Design 2270 12 Meter Racing Yacht Enterprise

Enterprise (US27) was designed and built to compete in the 23rd Americas Cup of 1977. She was constructed of aluminum by the Minneford Yacht Yard of City Island, New York and launched in 1976. The syndicate was establised by the Maritime College of Fort Schuyler, New York.

The design was based on extensive tank testing using large format models of 1/3rd scale, a practice that was started for the testing of Courageous for the 22nd Americas Cup of 1974. Initial tank testing used 1/8th scale models of 8 length overall. After analysis the larger 22 models were built and tested to better verify results and to eliminate problems associated with scale effects. Earlier testing of previous 12-meters had relied upon models of 1/13th scale or 5 overall length.

The boat could not beat Courageous, S&S design #2085 and Courageous was selected to defend the Cup. Here is an image of Enterprise during trails sailing against Intrepid (US22), design #1834.