The America’s Cup
is the most prestigious regatta and match race in the sport of sailing, and the oldest active trophy in international sport, predating the Modern Olympics by 45 years. The sport attracts top sailors and yacht designers because of its long history and prestige. Although the most salient aspect of the regatta is its yacht races, it is also a test of boat design, sail design, fundraising, and management skills. The Cup originally named the Royal Yacht Squadron Cup was changed to the America's Cup after the first yacht to win the trophy, the schooner America
. The trophy remained in the hands of the New York Yacht Club of the United States from 1857 (when the syndicate that won the Cup donated the trophy to the club) until 1983 when the Cup was won by the challenger, Australia II
of Australia, ending the longest winning streak in the history of sport. The skipper of Australia II
, John Bertrand, was quoted as saying,"This puts yacht racing back on the map." [1]
The America’s Cup regatta is a challenge-driven series of match races between two yachts. Since the 1992 match, the regatta has been sailed with the International America’s Cup Class
(IACC) sloop, a monohull class. Boats that conform to the IACC rules typically have a length of about 75 ft (2}} m). Any challenger who meets the requirements specified in the Deed of Gift, which governs the regatta, has the right to challenge the yacht club that holds the Cup. Since 1970 there have most often been multiple challengers, which vie for the right to sail against the defender in a challenger selection series, and from 1983 until 2007, Louis Vuitton sponsored the Louis Vuitton Cup as a prize for the winner of the series. The America’s Cup is a race between the winner of the challenger selection series and the current holder. If the challenging team wins the cup, the cup’s ownership is transferred from the defender’s yacht club to the winning team’s yacht club.
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AMERICA'S CUP TICKETS
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History
The Cup itself is an ornate
sterling silver [2] bottomless
ewer, one of several off-the-shelf trophies crafted in 1848 by
Garrard & Co.
[3] Henry William Paget, 1st Marquess of Anglesey bought one and donated it for the
Royal Yacht Squadron's 1851 Annual Regatta around the
Isle of Wight.
It was originally known as the "R.Y.S. £100 Cup", standing for a cup of a hundred GB Pounds or 'sovereigns' in value. The Cup was subsequently mistakenly engraved
as the "100 Guinea Cup" by the
America
syndicate, but was also referred to as the "Queen's Cup" and the "America's Cup" (A Guinea is a largely obsolete monetary unit of one pound and one shilling - now £1.05). Today, the trophy is officially known as the "America's Cup" and affectionately called the "Auld Mug" by the sailing community. It is inscribed with names of the yachts that competed for it,
[4] and has been modified twice by adding matching bases to accommodate more names.
thumb
in 1851 by
Currier & Ives
1851 America
wins the Cup
In 1851 Commodore
John Cox Stevens, a charter member of the fledgling
New York Yacht Club (NYYC) formed a six-person syndicate to build a yacht with intention of taking her to England and making some money competing in yachting regattas and match races. The syndicate contracted with pilot-boat designer
George Steers for a 101 ft (2}} m)
schooner which was christened
America
and launched on May 3, 1851.
On August 22, 1851, the
America
raced against 15 yachts of the Royal Yacht Squadron in the Club's annual 53 mile
regatta around the
Isle of Wight.
America
won, finishing 8 minutes ahead of the closest yacht. Apocryphally,
Queen Victoria, who was watching at the finish line, asked who was second; the famous answer being: "Ah, Your Majesty, there is no second."
[5]
The surviving members of the
America
syndicate donated the Cup via a
Deed of Gift to the NYYC on July 8, 1857, specifying that it be held in trust as a perpetual challenge trophy to promote friendly competition among nations.
thumb
, 1871
1870-1881 First challenges
No challenge to race for the Cup was placed until
British MP James Lloyd Ashbury's topsail schooner
Cambria
(188 tons, 1868 design) beat the yankee schooner
Sappho
(274.4 tons, 1867 design) in the Solent in 1868.
[6] This success encouraged the
Royal Thames Yacht Club in believing that the Cup could be brought back home, and officially placed the first challenge in 1870: Ashbury was to enter his
Cambria
in the
NYYC Queen's Cup race in
New York City on August 8 against a fleet of seventeen schooners, with time allowed based on their
tonnage. The
Cambria
only placed eighth, behind the ageing
America
(178.6 tons, 1851) in fourth place and Franklin Osgood's
Magic
(92.2 tons, 1857)
[7] in the fleet's lead.
