Winds of Change

The true story of how a scrappy Australian syndicate broke the New York Yacht Club’s 132-year winning streak at the 1983 America’s Cup. Boat designer Ben Lexcen develops a radical, illegal-looking winged keel in secret at the Netherlands Aerospace Centre wind tunnel, tested and refined until it proves nearly ten percent faster upwind than any conventional design. Financier Alan Bond, who has chased this win since watching Australia lose the Cup in a Perth pub in 1970, bankrolls the boat, Australia II, and skipper John Bertrand pilots her past a New York Yacht Club protest hearing meant to have her disqualified. The series against American skipper Dennis Conner’s Liberty comes down to a tied 3-3 finish and a winner-take-all Race Seven on September 26, 1983, decided by an aggressive pre-start tactic Bertrand and Lexcen work out on the dock the night before. Australia II wins, and the keel is uncovered on stage for the first time in the play’s final image. Based on the historical record; some dialogue and scenes are imagined in service of the drama.