GRETEL Update
About two years ago we published THIS STORY about Australia’s first challenger for the America’s Cup. Well, a far more informative and detailed article appeared in AFLOAT MAGAZINE this month written by occasional SWS contributor and the Yoda of Australian Yachting history, David Salter.
David writes…
On 7 April 1960 the New York Yacht Club informed the Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron that they would accept the Club’s challenge for the America’s Cup to be sailed at Newport, Rhode Island, in the Summer of 1962. A year earlier, during a long lunch with two friends, the newspaper tycoon Frank Packer had canvassed their views on a substantial new cruising boat he wanted to build. Instead, they urged him to commission a 12-metre yacht and to challenge for the America’s Cup. The drinks kept coming and eventually Packer was talked into “having a go at the Yanks”.
The result of that campaign is well known to anyone with an interest in yachting history. The Australian challenger Gretel (named after Packer’s first wife) was defeated 4-1 by the US defender Weatherly after a stirring series that re-invigorated the Cup as the pinnacle of international sailing. Less well known is the huge effort that went into that campaign 65-years ago, and its uniquely Australian “hands-on” character. When they were not actually sailing, everyone involved contributed their skills, experience and plain hard yakka. It was a home-grown, hands-on campaign from start to finish.
David concludes the article
Finally, in 2011 the Robbe & Berking boat company in Germany bought the yacht and shipped her as deck cargo to their yard at Flensburg on the Baltic Sea. There Gretel still rests today, awaiting someone to fund the rebirth that is surely her due.
Now there’s an idea! Imaging GRETEL returning to the harbour into which she was launched 63 years ago.
View the listing HERE