[8]
Testing his chance again, Ashbury placed a best-of-seven
match race challenge for October 1871, which the NYYC accepted provided a defending yacht could be chosen on the morning of each race. Ashbury's new yacht
Livonia
(264 tons) was beaten twice in a row by Osgood's new
centreboard schooner
Columbia
(220 tons), which withdrew in the third race after dismasting. The
Livonia
then raced the defender
Sappho
again in the fourth and fifth races, which were both lost to the older schooner.
[9]
The next challenge came from the
Royal Canadian Yacht Club and was the first to be disputed entirely between two yachts: the schooner
Madeleine
(148.2 tons, 1868), a previous defender from the 1870 fleet race, easily defeated the challenger
Countess of Dufferin
(221 tons, 1876 design by Alexander Cuthbert). Cuthbert later bankrolled, designed and captained the first sloop challenge for the America's Cup in 1881. The small 65 ft (0}}}} m) Canadian challenger
Atalanta
(84 tons, 1881) suffered from lack of funds, unfinished build and incompetent land transport from
Lake Ontario. In contrast, the NYYC cautiously prepared its first selection trials. The iron sloop
Mischief
(79 tons, 1879 design by Archibald Cary Smith) was chosen from four sloop candidates, and successfully defended the cup.
thumb, 1887
1885-1887 The NYYC Rule
After 1881, the Deed of Gift
was amended to require that challenges be accepted only from yacht clubs on the sea and that challenger yachts sailed to the venue on their own hull. Furthermore, Archibald Cary Smith and the NYYC committee devised a new
rating rule that would govern the next races. They included sail area and waterline length into the handicap, with penalties on waterlines longer than 85 ft (2}} m). Southampton naval architect John Beavor-Webb launched the challengers
Genesta
(1884) and
Galatea
(1885) that would define the British "plank-on-edge" design (heavy, deep and narrow keel hull), making for very stiff yachts ideal for the British breeze.
[10] The boats came to New York in 1885 and 1886 respectively, but neither would best the sloops
Puritan
or
Mayflower
, whose success in selection trials against many other candidates had elected Boston designer
Edward Burgess as the master of the "compromise sloop"
[11] (lightweight, wide and shallow hull with centerboard). This design paradigm proved ideal for the light yankee airs.
[12]
In 1887, Edward Burgess repeated his success with the
Volunteer
against Scottish yacht designer
George Lennox Watson's challenger
Thistle
, which was built in secret: Even when the
Thistle
was dry-docked in New York before the races, her hull was draped to withhold the secret of her lines, which borrowed from American design. Both
Volunteer
and
Thistle
were completely unfurnished below decks to save weight.
[13]
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, 1893
1889-1903 The Seawanhaka Rule
In 1887, the NYYC voted the use of the
Seawanhaka Corinthian Yacht Club's rating rule, in which
Bristol, RI naval architect
Nathanael Herreshoff found loopholes that he would use to make dramatic improvements in yacht design and to shape the America's Cup largest and most extreme contenders. Both Herreshoff and Watson proceeded to merge yankee sloop design and British cutter design to make very deep S-Shape fin-keeled hulls, with scow-shaped stem and pinched stern. Using steel, tobin bronze, aluminium and even nickel for novel construction, the overhangs of boats above waters would be increased significantly, further extending their sailing waterline as the boats inclined in the heel, and thus increasing their speed.
The next America's Cup challenge was initially limited to 70 ft (2}} m) waterline in 1889, but the mutual-agreement clauses of a new 1887
Deed of Gift caused the Royal Yacht Squadron to withdraw the
Earl of Dunraven's promising Watson-designed challenger
Valkyrie
as she was sailing across the Atlantic. Dunraven challenged again in 1893, pleading for a return to the longer 85 ft limit. In a cup-crazed Britain, its four largest cutters ever were being built, including Watson's
Valkyrie II
for Dunraven's challenge. Meanwhile, the NYYC's wealthiest members ordered two cup candidates from Herreshoff, and two more from Boston yacht designers. Charles Oliver Iselin, who was running the syndicate behind one of the Herreshoff designs called
Vigilant
, gave the naval architect leave to design the yacht entirely as he willed. Herreshoff helmed the
Vigilant
himself and beat all his rivals in selection trials, and defended the Cup successfully from the
Valkyrie II
.
[14]
Urged to challenge again in yet larger boat sizes, Dunraven challenged again in 1895 with a 90 ft (2}} m) waterline limit. The Watson-designed challenger
Valkyrie III
received many innovations: She would be wider than the defender, and featured the first steel mast.
