Nefertiti US I9

Ted Hood's 1962 Powerful Contender

Year Built: 1962
Yacht Designer: Ted Hood
Yacht Builder: James E. Graves Yard, Marblehead MA
Syndicate: Boston yacht Club

Ted Hood's first America's Cup design, Nefertiti came very close to defending the America's Cup in 1962.

She won the early Defender trials that year, but lost out to Weatherly in the lighter breezes of August. The powerful Egyptian Queen represented a different approach to the 12 Meter Rule – greater beam and less displacement, which coincidentally, gives her the largest interior volume of any of the Twelves. She was built for E. Ross Anderson's Boston Yacht Club syndicate at the Graves boatyard in Marblehead, MA. "Neffy" ousted both Easterner and Columbia in the 1962 Defender's preliminary trials before her elimination by Weatherly in the Defender finals.

Following her Cup challenges of '62 & '64, Nefertiti was converted for cruising, leaving Newport to traverse the globe. She crossed the Atlantic to the Mediterranean and sailed out of Greece for several years as the flagship of the Royal Hellenic Yacht Club. By 1983 she was back in Newport as a spectator, where she viewed the last America's Cup series held here. The yacht then sailed to the West Indies before voyaging to Freemantle, Australia, once again as a spectator for viewing the wild and windy 1987 America's Cup.

Her years of wandering eventually ended in South Africa, where she lay neglected for years after successfully crossing the Indian Ocean. She was found there and shipped back to Newport for restoration. The trip back to Newport was almost Neffy's last, while rounding the Cape of Good Hope, the very large ship that carried her as deck cargo encountered a tremendous storm that knocked several containers off the 700' vessel and loosened the blocking under Nefertiti. The ship's crew bravely shored her up and saved the Egyptian Queen. Back in her racing trim, she once again competes successfully with the greats of I2 Meter history.