Stars & Stripes 87
| Yacht club |
 San Diego Yacht Club
|
|---|---|
| Nation |
 United States
|
| Class | 12-meter |
| Sail no | US–55 |
| Designer(s) |
Britton Chance, Jr., Bruce Nelson, David Pedrick |
| Builder | Derecktor Shipyards |
| Launched | 1986 |
| Owner(s) | Sail America Foundation |
| Racing career | |
| Skippers | Dennis Conner |
| Notable victories |
1987 Louis Vuitton Cup, 1987 America's Cup |
| America's Cup | 1987 |
Stars & Stripes 87 (US 55) was the 12 Meter challenge boat sailed by Dennis Conner in his bid to reclaim the America’s Cup from the Royal Perth Yacht Club of Australia in 1987.
Stars & Stripes 87 was built in 1986. She was the culmination of the team’s 12 Meter design advances, the fifth boat in the Sail America Foundation stable, and the third of the new boat designs by Britton Chance, Jr., Bruce Nelson and David Pedrick. In 1983 the Cup had been lost to a wing keeled boat that was markedly quicker in stays than Liberty. It was known that the course for the Cup in 1987 would have an increase in the number of legs, going from six legs to eight. There had been no change made in the course length to be sailed, thus the distance of each leg was shorter. Most believed this would place a greater premium on design trends established in Australia II, a boat which could turn fast and accelerate out of a tack quickly.
Conner chose not to follow the common reasoning. His direction to the design team was clear: he wanted a boat built for straight ahead speed. Confident in his own ability to avoid getting the team in a hole at the start, Conner felt that boat type would be most successful in the high winds off Fremantle.John Marshall, Conner's mainsheet trimmer on board Liberty in the '83 campaign, was given the job of design team coordinator essential during the testing and tuning phase. The boat was created to excel in the heavy seas and strong winds expected at Gage Roads off Fremantle. She was framed longitudinally rather than transversely, making the boat stiffer and stronger without a corresponding weight increase. The keel had a bulbous lead. A pair of wings extended off the aft-most third of the keel. The boat's snub nose entry was not the most aesthetic of designs, but the result was a fast, heavy air boat. She was competitive in 10 to 12 knots of wind, and excelled in winds of 16 knots and more.
Dennis Conner sea trialed the boats against each other in the Pacific waters of Hawaii, taking advantage of the steady 18 to 25 knot trade winds off Waikiki (33 to 46 km/h, or 21 to 29 mph). The in-house competition between boats was intense, particularly between the 86 and 87 boats, with Stars & Stripes 87 receiving the nod for the trip to Australia. The 85 boat was taken as well as a trial horse against which changes made to the 87 boat could be measured.
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