Forty years ago the Australia II team was living in a boarding house in Newport, Rhode Island for a gruelling summer of sailing in the America’s Cup campaign.
Their victory as underdog challengers ended the longest-running winning streak in sport history, with the cup being taken from the New York Yacht Club for the first time in 132 years.
It was touted as a coming of age for Australia, but it was also life-changing for one young Tasmanian man.
Sailmaker David Rees, who was 21 at the time, thought people back in Australia would be more interested in Hawthorn playing Essendon in the AFL grand final.
But they received a rock star’s welcome when they returned after the September 1983 win.
“We couldn’t believe the hysteria about it all,” he told ABC Radio Hobart.
“In Perth there were 250,000 people out there to greet us. It was mad.
“We were celebrities for a day,” Rees said.
The Matildas’ achievement in the World Cup has made Australia look back on its iconic sporting moments, from Cathy Freeman winning gold in the 2000 Olympics to the 1983 victory of Australia II, with its secret, winged keel.
Next month, the Australia II crew will gather in Fremantle for a celebration to mark 40 years since the vessel, owned by high-profile West Australian businessman Alan Bond, beat defender Liberty.
The art of sailmaking
At a young age, Rees followed his brothers into competitive sailing at the Sandy Bay Sailing Club in Hobart.
By 13 he went to India to represent Australia with his brother in the international cadet class of sailing.
It was through this event that he made connections with John Bertrand, who would skipper Australia II in the 1983 victory.
Bertrand, starting up as a sailmaker in Melbourne at the time, provided the sails for the young champions’ boat.
Rees later joined Bertrand as an apprentice sailmaker at 17, a craft he describes as like “complicated dressmaking”.
“Back then, a sailmaker would lay out on the floor what the sail should look like, put the curves on the sail, sew it all up,” Rees said.
“You’d then put the edges on and the holes in the corners to hold the ropes onto it and fold it up and there you go — there’s a sail.
“It was good fun.
“I’ve always been fascinated by what makes a boat go fast.”
Newport-bound
Rees joined the Australia II team in Melbourne through his employer Bertrand, who had been involved in other America’s Cup campaigns.
“It was clear to me, even at a young age, this challenge was different to the previous challenges,” he said.
With a revolutionary winged keel design by Ben Lexcen and lessons from Bond’s three previous unsuccessful cup attempts, the team was looking serious.
Rees asked if the team would need a sailmaker overseas, but his request fell flat.
Although he was young, Rees had already been to three world titles and knew what was involved in the campaign.
With a 20-year-old’s sense of adventure he decided to go to the United States anyway and it wasn’t long before his services were required on the team.
Working on the campaign was a full-time job in Newport from May to September, and sometimes sail repairs could take all night.
Rees said Bond was big on team culture, with all roles treated equally.
Days were spent with team meetings, fitness, keeping the boat running smoothly and preparing it for the more than 60 races in the season.
“We also spied on the Americans,” he said.
‘World Cup’ campaign
Unlike the annual Sydney to Hobart yacht race, the America’s Cup is a whole season of racing and doesn’t occur every year.
“It’s basically a footy season or World Cup campaign,” Rees said.
The cup campaign involves about a dozen challenges before the final boats are selected.
“It’s really boat on boat,” he said.
“You got down to an elimination situation where Australia II was finally the challenger and Liberty was the defender.”
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Rees said he learned a lot of life lessons from his time with the Australia II team.
“For me, it was just a boat race,” he said.
“But the nonsense that went with it was very exciting.”
He said by the time the campaign was nearing finals all the Australians living in America gravitated to Newport, which is about 160 kilometres from New York and known for its Gilded Age mansions.
“I don’t think I met any Australian young fellas who didn’t say they were on Australia II,” he laughed.
Rees recalls the exhaustion that followed the win, from months of long days and hard work.
“It was a bit deflating, we went back to the crew house for dinner and all the hangers-on were there,” he said.
“I snuck off to bed fairly early.
“I actually missed the presentation of the cup because I slept through it.”
The team had to take the boat out for filming the next day, and then start packing it up along with the house they’d lived in for months which was a boarding school.
Back home, the country woke to news of the victory and at the Royal Perth Yacht Club then-prime minister Bob Hawke declared: “I tell you what, any boss who sacks anyone for not turning up today is a bum.”
When the team got back to Australia, there was a parade that stretched from Fremantle to Perth and many celebratory events including lunch with Hawke at the Lodge.
Rees said he had kept in touch with the team, which reunites about every five years.
The Fremantle Maritime Museum will hold a party on Sunday, September 24 to celebrate the historic event.
It will feature performances by Australia’s Eurovision contenders Voyager, the Baby Animals and the Hoodoo Gurus, along with a drone show.
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