Original vintage 1987 Rolex advertisement for the Rolex Submariner - "The cup is home. It was recaptured off Freemantle, Australia, by Dennis Conner and his superbly conditioned crew in a masterful display of precision teamwork and advanced technology."
Dimensions: 8 inches wide by 10.75 inches high.
The Stars and Stripes Challenge Boat
The Stars & Stripes 87 (US 55) was the 12 Meter challenge boat sailed by Dennis Conner in his bid to reclaim the America's Cup from the Royal Perth Yacht Club of Australia in 1987. Built in 1986, she was the culmination of the team's 12 Meter design advances, the fifth boat in the Sail America Foundation stable, and the third of the new boat designs by Britton Chance Jr., Bruce Nelson and David Pedrick.[2]
In 1983, the America’s Cup had been lost to Australia II, a wing keeled boat that was markedly quicker in stays than Liberty. It was known the course for the Cup in 1987 would have an increase in the number of legs, going from six legs to eight, but there had been no change made in the course length to be sailed, thus the distance of each leg was shorter. Most assessed this would place a greater premium on design trends established in Australia II, a boat that could turn fast and accelerate out of a tack quickly.
Conner chose not to follow the common reasoning – his direction to the boat design team was to create a boat built for straight ahead speed. Conner assessed pure boat speed would be the most important factor for success in the heavy seas and strong winds expected at Gage Roads off Fremantle. The boat designed was framed longitudinally rather than transversely, making the boat stiffer and stronger without a corresponding weight increase.
The boat's snub nose entry was not the most aesthetic of designs, but the result was a fast, heavy air boat. John Marshall, Conner's mainsheet trimmer on board Liberty in the '83 campaign, was made design team coordinator, and he was essential to the team's success during the testing and tuning phase. Stars & Stripes 87 was competitive in 10 to 12 knots of wind, and excelled in winds of 16 knots and more.
For many years Stars & Stripes 87 was in St. Maarten, berthed with a small stable of 12 Meter boats. It was used as a team building activity, and the boats were sailed against each other in mock races, recreating the excitement of America's Cup 12 Meter races. However, in 2017 Hurricane Irma struck St Maarten, devastating the island and wrecking the boats stored there – Stars & Stripes 87 suffered severe damage to her hull, had its mast snapped 3 feet above the deck, and she sank.
A fundraising effort has been headed by the NY Harbor Sailing Foundation to restore Stars & Stripes 87 and make her seaworthy again. As of October 2023, she is in Newport, Rhode Island awaiting restoration to commence.
The Rolex Submariner? Do we really need to discuss this legendary dive watch?
Well, maybe we will for a second - the Submariner is a line of sports watches designed for diving and manufactured by Rolex. The first Submariner was introduced to the public in 1954 at the Basel Watch Fair, and was the first watch to be waterproof up to 100 metres (330 ft).
The Rolex Submariner is considered "a classic among wristwatches," manufactured by one of the world's most widely recognized luxury brands. Due to its immense popularity, there are numerous homage watches by well-established watchmakers, as well as illegal counterfeits.
Today, the Submariner models are equipped with Rolex Calibres 3230 and 3235, respectively, and feature luminescent hour markers, a unidirectional rotatable bezel with Cerachrom ceramic insert, and a solid-link Oyster bracelet. Also upgraded with time, since the mid-1950s? Contemporary Submariner models underwater diving depth rating is 300 metres (1,000 ft). Impressive, to say the very least.