The Ranger was a J-Class yacht, with an amazing track record. It was designed by William Starling Burgess and Olin J. Stephens. It was built by Bath Iron Works, and was created to compete in the America’s Cup in 1937.

The Ranger raced 37 times in all, and only losing to two different boats. This amazing track record would be perfect, had it not been for the Yankee and Endeavour. The boat was created specially to get the America’s Cup win- and was put into design. Harold Vanderbilt described the boat as a “Super J”, because of its amazing season in 1937. Surprisingly, it was one of the heaviest boats in the J-Class league. It had a displacement of 166 tons- quite a force to be reckoned with. As many see lightweight ships the key to winning races, this yacht defied all assumptions based on size, and took many victories in the name of larger scale boats.

Over four months of work went into the boat, and employed the expertise of top experts in certain fields. For instance, the sails were designed by Prescott Wilson, an expert in his field. Like many other J-Class boats, this boat took advantage of aviation technology to get some sort of advantage in speed or maneuverability. It was the first boat to have the mast, boom, and spinnaker pole made entirely out of aluminum- great for perfecting speeds. The technology of the boat was indeed the factor that led the yacht to so many victories.

Another first time in boating was the use of a synthetic material in use for sails- using what is called rayon. The boat was a vast technological achievement, and therefore was able to pick up speeds incredibly quick. The only downfall to the boat was the tack, which was poor. It seemed the boat had too much inertia, as well. However, this “Super J” was still amazingly fast, and won an incredible amount of races.

The designer of the yacht, William Burgess, had previous successes as well- he wasn’t new to the sport. His boats Rainbow and Enterprise were also great ships. Enterprise would go on to defeat the Shamrock V, an amazing achievement. It would seem that Burgess has a great knack for making superb J-Class boats, or “Super J” boats as some would call them. Sadly, he did not continue for very long in the sport, as he had became deceased in 1947. His boats were all scrapped eventually, which effectively destroyed valuable J-Class yachting history.

The J-Class yachts he designed, in particular the “Super J” Ranger, might not have made it through history- but are still remembered as some of the best yachts for their time. The vast technological improvements are still in use today- with his innovation in sails and full aluminum body achievement. The Ranger was scrapped in the World War II era, precisely in 1941. It is sad to see such a grand boat leave history- but it still lives on in art and history books.