12 Meter Sailing

Newport, Rhode Island. It is all about the sailing. I spotted a brochure in the Visitor Center advertising a sail on an America's Cup Yacht. The America's Cup race used to be held off Newport until the New York Yacht Club lost the cup to a California Yacht Club. I had been planning to take a harbor tour aboard a schooner but quickly realized that I had to sail on a 12 meter.
The company owns 6 boats. 3 won the America's Cup and 3 were contenders.

I called and made a reservation for the next day, Sunday afternoon. Traffic was heavy into Newport but I made it on time all excited to find out which boat I would be sailing on. "Intrepid" won 2 America's Cups so I would be sailing on a winner.
This is a picture of another 12 meter taken from the deck of Intrepid. These are the beautiful boats sailed in the 60's and 70's.

The sail was great! The wind was good enough. We made 8 knots of speed. We were invited to help and take the helm. Yes I did.
Newport is a busy harbor with a great many sailboats out in Narragansett Bay but our Skipper, Mike suggested to the crew that he would sail all the way in to the dock. He did but he then had to turn out again to take the sail down and come in to land the boat. Naturally none of us wanted to get off this beautiful boat, an America's Cup Winner.