With Alan Bond's Royal Perth Yacht Club victory in 1983, and the arrival of the America's Cup in Australia, a sailing event that had been prohibitively far away and expensive suddenly was delivered to the near doorstep of New Zealand.

The pieces of the challenge effort were picked up by businessman and financier Michael Fay, merchant banker and co-owner of Fay-Richwhite.

Combining experienced sailors under the leadership of Brad Butterworth with talented young match racer Chris Dickson, a team was assembled to compete in the 1985 12 Metre World Championships.

The boat finished ahead of the New York Yacht Club entry America II, a considerable achievement that made the sailing community stand-up and take notice that the New Zealand challenge was serious.

Prior to the Louis Vuitton Cup protests were lodged by the French Kiss team, challenging whether KZ 7 was in compliance with the 12 Metre formula.

[3] KZ 7 was the top qualifier of the round robins, followed in the points competition by Stars and Stripes 87, USA and French Kiss.

Going into the Louis Vuitton Finals, Kiwi Magic was the clear favorite, having won thirty-seven of her previous thirty-eight races.

The boats were very closely matched, but by this point in the regatta Stars and Stripes 87 was showing a slight edge in speed going to windward, especially in heavy airs and seas.

The New Zealanders sailed competitively, and ended up winning the event in the protest room, achieving victory over the Japanese entry Bengal (previously the Bond syndicate's Australia III).

In 2016 the yacht was sold to Mr. Johan Blach Petersen, of Aarhus, Denmark and is now actively racing in the growing Baltic 12 Metre fleet.