[15] The NYYC ordered another defender from Herreshoff, which he had built in a closed-off hanger and launched at night so as to conceal her construction: The
Defender
used an
aluminium topside rivetted to steel frames and manganese bronze below waters. This saved 17 tons of displacement, but later subjected the boat to extreme electrolysis after the Cup races.
Valkyrie III
lost the first race, was found disqualified in the second race following a collision with
Defender
before the start line despite finishing first, and in turn withdrew from the contest. The unraveling of the races left Dunraven in a bitter disagreement with all parties over fairness of the Cup Committee concerning claims. After he asserted that he had been cheated, his honorary membership to the NYYC was revoked.
[16]
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&
Shamrock
The climate was estranged until Irish-Scotsman nouveau riche
Sir Thomas Lipton became the financial backer for the
Royal Ulster Yacht Club's 1899 challenge.
William Fife was chosen to design the challenging yacht because of past success in American waters.
[17] The yachts yet increased in size, and this time Herreshoff fitted a telescopic steel mast to his defender
Columbia
, but his largest contribution was to recruit Scottish-American skipper
Charlie Barr. The latter had helmed Fife designs
[18] in yankee waters before, and he had shown perfect coordinatiion with his hand-picked Scandinavian crew. Barr successfully helmed
Columbia
to victory, but Lipton's noted fair-play provided unprecedented popular appeal to the sport and to his
tea brand.
Although upset with the
Shamrock
, Lipton challenged again in 1901, turning this time to George Lennox Watson for a "cup-lifter":
Shamrock II
, Watson's fourth and final challenger, was the first cup contender to be thoroughly tank-tested. To defend the Cup, businessman
Thomas W. Lawson funded for Boston designer Bowdoin Bradlee Crowninshield a daring project: his yacht
Independence
was capable of unrivalled performance because of her extremely long sailing waterline, but she was largely overpowered, unbalanced and suffered from building issues. Furthermore, Lawson's failure to commit to the NYYC's terms for defending the Cup defaulted the
Indepedence
's elimination. Herreshoff had again received a commission from the NYYC, but had failed to secure Charlie Barr to skipper his new yacht
Constitution
. Instead, the
Columbia
's syndicate kept Barr's crew and tried another defense. Unexpectedly, Barr led the
Columbia
's crew to win the selection trials, and successfully defended the cup again.
Lipton persisted in a third challenge in 1903. With the aim to fend off Lipton's challenges indefinitely, the NYYC garnered a huge budget for a single cup contender, whose design would be commissioned to Herreshoff again. Improving on the
Independence
and on his previous designs, the new defender
Reliance
is still the largest race sloop ever built. She featured a ballasted rudder, dual speed winches below decks and a cork-decked aluminium topside that hid running rigging. The design focus on balance was exemplary, but the extreme yacht also required the skills of an excellent skipper, which defaulted choice options to Charlie Barr. Facing the equally bold challenger
Shamrock III
, Barr led the
Reliance
to victory in just three races.
[19]
1914-1937 The Universal Rule
Despite the immense success of the
Reliance
, she was used only one season, her design and maintenance kept her from being used in any other way than for such a race as a cup defense. The extremity of both 1903 cup contenders encouraged Nathanael Herreshoff to make boats more wholesome and durable by devising a new rule. Proposing in the same year the
Universal Rule, he added the elements of overall length and displacement into the rating, to the benefit of heavy, voluminous hulls and also divided boats into classes, without handicapping sail area. This went against the American Yacht Clubs' and the British
Yacht Racing Association's general desire to promote speed at all costs for cup boats, but the NYYC adopted Herreshoff's proposal. Lipton long pleaded for a smaller size of yachts in the new rule, and the NYYC conceded to seventy-five footers in 1914. Lipton turned to
Charles E. Nicholson for his fourth challenge, and got a superb design under the unauspicious shape of
Shamrock IV
, with a flat
transom.
[20] She was the most powerful yacht that year, and the NYYC turned out three cup candidates to defend the cup: Of George Owen's
Defiance
and William Gardner's
Vanitie
, it was Herreshoff who designed the wisest of all contenders.
[21] His last design for the cup,
Resolute
, was small, and earned significant time allowance from other yachts. Barr had died, but his crew manned the
Resolute
, which faced stiff competition from
Vanitie
, but went on to win the selection trials, before the Cup was suspended as
World War I broke out. The
Shamrock IV
waited in New York City's Erie Basin dry dock until 1920, when she received some adjustments to her build and ballast, just before the races were held. Despite
Shamrock IV
's severe rating, she took the first two races from
Resolute
, and came closer to winning back the Cup than any challenger before her. The defender
Resolute
ended the Old World's dreams by winning every following race of the event.
