Bristol-built ’Mermaid Boat’ — Cup defender turns museum piece

By Bruce Burdett
Posted 9/2/17

Built in Bristol to sail for the 1995 America’s Cup, Young America — “the Mermaid Boat” — now floats in air above a Vermont pond.

The yacht (USA-36) is retired now from racing and has …

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Bristol-built ’Mermaid Boat’ — Cup defender turns museum piece

Posted

Built in Bristol to sail for the 1995 America’s Cup, Young America — “the Mermaid Boat” — now floats in air above a Vermont pond.

The yacht (USA-36) is retired now from racing and has embarked on a second career as work of art. It resides for the time being over a pond out behind Middlebury College’s Mahaney Center for the Arts.

There is beauty in that carbon fiber hull, built back in 1994 by Bristol’s Goetz Custom Boats.

But it is the artwork along each side — a golden haired mermaid created by famed artist Roy Lichtenstein — that propelled the boat into the art world.

“It is really pretty cool to think that this boat built right here is a totally original piece of art created by Roy Lichtenstein,” said Eric Goetz, now chief technology officer at Goetz Composites in Bristol.

The artwork was Lichtenstein’s gift to the Young America (PACT 95) syndicate, Mr. Goetz said, adding that he watched as the artist signed his name to the deck at the boat’s launch in San Diego.

These days, the yacht’s usual home is Storm King Art Center in New York state. But it moved to Middlebury to served as centerpiece for the college’s Lichtenstein exhibit, “Young America: Roy Lichtenstein and the America’s Cup,” which will remain in place for the rest of the year.

Mr. Goetz was tipped off to the move over a year ago when he was called in to consult on the boat’s trip from New York to Vermont.

“It is quite impressive,” said Mr. Goetz who has seen the exhibit. “The boat rests in air and the mermaid is reflected beautifully on the pond’s surface.”

When its Vermont stay is done, the ‘Mermaid Boat’ may be headed back to Bristol for a touch-up of that precious paint job.

Mr. Goetz said the plan is to bring it to Goetz Composites where the paint experts at Bristol’s Itchiban Yacht Painters — the ones who painted the image onto the hull with Awlgrip in the first place — will be brought in to refresh the finish.

It was fascinating, he said, to watch the paint process nearly 25 years ago.

Itchiban first painted the image onto an 8-foot model of Young America. Slide photographs were then used to project the image onto the full-sized hull.

Representatives from Mr. Lichetenstein’s studio transcribed the outlines onto the hull and Itchiban did the rest.

That model, along with Lichtenstein’s drawings for the project and other examples of his work, are all on display at the exhibit.

“Almost 25 years later that paint is in remarkable condition,” Mr. Goetz said.

Middlebury has a Young America connection — the boat was skippered by Kevin Mahaney, a 1984 graduate of the college.

Young America competed in the 1995 Citizens Cup for the right to defend the America’s Cup against the challenge of Team New Zealand’s Black Magic boat.

Dennis Conner won that Citizens Cup series aboard Stars & Stripes but petitioned and was granted the right to instead use the Young America boat since it had proved to be the fastest in the qualifiers. Black Magic was the eventual winner.

Photographer celebrates the Herreshoffs

The Glory of Sail, a photographic exhibition featuring the yacht designs of Nathanael G. Herreshoff and including designs by Sidney Herreshoff, L. Francis Herreshoff, and Halsey Herreshoff, will open Friday, Sept. 1, from 5 to 7 p.m. at the Herreshoff Marine Museum, 1 Burnside Sy., Bristol.

The retrospective by Ed Gifford, with introduction by Halsey C. Herreshoff, spans the designs of three generations of Herreshoffs and a time span of well over 100 years.

Mr. Gifford is an award winning photojournalist who is also a life-long seafarer.

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