Courageous (yacht)

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Courageous is one of only two, two time America's Cup winners. She won America's Cup in 1974 and 1977.

While best known as the yacht with which Ted Turner won America's Cup in 1977, she won the cup in 1974 with Ted Hood at the helm. After the 1974 cup, Hood built a new boat which he deemed faster than Courageous, and sold Courageous to Turner. Turner eventually beat Hood in the 1977 America's cup trial defender series, and won the cup later that year.

When preparing Courageous for the 1977 America's Cup, Courageous was re-measured for compliance with the 12-metre rule. It was discovered that she was lighter than the weight declared in her original racing certificate for the 1974 America's Cup. Less weight typically means a faster performance in lighter winds and a slower performance in stronger winds. If Courageous had been found to be under weight before the competition in 1974 then the designers would have had to make adjustments to sail area and/or waterline length and/or other attributes to make the design comply with the 12-metre rule. If Courageous was found to be underweight during the event she would have been disqualified. It is only conjecture what effect this oversight had on the result of the 1974 event.