[22]
thumb,
Enterprise
's skipper
Shamrock IV
was never raced again, but the Universal Rule drew significant appeal, especially in the small M-Class. Undoubting that the new rule meant a serious opportunity for the British to challenge the cup, Lipton challenged the America's Cup for the fifth and last time at age 79, in 1929. The
J-Class was chosen for the contest, to which was added safety requirements such as the
Lloyds' A1. The waterline length was set between 76 ft (0}}}} m) and 88 ft (0}}}} m), and there would be no time allowance. Novel rigging technology now permitted the
bermuda rig to replace the
gaff rig. Nicholson was chosen to design challenger
Shamrock V
, and despite the
Wall Street Crash, four NYYC syndicates responded to the threat and built a cup contender each.
[23] The venue was moved to
Newport, Rhode Island. There, the Herreshoff Manufacturing Company's new naval architect
Starling Burgess used his success in the M-Class and his experience as a wartime plane designer to build the Vanderbilt syndicate's defender
Enterprise
, the smallest J-Class. Meanwhile, Herreshoff's son
Lewis Francis Herreshoff designed a radical boat:
Whirlwind
, despite being the most advanced boat with her double-ended "canoe" build and electronic measurements, maneuvred too clumsily. The old 75-footers
Resolute
and
Vanitie
were rebuilt and converted to the J-Class to serve as trial horses.
Enterprise
's skipper
Harold Vanderbilt won the selection trials with great difficulty. When
Shamrock V
was revealed, she was an outdated wooden boat with a wooden mast and performed poorly to
windward.
Enterprise
was then fitted with the World's first
duralumin mast, the most lightweight at 4000}} (4000}}*0.45359237 round 0}} ), and beat her opponent soundly.
[24]
Lipton died in 1931, and English aviation industrialist
Sir Thomas Sopwith bought
Shamrock V
, with the intent of preparing the next challenge. He added to Nicholson's skills aeronautical expertise and materials that would intensify the rivalry into a technological race. In 1934, the Royal Yacht Squadron issued a challenge for Sopwith's newly-built challenger
Endeavour
. Being steel-plated, she was less disfavoured than
Shamrock V
, especially after minimum mast weight was limited to 5500}} (5500}}*0.45359237 round 0}} ), as this made American duralumin technology less advantageous for this contest.
Endeavour
received significant innovations, but Sopwith failed to secure the services of his entire
Shamrock V
professional crew due to a pay strike. He hired amateurs to complete his team, and while
Endeavour
was described unanimously as the faster boat in the Cup, taking the first two races, failed tactics and crew inexperience lost her the following four races to Vanderbilt's new defender
Rainbow
.
[25]
To challenge again, Sopwith prepared himself a year early. Nicholson designed and built in 1936 the
Endeavour II
to the maximum waterline length allowed, and numerous updates to the rig made her even faster than her predecessor. Harold S. Vanderbilt, taking all syndicate defense costs to himself, commissioned Starling Burgess, yacht broker
Drake Sparkman and ocean yacht designer
Olin Stephens to provide designs. They anonymously built six boat models that were thoroughly tested in water tanks, until model 77-C was selected for its projected performance in light airs. The resulting defender
Ranger
was even more accomplished than her challenger, and Vanderbilt helmed his last J-Class boat to straight victory.
[26] [27]
1956-1987 The Twelve-Metre Rule
The
J-class yachts remained the default for the Cup, but post-war economic realities meant that no one could afford to challenge in this hugely expensive class. As twenty years rolled by since the last challenge, the NYYC looked for a cheaper alternative in order to restart interest in the Cup. In 1956, they settled on the much smaller
12-metre class yachts, which measure from approximately 65 feet to 75 feet (20 to 23 m) overall. The NYYC's unbeaten streak continued in eight more defenses, running from 1958 to 1980. The inventor of the
cunningham sail control device to increase performance,
Briggs Cunningham, skippered the
Columbia
during her 1958 victory against Sceptre. The Sceptre was designed by David Boyd at
Alexander Robertson and Sons Ltd (Yachtbuilders), for a Royal Yacht Squadron Syndicate, chaired by Hugh Goodson.
[28] A second challenger, Sovereign, was designed by David Boyd and built at Robertson's yard in 1964.
