Kookaburra III (KA 15)
Syndicate	Taskforce 87
Australia Australia Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
Representing	Royal Perth Yacht Club Royal Perth Yacht Club The Royal Perth Yacht Club is a yacht club in Perth, Western Australia. -Early history:The "Perth Yacht and Boat Club" in 1880 was able to build a jetty at the foot of William Street in Perth Water. Perth Yacht Club received the Royal Charter in 1890. The club shifted to Crawley in 1953 when the...

Kookaburra III (KA 15) was the Australian 12 Meter yacht

Yacht

A yacht is a recreational boat or ship. The term originated from the Dutch Jacht meaning "hunt". It was originally defined as a light fast sailing vessel used by the Dutch navy to pursue pirates and other transgressors around and into the shallow waters of the Low Countries...

 sailed by Iain Murray

Iain Murray (sailor)

Iain Murray is an Australia sailor. He is most noted for his appearances in 12-Metre Class yachts in the 1983 and 1987 America's Cup regattas, but is also a champion 18ft Skiff skipper. The modern version of the 18ft Skiff was designed by Murray...

 in the 1987 America's Cup

1987 America's Cup

The 1987 America's Cup was the twenty-seventh challenge for the America's Cup and the first time for 132 years that it had not been defended by the New York Yacht Club....

 held off of Fremantle

Fremantle

Freemantle is a suburb of Southampton in England.Fremantle or Freemantle may also refer to:- Places :* Fremantle, the port city to the capital Perth, Western Australia...

, Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

. She won the Defender Selection and represented Australia in the America's Cup, where she lost to American challenger Dennis Conner

Dennis Conner

Dennis Conner is an American yachtsman, noted for winning the bronze medal at the 1976 Olympics, two Star World Championships, and four wins in the America's Cup.-America's Cup:...

 and his Stars and Stripes 87.

Taskforce 87

Preparing for the defense of the America's Cup, Alan Bond

Alan Bond (businessman)

Alan Bond is an Australian businessman noted for his criminal convictions and high-profile business dealings, including what was at the time the biggest corporate collapse in Australian history. Bond was born in the Hammersmith district of London, England, and emigrated to Australia with his...

 expressed concerns that there was a lack of adequate competition in Australia to prepare for the event. Business rival Kevin Parry

Kevin Parry

Kevin John Parry was a businessman from Western Australia, most noted for his backing of the Taskforce '87 syndicate which unsuccessfully defended the 1987 America's Cup in Fremantle, Western Australia...

 took him up on the challenge. Gathering together top sailors from across Australia, his Taskforce 87 Syndicate generated a top flight campaign, comprising an investment of some twenty-eight million dollars (Australian).

Design

Kookaburra III was built in Perth

Perth, Western Australia

Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia and the fourth most populous city in Australia. The Perth metropolitan area has an estimated population of almost 1,700,000....

, Western Australia

Western Australia

Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...

 by Parry Boat Builders. The boat was the third of the Kookaburra boats built by the Taskforce 87 Syndicate, all of which were designed by Iain Murray and John Swarbrick. The golden hulled Kookaburra's were fast and evenly matched, particularly Kookaburra II and Kookaburra III. Kookaburra II was intended to be a bench mark boat and was left unaltered from May 1986 on, while significant changes went into the hulls and keels of Kookaburra I and Kookaburra III. Throughout Kookaburra II remained a very fast sailor. Iain Murray believed her to be the syndicates fastest right up until the Defender Finals, when a keel modification to Kookaburra III gave her the edge.

Defender Round Robins Series

The Defender Series were extremely competitive, with Kookaburra II, Kookaburra III and Australia IV all very close in boat speed. This led to extremely close racing, marred only by the large number of protests raised. The red protest flag was a frequent flyer from the stern of a defender boat, with the results of the days sailing protested nearly every other race. In all fifty protests were lodged during the one hundred one races of the defender selection series.

The end of the selection round robins series found Kookaburra III the leading yacht, with 83 points, followed by Australia IV at 77 and Kookaburra II at 70. Steak and Kidney was eliminated on points halfway through the final round. With ongoing protests over the legality of Australia IVs balloon jib, an agreement was reached in which Australia IV and Kookaburra III would race in a best of nine set. The winning syndicate could then use Kookaburra II as the defender yacht if they so chose.

Defender Finals

Keel modifications to Kookaburra III in the break between the last round robin series and the Defender Finals gave her an upwind edge in speed over her rival Australia IV, and she swept Australia IV five races to nil to win the Defender selection process. In doing so she placed Alan Bond's syndicate on the outside of an America's Cup regatta for the first time in thirteen years.

America's Cup

In the America's Cup she lost to American challenger Dennis Conner

Dennis Conner

Dennis Conner is an American yachtsman, noted for winning the bronze medal at the 1976 Olympics, two Star World Championships, and four wins in the America's Cup.-America's Cup:...

 and his Stars and Stripes 87, four races to nil.