Take the Helm of a Classic 12-Metre Off Newport
America's Cup Charters keeps six 12-Metre yachts working out of Newport harbour and sails them in the evening with a dozen guests aboard. The crew hand over the lines and, when you want it, the wheel.
Newport keeps its old racing yachts in the water rather than in a museum. Six of them sail out of the harbour on summer evenings with passengers aboard, and they are 12-Metres, the class the America's Cup was sailed in for three decades.
The sail runs two hours and heads out onto Narragansett Bay. No experience is required: guests hoist, trim, and take a turn on the helm. Sitting on deck and watching the bay go past is a normal choice too, and the crew will let you make it.
Departures leave from the Newport Harbor Hotel Marina on America's Cup Avenue. The 2026 season runs from 16 May to 26 October, and a booking takes between one and twelve people. Tickets are final: once booked there are no refunds and no changes.
America's Cup Evening Sailing Adventure Newport, RITwo hours on Narragansett Bay aboard a 12-Metre yacht, with a professional crew and no more than twelve guests on board.www.viator.comYou Are Crew for Two Hours
The operator puts it plainly: guests will help hoist sails, trim, and even take a turn on the helm. A professional crew runs the boat, and the jobs they can hand over, they hand over. No sailing background is assumed.
There is a floor on fitness. The operator asks for at least a moderate level of physical fitness, and says the sail is not recommended for travellers who are pregnant, who have spinal injuries, or who have poor cardiovascular health. Infants ride on an adult's lap.
Captains hold United States Coast Guard licences. Heritage's captain owns the boat she sails.
Six Twelves, and What They Actually Won
The fleet goes by sail number as much as by name: Heritage US-23, Intrepid US-22, American Eagle US-21, Weatherly US-17, Gleam US-11, Onawa US-6.
Four of them raced for the Cup. Intrepid won it twice, in 1967 under Bus Mosbacher and in 1970 under Bill Ficker. Weatherly took the Cup in 1962 and is the only 12-Metre Philip Rhodes ever designed. American Eagle, launched in 1964, later went offshore under Ted Turner and won the first World Ocean Racing Championship. Heritage ran the 1970 Defender series, went out to Intrepid, then won the Chicago to Mackinac race in 1983 and again in 1984.
The other two never contested the Cup. Gleam, built in 1937, served as a trial horse for Cup campaigns in 1958 and 1962, and in 1975 became the first 12-Metre offered for charter in Newport. Onawa dates from 1928 and lost her original keel to the war effort. The replacement was poured during the Second World War and stayed with her until the rebuild that began in 2000.
The operator assigns the boat. You find out which one you have when you get to the dock.
What the Bay Puts in Front of You
The course leaves the harbour and works around Narragansett Bay. The boat passes Fort Adams, Hammersmith Farm, the Eisenhower House and Rose Island, and sails under the Claiborne Pell Newport Bridge. The New York Yacht Club's Harbour Court and Castle Hill sit along the same shoreline, and Ida Lewis Light stands in the harbour itself.
None of it is a stop. The boat is under sail the whole time, and the landmarks arrive when they arrive.
Two hours is fixed, and the departure is an evening one.
Before You Book
- The 2026 season closes on 26 October. Sailings run from 16 May.
- One booking covers one to twelve travellers, and an adult has to be on it.
- Seltzer and bottled water are complimentary. Guests are welcome to bring beer, white wine, or a light snack.
- Gratuity sits outside the ticket.
- Tickets are mobile, one per booking. The guide works in English.
- Check in with the staff twenty minutes before departure.
📍 Boarding is at the Newport Harbor Hotel Marina, 49 America's Cup Avenue. Follow the dock on the water side of the hotel to the black fencing and the Meet Here sign, where a member of staff will check you in.
America's Cup Avenue runs the length of the waterfront, so the wharves, the chandlers and a long row of places to eat are a few minutes on foot from the moment you step back onto the dock.