Alan Bond, a flamboyant and controversial Australian businessman made three challenges for the cup between 1974 and 1980, failing all three times, including a loss to
Ted Turner in 1977, who skippered
Courageous
. He returned in 1983 with a golden
spanner which he claimed would be used to unbolt the cup from its
plinth, so he could take it home.
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In 1983 there were seven foreign challengers for the cup. Bond's campaign, representing the
Royal Perth Yacht Club, won the elimination series for the right to challenge the NYYC, the prize for which was the
Louis Vuitton Cup. In the challenger series, Bond's
Australia II
, skippered by
John Bertrand and designed by
Ben Lexcen won easily. The Australians recovered from a bad start to win the America's Cup 4-3 in a best-of-seven format and break the 132-year winning streak.
Beaten skipper
Dennis Conner won the Cup back
four years later, with the yacht
Stars & Stripes
representing the
San Diego Yacht Club, but had to fend off an unprecedented 13 challenger syndicates to do it. Bond's syndicate lost the
Defender
series and did not race in the final.
Technology was now playing an increasing role in the yacht design. The 1983 winner, Australia II, had sported her innovative
winged keel, and the
New Zealand boat that Conner had beaten in the Louis Vuitton Cup final in
Fremantle was the first
12-metre class to have a
fibreglass hull construction rather than
aluminium or wood. All three building materials had long been permitted under the 12-metre class rules, however given the nature of building one-off boats fibreglass construction was not considered viable.
The New Zealand syndicate had to fight off demands from other challenging teams concerning the consistency of the thickness of the fibreglass hull. The 12-metre class rules stipulated that the hull had to be the same thickness throughout and could not be made lighter in the bow and stern. The demand was for core samples be taken from the plastic hull to show its thickness. At one press conference Dennis Conner, stated "Why would you build a plastic yacht unless you wanted to cheat?". Despite attempts to defuse the situation the "cheating comment" added to the controversy surrounding the Louis Vitton challenges races. Chris Dickson, skipper of the "Plastic Fantastic" took the controversy in stride and with humour, Dennis Conner has subsequently stated he regretted the comment.
The controversy over New Zealand's hull could be considered all part of the politics of the cup. The New Zealand refusal was based on the damage core samples might cause to the integrity of the hull. In turn they offered to carry out non-destructive testing. New Zealand syndicate head Sir Michael Fay's comment was that core samples would be taken "over my dead body". Eventually core samples were taken and the hull was found to be consistent and within class rules. Fay ceremonially lay down in front of the measurer before the samples were taken.
1988 The Mercury Bay Challenge
In 1988, soon after
Stars and Stripes’
victory had redeemed Dennis Conner's reputation but before the San Diego Yacht Club had publicly issued terms for the next regatta, a New Zealand syndicate, again led by merchant banker Sir
Michael Fay, lodged a surprise “big boat” challenge under the original rules of the cup trust deed. The challenge used a gigantic yacht named
New Zealand
(
KZ1) or the
Big Boat
. Fay had challenged using the maximum size one-masted yacht possible – even larger than a J-class yacht – which was swiftly built and presented for the contest. Conner's syndicate, however, recognised that a
catamaran was not expressly prohibited under the rules. Multihulls, due to a lower wetted surface area, and vastly less mass, generate inherently higher boat speed than displacement monohulls. Conner did not leave anything to chance, however, and commissioned a cutting-edge design with a
wing sail, also named
Stars and Stripes
. A legal battle ensued over whether Conner or Fay had broken the rules or if both had merely skirted the edges of them. Justice Carmen Ciparik of the New York State Supreme (trial) Court, which administers the Deed of Gift, ruled that Fay's challenge on behalf of Mercury Bay Boating Club (MBBC) was valid and ordered SDYC to accept it, and to negotiate mutually-agreeable terms for a match, or race under the default provisions of the Deed, or forfeit the Cup to MBBC. By then, neither side was keen to negotiate, and the two yachts raced under the simple terms of the Deed in September, 1988. New Zealand predictably lost by a huge margin. Fay then took SDYC back to court. Ciparik ruled that Conner's catamaran was not in accordance with the Deed, and awarded New Zealand the Cup. However, Ciparik's decision was overturned on appeal and SDYC's win was reinstated. Fay then appealed to New York's top court and lost, meaning SDYC had successfully defended the Cup—on the water and off—in what most observers described then and since as the most controversial Cup match ever.
