Crusader II 12 K 25

Designed by David Hollom – Built by Cougar Marine, 1986

Design and Construction

Crusader II (K 25) was the second yacht built for the British America’s Cup Challenge of 1987, led by Graham Walker. Designed by David H.J. Hollom and built by Cougar Marine in Southampton, England, she was an ambitious and radical development within the International 12 Metre Third Rule. Constructed of aluminium alloy, she featured long overhangs, a distinctive hull shape, and an experimental winged canard keel, which earned her the nickname “Hippo.”

Before construction began, extensive hydrodynamic testing was carried out at the Teddington Maritime Institute, using scale models to simulate Fremantle’s steep seas and strong winds. The goal was to create a yacht that could outperform her predecessor, Crusader (K 24), in both stability and power.

Role in the 1987 America’s Cup Campaign

Crusader II was launched in late 1986 as a trial horse to train against Crusader (K 24)—the primary British challenger, later renamed White Crusader through sponsorship by White Horse Whisky. While Crusader II demonstrated some impressive performance characteristics, her radical design proved unpredictable and difficult to tune. As a result, she was not entered in the Louis Vuitton Challenger Series in Fremantle.

The campaign ultimately relied on the more conventional K 24, which carried Britain’s challenge into competition. Crusader II, however, played a valuable role as an experimental platform, testing new foil concepts and rig adjustments that informed future 12 Metre development.

Later History and Fate

After the 1987 campaign, Crusader II returned to the United Kingdom and was briefly owned by Chris Freer, homeported in Southampton. During transit from the 1988 12 Metre Worlds in Luleå, Sweden, she reportedly fell from a ship’s deck in the Baltic Sea and was badly damaged. Sources indicate that she was eventually broken up in Britain, marking the end of her short but significant career.

While her life afloat was brief, Crusader II remains notable for its daring engineering approach—an expression of late-era 12 Metre experimentation when designers began to push the limits of hull form and appendage design under the Third Rule.

Legacy

Although Crusader II never competed in the America’s Cup, she symbolized the innovative spirit of the 1987 British campaign. Her sister yacht, Crusader (K 24), went on to race at Fremantle and later transitioned into offshore and vintage 12 Metre competition. Together, they represent a transitional moment in Cup design—when technology, daring ideas, and national pride converged in pursuit of a faster, smarter Twelve.