presented in 2005 at the Boston Museum of Fine Art, during an exhibition entitled: "Things I Love". 
America3 is now still owned by Bill Koch. Its homeport is Portsmouth, Rhode Island.

AMERICA3
1992
Sail number: USA-23
USA

Yacht club: San Diego Yacht Club, San Diego, California, USA
Successful defender of the 1992 America’s Cup Match

Technical Operations: Vincent Moyersoms
Design team director: Jerry Milgram
Design team members: Buddy Duncan, Penn Edmonds, Fernando Frimm, Phil Kaiko, Daniel LaMere, Doug Peterson, Jim Pugh, John Reichel, Jim Taylor

Design and testing facilities: Massachusetts Institute of Technology – Responsibilities: Hull shape, tank testing of hulls, appendages CFD, sail CFD

Technology: Heiner Meldner, technical director.
Standford University: Composite material development for yacht and sails, structure FEA, wind tunnel testing of appendages.

Construction: Peter Wilson, construction manager and Dirk Kramers, chief engineer.

Hull builder: Goetz Custom Sailboats, Inc., at Bristol, Rhode Island
Mast: Offshore Spars, Inc., at Warren, Michigan (construction)
Tube: Hercules Aerospace, at Magna, Utah
Rigging: Navtec, Inc. (Littleton, MA) & Aramid Rigging, Inc. (Portsmouth, RI)
Boom & spinnaker pole: Hall composites, Bristol, RI
Winches: Lewmar Marine, Havant, UK
Hydraulics: Navtec, Inc., Littleton, MA
Running rigging: New England Ropes, Fall River, MA
Keel blade & trim tab: Allied Engineering, Alameda, CA
Keel bulb: Douglas Brouwer, Santa Cruz, CA
Rudder: Lindsay Boatbuilders, Gloucester, MA
Deck hardware: Harken Yacht Equipment (Pewaukee, WI) & C.A.M. Machine Corp. (Bristol, RI)
Steering system: C.A.M. Machine Corporation

Sail designers: Per Anderson, David Hirsch, and Peter Wheeler

Dimensions –

L.O.A.: 23.77 m
L.W.L.: 18.31 m
Beam: 5.45 m
Draft: 3.96 m
Sail area: 295.60 m2
Displacement: 21.970 tons
Mast: 33,50 m
Rating: IACC

This America 3 model features:

     31" long x 49" tall x 7" wide      $590        S & H is $50.  Shipped with mast collapsed.

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