In recognition of the 40th anniversary of Australia II winning the America’s Cup, I thought I’d blow off the cobwebs on some of the Australia II/III/IV gear that was given to Lord Rodney when came to Perth in the mid-1980s to work in Alan Bond’s syndicate on the defence of the America’s Cup, and subsequently left for me to wear as fashion accessories whenever an Australian sporting team plays.

The evidence that after joining one of the greatest teams in the history of Australian sport, his Lordship was the proverbial anchor for the boat, because the Bond syndicate with Australia IV lost the right to defend the Cup to Taskforce ’87 and Kookaburra III.

That, or they weren’t as good without John Bertrand.

Starting off, here’s a letter that Prime Minister Bob Hawke sent to Alan Bond and the crew after losing the defender series to Kookaburra:

In Hawkie’s worst prediction since that one about no child living in poverty, the Bond syndicate never did make it back to contest the America’s Cup, as Ben Lexcen had a fatal heart attack in May 1988, and Bond went down as one of the worst white-collar criminals in Australian history… although he claimed he couldn’t remember it.

Although, John Bertrand did come back and skipper One Australia in the 1995 Challenger Series, when it famously sank into San Diego Bay and became the first challenger in America’s Cup history to lose a match race by shipwreck.

Among other collectibles, here’s a woolen long-sleeve Canterbury rugby shirt with the Boxing Kangaroo… The last time I wore this was last month during the Women’s World Cup:

There’s also a short-sleeved version of this (Complete with white collar) somewhere in my wardrobe, which I didn’t even take a photo of because you don’t even need to use your imagination to picture what it looks like.

An Australia III shirt, which out of all them is probably the best to wear all-year round, even though Australia III was the black sheep.

A very rare singlet version, once worn on a night in January 2019 when it didn’t get below 36 degrees:

It is a sad indictment on our society that in 1985, pretty much all of those tops were considered size XL… 38 years later they barely crack a Medium.

Moving on, a green & gold Canterbury jacket to really let you know which country you’re competing for:

And finally, a short-sleeved woolen pullover sweater by Canterbury, who eventually decided sailing was a bit too niche and focused on other niche sports… like sponsoring North Melbourne in the AFL.

Some info on the letters and numbers:

Alan Bond owned the image of the Boxing Kangaroo, which had been used as the symbol of Australia II in 1983, hence why it appeared on all of the team shirts… The Australian Olympic Committee bought the Boxing Kangaroo rights a few years after, and have owned it ever since.

The 12 is to denote the 12-metre class that ruled the America’s Cup between 1958 to 1987…. Then the money and research reached Formula One levels of spending ($300m USD if it can be believed) and we got foiling catamarans in San Francisco.

KA was the designation for all of the 12-metre class yachts from Australia, starting from Sir Frank Packer’s Gretel (KA1) in 1962 all the way through to Alan Bond’s Australia IV (KA16).

KA6 is the sail number of the fabled Australia II, the subject of so many stories from the 1983 America’s Cup, namely regarding Ben Lexcen’s winged keel that enabled the great comeback to end the New York Yacht Club’s 132-year defence of the Auld Mug… KA6 was retired before the Defender Series and sold to the Australian government in 1985, and is now on permanent display at the Western Australian Maritime Museum in Fremantle.

KA9 is Australia III, launched on September 27 of 1985 (Exactly 38 years ago today) and competed in the 1987 Defender series, but ultimately suffered middle child syndrome in the family of Ben Lexcen’s boats, as Australia IV came along the next year and ultimately performed much better in the Defender series, while Australia III was knocked out early on.

KA16 is Australia IV, the last of the KA boats, and the boat that infamously lost the right to defend to Kookaburra III, which was then smashed by Dennis Conner’s Stars and Stripes 87 in the 1987 Cup at Gage Roads in Fremantle, the first time in 10 years that the Alan Bond syndicate wouldn’t feature in the America’s Cup.

Because you’re not wondering, the original Australia, which was designed by Lexcen and unsuccessfully contested the 1977 and 1980 America’s Cups for the Bond syndicate, was KA5, while Australia III and IV were later sold to a Japanese businessman named Masakuzu Kobayashi, with both yachts shipped to Japan and repainted… Australia IV is now known as Bengal III and is found somewhere in Malaysia.