Women Launch New Boat

The first women’s crew in America’s Cup history hopes it finally has the great equalizer.

After two months of chasing its competition around the race course with a 3-year-old yacht, the America3 Foundation’s new sloop will make its debut against Stars & Stripes today in the opening race of the fourth round-robin of the defender trials.

The 75-footer was christened Mighty Mary, which was the nickname of the late mother of America3 Foundation Chairman Bill Koch.

Mighty Mary is the successor to the yacht America3, which won the 1992 America’s Cup with a male crew and whose narrow-beam design was heavily copied by other syndicates.