"There is nothing as handsome as half a dozen twelves hard on the wind", enthuses Paul Buttrose, chairman of the International Twelve Metre Class Association (ITMA).
In 2019, when the world was not yet in the grip of a pandemic, the World Championship of the 12-meter class was held in Newport, Rhode Island, USA.
22 racing yachts from six countries, built over the course of half a century, took part. They included, for example, the Nyala, Blue Marlin and Vema III built in the 1930s, as well as America's Cup (AC) contenders Courageous, Kookaburra II and Kiwi Magic.
The Newport-based 12 Metre Yacht Club has just released 12mR: An Enduring Legacy, a 19-minute film about the event and its participants produced by filmmakers and sailors Gary Jobson, Jamie Hilton and Scott Shucher.
They feature beautiful images from the regattas, historic footage - a historic photo of the HETI is featured in the film as well (at about the 1:30 mark) - and brief interviews with the sailors, including Robbie Doyle LJ Edgecomb and Jobson from the winning 1977 AC crew or Danish Olympic champion Jesper Bank.
Gunther Buerman, owner of New Zeland, sums it up, "It's like sailing a beautiful work of art."
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