Stars and Stripes, the twelve-metre yacht, racing off Fremantle in the 1987 America's Cup, photographed by Graeme Newman

A Photographic Remembrance

The America's
Cup 1987

How it Changed Fremantle Forever

Four months on the water and on the foreshore, captured on film by Graeme Newman and shelved for almost 40 years. The last summer of the twelve-metre yachts, and the port town that rebuilt itself around them.

Printed edition

$79.95AUDincl GST

Buy now with PayPal

Cover photograph: Stars and Stripes racing off Fremantle.

The Book

“I had been going through old photographs and transparencies of the America's Cup when I came to the realisation that I didn't want to go to my grave without these images ever being seen.”

Graeme Newman

In 1986 Fremantle was a working port town with a tired main street. Within months it was the centre of the yachting world. Crowds lined the rocks at the foreshore, flags flew from every vantage point, and the sleekest racing yachts ever built duelled just off the coast while millions watched on television.

This book brings that summer back: the boats, the crews, the characters and the people of Fremantle, all from Graeme's original film, never been published before.

The America's Cup 1987: How it Changed Fremantle Forever, hardcover book by Graeme Newman — 172 pages of yachting history
on Australian soil.

Inside the book

An era that won't come again

The 1986–87 Cup was the last fought on board the classic twelve-metre yachts. Graeme calls today's AC75 foiling monohulls "more like machines", far from the class, style and beauty of the boats he photographed. This is a record of how it looked when the boats were still beautiful.

Never before seen photographs

Original film and transparencies from 1986–87, shot then and printed now for the first time.

The twelve-metre yachts

Kookaburra III, Australia IV, Kiwi Magic, French Kiss, USA and Stars and Stripes, practising and racing out on Gage Roads.

Fremantle transformed

Before and after views of a port town rebuilt for the world's biggest yachting event.

The crowds and the characters

Fans on the rocks, flags in the wind, and Bondy, who was everywhere.

The story behind the pictures

Written by Graeme with some original text and guidance from Professor Peter Newman, who helped rebuild Fremantle for the Cup.

Printed in Australia

Printed in Canberra by CanPrint Communications.
First edition, 17th October 2026.

Black and white portrait of photographer Graeme Newman

About the photographer

MeetGraeme Newman

Sent for four months. Stayed for 32 years.

Graeme was a professional photographer on the South Coast of New South Wales, where he ran his own business, Stage V Photographics. Months after selling the business he was commissioned to go to Fremantle for four months in 1986 to photograph the America's Cup.

He ended up living there for 32 years.

The photographs in this book come from that yachting assignment: the duelling yachts on Gage Roads, the crowds on the breakwaters and the port town around them. Graeme kept the film and transparencies for close to four decades before deciding they had to be seen.

1986Arrived in Fremantle

32Years in WA

40Years in the making

From the book

Gage Roads, 1986–87

A selection of Graeme's photographs from the book. Tap any image to view it larger.

Crew aboard USA (US-61) in rough water during the 1986–87 America's Cup challenger series off Fremantle — On *USA* (US-61), a radical computer-designed boat with two rudders,
eliminated in the challenger semi-finals by *Stars and Stripes*.

Australia IV and Kookaburra III duelling on Gage Roads, Fremantle, during the 1987 America's Cup defender trials — Bondy's *Australia IV* and Parry's *Kookaburra III* duelling.

Alan Bond on a boat in Fremantle during the 1987 America's Cup — Bondy was everywhere.

Kiwi Magic (KZ-7), New Zealand's twelve-metre yacht, practising on Gage Roads in 1986 — *Kiwi Magic* out practising with the challenger trials
well under way on Gage Roads.

Crowds with Australian flags on the rocks at the Fremantle foreshore watching the 1987 America's Cup — The crowds as the boats came and went out
to the battleground on Gage Roads.

American fans waving flags as Stars and Stripes returns to its Fremantle mooring, 1987, black and white — Waiting for *Stars and Stripes* to return to its mooring and waving that flag.

Behind the lens

The gearA die-hard Nikon man

For the Cup, Graeme's 35mm SLR Nikon FE did most of the work. It was light, compact and reliable, and came with a compliment of interchangeable lenses.

35mm SLR NIKON FEThe workhorse for the whole America's Cup assignment
and many years of photography

55mm f/3.5 Micro-NikkorThe standard lens, for accurate focusing and composing

24mm f/2.8 NikkorWide angle of view, corrected for distortion

105mm f/2.5 NikkorPortraiture, sport, candids and general outdoor work

Hasselblad 500C, the "Blad"2¼" square format with three Zeiss lenses

He started with a 35mm Pentax Spotmatic 1000, added the Hasselblad, then a Bronica ETR 6×4.5cm. The Pentax and the Bronica eventually went, leaving him with the Blad and his trusted Nikon.

"Simply stated, I'd see the image and the Nikon FE would handle the rest with ease."

Page from the book: Graeme's notes on his camera gear over a black and white photo of South Terrace, Fremantle

From the book - Graeme's own words... South Terrace before the Cup, "needing a bit of love".

Relive the summer ofThe America's Cup 1987

Order your copy securely through PayPal. You can pay with your PayPal account or any major credit or debit card, and no PayPal account is needed.

Printed edition

$79.95AUDincl GST

Buy now with PayPal

Secure checkout via PayPal

Title: The America's Cup 1987: How it Changed Fremantle Forever
Author: Graeme Newman
ISBN: 978-1-7645650-0-4 (1st edition)
Printed: Canberra, Australia by CanPrint Communications, 17th October 2026