''Canada II'' is a

12-metre The 12 Metre class is a rating class for racing sailboats that are designed to the International rule. It enables fair competition between boats that rate in the class whilst retaining the freedom to experiment with the details of their designs. ...

class yacht that competed in the 1987 Louis Vuitton Cup. The boat's designer was Bruce Kirby and the boat was built by

Fred McConnell Marine, Ltd Fred may refer to: People * Fred (name), including a list of people and characters with the name Mononym * Fred (cartoonist) (1931–2013), pen name of Fred Othon Aristidès, French * Fred (footballer, born 1949) (1949–2022), Frederico Rodr ...

, of Parry Sound, Ontario. The boat's original home was in

Halfmoon Bay, British Columbia Halfmoon Bay (xwilkway in ''she shashishalhem'', the Sechelt language) is a small community of about 2,800 people, many of whom are only summer residents. It is a large scalloped bay protected from the open sea by South Thormanby Island and Vancou ...

at the

Secret Cove Yacht Club Secrecy is the practice of hiding information from certain individuals or groups who do not have the "need to know", perhaps while sharing it with other individuals. That which is kept hidden is known as the secret. Secrecy is often controvers ...

. The yacht Steve Killing-designed ''

True North True north (also called geodetic north or geographic north) is the direction along Earth's surface towards the geographic North Pole or True North Pole. Geodetic north differs from ''magnetic'' north (the direction a compass points toward t ...

'', which hailed from the Royal Nova Scotia Yacht Squadron, was another Canadian challenger of record in 1987. PJ Phelan, a Toronto yachtsman and restaurateur, added major financial support on one condition: that both ventures merge. The Canadians decided in 1986 to amalgamate their efforts, and ''Canada II'' was selected for the challenger series in Fremantle, Australia. David Howard, as CEO, chose

Perry Connolly Perry Connolly (June 24, 1927, Vancouver - September 29, 2017, Victoria, British Columbia) was a Canadian hotel constructor and yachtsman. Connolly was one of the instigators for George Cuthbertson to form C&C Yachts, whose ''Red Jacket'' won the ...

as the director of operations of the joint bid, and

Terry Neilson Terence "Terry" Neilson (born November 2, 1958 in Toronto, Ontario) is a Canadian sailor. He won a bronze medal in the Finn Class at the 1984 Summer Olympics. He skippered ''Canada II'' during the 1987 Louis Vuitton Cup The 2nd Louis ...

was chosen as skipper. Since 1993, the yacht has been in

Philipsburg, Sint Maarten Philipsburg () is the main town and capital of the country of Sint Maarten. The town is on a narrow stretch of land between Great Bay and the Great Salt Pond. It functions as the commercial center of Saint Martin island, whereof Sint Maarten enc ...

, "racing" as a tourist attraction against others of its type.

References

{{Canadian 12-metre class yachts 12-metre class yachts Sailing yachts of Canada Louis Vuitton Cup yachts