Model No. XA2-1_14: Rainbow

Model by: Burgess, W. S.
Made when: 1934
Power/Sail: S
Vessel Type: America's Cup Defender
Hull Configuration: Keel&Centerboard
Model location: M.I.T. Hart Nautical Collections

Vessels from this model:
1 built, modeled by Burgess, W. S.

Model description:
"Model in M.I.T. Hart Nautical Collection: Rainbow, #1233; Size: 13 1/2'x53"; Acc. No.: XA2-1(14)." (Source: Source: van der Linde, Claas. 2007.)

Model discussion:
"Hidden away on the upper floor of a loft building at the shipyard of the Herreshoff Manufacturing Company in Bristol, R. I., is the 5-foot model of the America's Cup yacht to be built for the syndicate headed by Harold S. Vanderbilt and the international match next September. This is the boat Mr. Vanderbilt will sail in his second cup-defense venture. He was successful in the Enterprise, being chosen defender in 1930.
There is much secrecy surrounding the model of a Cup yacht. It is to absolute scale of the yacht, and small squared lines are penciled on it as it lies overturned on saw horses. From them and the blue prints, the large racer is built. Heretofore, none but the few directing the work on the boat have been permitted to lay eyes on a model until after the boat has been launched.
Designer Invites Group.
After the work of pouring the eighty tons of lead for the keel of the yacht was started successfully on Saturday [January 6, 1934], W. Starling Burgess, designer of the prospective defender of the cup against T. O. M. Sopwith's Endeavour, invited a small gathering to view the model.
The Endeavour has reached the plating stage in Gosport, England, and Mr. Burgess realized that Charles E. Nicholson would not tear her hull to pieces because of something he might observe in the defense candidate. Besides, it takes a keen eye of a naval architect to detect at a glance much about a model other than the general form of a racing yacht.
In this model there was most noticeable the long ends, or overhanging bow and stern, extending from the amidship body tapering down and joining the keel. The stern was not greatly different in casual appearance to that of the Enterprise, Weetamoe or Yankee, which were built for the 1930 races against the late Sir Thomas Lipton's Shamrock V.
The bow was what caught the eye. It first seemed long and not
nearly as much of a letter U section as the new rules call for instead of a letter V. But the curve was there, instead of the angle. Mr. Burgess had carried it out so skillfully and minutely it was hardly discernible at first glance.
Graceful Curve to Keel. In the mid-section there is a graceful curve down to the keel, but at the top there is an incurve of the sides to the deck. That is known as the tumble home, of which there was a decided one in the Shamrock IV, which won two races and only needed one more to take the cup in 1920. She was Mr. Nicholson's first America's Cup yacht. ... [Note: The article was accompanied by a photo of the model and Starling Burgess.]" (Source: Robbins, James. "Early View of Model Reveals America's Cup Yacht Features." New York Times, January 8, 1934, p. 25.)

Comment:
"A full model of Rainbow exists in the Collection of the Smithsonian Instiution: "J-CLASS RACING SLOOP, 1934 Rigged Model, usnm 313627
Rainbow
This is a model of the America's Cup defender Rainbow, which sailed against the English challenger Endeavour in 1934, winning a series of six races, of which the Endeavour won the first two. This big sloop was designed by Starling Burgess, naval architect, and was built by the Herreshoff Manufacturing Company, Bristol, Rhode Island. Large sloops of this size and general type were built to race for the America's Cup which had been won in a squadron race at Cowes, England, in 1851 by the New York schooner-yacht America.
The model shows a large racing sloop of the J-class of the Universal Rule having slight sheer, a very short and heavy ballast keel, a long, pointed bow with some reverse curve in the profile below the load line, a raking straight post, a long and thin counter ending in a small elliptical raking transom with an athwartship curve in its face, and no bulwarks but a low grab rail along the planksheer. The midsection is somewhat Y-shaped, with a thick ballast keel, or fin, and strongly rising floor, a slack and easy round bilge, and a nearly upright topside. The entrance is fine and convex, the run long and very fine.
A dinghy is carried on deck at the stern, forward of which is a small hatch, steering wheel, and binnacle, companion hatch with skylights on each side of it, main skylight, mast, and a small hatch. The fore-stays come to deck well inboard of the stemhead.
The Rainbow measured 126 feet 7 inches overall, 82 feet on the waterline, 20 feet 11 inches beam, 14 feet 11 inches draft, and had a mast 152 feet 6 inches, deck to center of halyard sheave in mast. The measured sail area was 7,549 square feet. Scale of the model is 1/4 inch to the foot.
Given by Chandler Hovey, Boston, Massachusetts." (Source: Chapelle, Howard. National Watercraft Collection. Washington, 1960, p. 96.)" (Source: van der Linde, Claas. 2008.)