Legendary 80-Foot Racing Yacht, Kialoa III Settles Comfortably Into Her OCC Berth

Friday, June 17, 2005
Jim Carnett, Director

Kialoa III, the legendary 80-foot maxi yacht that dominated offshore racing in the 1970s, arrived at Orange Coast College’s School of Sailing and Seamanship in Newport Beach Thursday morning (June 16).

Now a constituent of the OCC fleet, the majestic sloop is berthed — somewhat conspicuously — at the college’s North Lido Channel dock.

The yacht was donated to the institution this spring by her owner, John B. (Jim) Kilroy of Marina del Rey. She was sailed from her previous home port in Uruguay through the Panama Canal to her new quarters at OCC’s Sailing Center. OCC boasts one of America’s largest public nautical schools, and has a strong offshore sail training program.

Now a mature 31-year-old, Kialoa III dramatically broke the Sydney to Hobart Race record in 1975 and held the mark for 21 years. In addition to her Sydney to Hobart wins, Kialoa's dozens of ocean-racing victories included winning the Transatlantic, Transpac, China Sea and the World Ocean racing championships. She dominated Maxi racing during her era, including victories in the SORC and Maxi world championships.

Designed by Sparkman & Stephens in New York City, and built in 1974 by Palmer Johnson Shipyard in Wisconsin, Kialoa was the third of Kilroy's five big racing yachts. Each yacht was built upon the successes and knowledge of her owner and crew.

The five Kialoas spanned nearly a half century of ocean racing. Kialoa III, however, became Kilroy’s favorite. When her racing career was over in the early 1980s, converted the aluminum sloop into a comfortable cruising yacht and used her to explore the world. Over the past decade, Kialoa III cruised the Mediterranean, Caribbean, South Pacific, New Zealand, Southeast Asia, the Indian Ocean, the Red Sea, and South America.

Kialoa joins another Sparkman & Stephens classic at OCC, the 65-foot Alaska Eagle. The college has owned Eagle, a former global racer, for 23 years and has sailed her more than 250,000 miles around the world with students on board. Kialoa's initial voyages under the OCC flag will be a series of trips to Catalina Island this summer. Longer voyages are in the offing.

Now 50 years old, and the largest public sailing program in the United States, OCC’s School of Sailing and Seamanship provides nautical education to more than 4,000 student and adult sailors annually.