[29]
1992-2007 The IACC Rule
In the wake of the 1988 challenge, the
International America's Cup Class (IACC) was introduced, replacing the 12-metre class that had been used since 1958. First raced in 1992, the IACC yachts were used until the
2007 America's Cup.
In 1992,
USA-23 of the
America³
team, skippered by
billionaire Bill Koch and sailing legend
Harry “Buddy” Melges, defeated the Italian challenger
Il Moro ITA-25
, owned by billionaire
Raul Gardini's
Il Moro di Venezia 5-1. (Team New Zealand led 4-1 in the Louis Vuitton final before a protest by the Italians about the use of Team New Zealand's bowsprit for certain spinnaker manoeuvres, allowed the Italians to come back and narrowly advance to the cup final).
In 1995, The
Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron syndicate Team New Zealand, skippered by
Russell Coutts, first won the challenger series in
NZL 32
, dubbed "Black Magic" because of her black hull and uncanny speed. Black Magic then easily defeated Dennis Connor's
Stars & Stripes team 5–0 to win the cup for New Zealand. Although team
Young America's cup candidate yacht
USA-36
was defeated in defender trials by Stars & Stripes'
USA-34
, the San Diego Yacht Club elected to defend the cup with USA-36 crewed by Stars & Stripes. The 1995 Cup was notable for the televised sinking of
oneAustralia
during the fourth round robin of the
Louis Vuitton challenger selection series. Luckily no-one was injured during the incident. The Australians advanced to the Louis Vuitton final using their second boat. Team New Zealand won the Louis Vuitton final 5-1 over
oneAustralia
.
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In March 1997, a person entered the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron's clubroom and damaged the America's Cup with a
sledgehammer. The attacker, a recidivist petty criminal, claimed the attack was politically motivated; he was convicted and sent to prison. The damage was so severe that it was feared that the cup was irreparable.
London's Garrards silversmiths, who had manufactured the cup in 1848, painstakingly restored the trophy to its original condition over three months, free of charge.
At
Auckland in 1999–2000, Team New Zealand, led by
Peter Blake, and again skippered by Russell Coutts, defeated Challenger Italy's
Prada Challenge from the Yacht Club Punta Ala. The Italians had previously beaten the
AmericaOne syndicate from the St Francis Yacht Club in the Louis Vuitton Cup Finals. This was the first America's Cup to be contested without an American challenger or defender.
In 2003, several strong challengers vied for the cup in Auckland during the challenger selection series. Notably a number of original members of Team New Zealand including previous helmsman
Russell Coutts were key members of the Swiss challenge
Alinghi sponsored by pharmaceutical billionaire
Ernesto Bertarelli. Alinghi advanced surprisingly comfortably through the
Louis Vuitton series into the America's Cup final. The Alinghi team won the America's Cup with surprising ease (5-0), multiple gear failures not helping Team New Zealand's defence.
In 2003, an extra 20 cm was added to the base of the Americas cup to fit the names of future winners. New Zealand's 2000 success was the first to be added.
Alinghi staged its
2007 defense of the cup in
Valencia,
Spain, the first time since the original 1851 Isle of Wight race that the America's Cup has been held in Europe, or in a country different from that of the defender. Eleven challengers from 9 countries submitted formal entries. The challenger selection series, the
Louis Vuitton Cup 2007, ran from April 16, 2007 until June 6, 2007.
Emirates Team New Zealand won the challenger series finale 5-0 against Italians Luna Rossa and met
Alinghi between June 23 and July 3, 2007. Alinghi successfully defended the America's Cup by beating
Emirates Team New Zealand 5-2. The racing was much closer than the scoreline suggests including a 1 second winning margin by
Alinghi in the seventh and final race.
The future
The
33rd America's Cup is planned to take place February 8th 2010 in the
United Arab Emirates, between 90-ft. multi-hulls. The exact timing, venue, and format might change, given the ongoing dispute between Defender
Société Nautique de Genève and Challenger
Golden Gate Yacht Club.
Challengers and defenders
| Rule
| Year
| Venue
| Defending club
| Defender
| Challenging club
| Challenger
| Score
|
| fleet regatta
| 1851
| Isle of Wight
| Royal Yacht Squadron
| 8 cutters and 7 schooners, runner-up Aurora
| New York Yacht Club
| John Cox Stevens syndicate, America
| 0-1
|
| 1870
| New York City
| New York Yacht Club
| 17 schooners, winner Franklin Osgood's Magic
| Royal Thames Yacht Club
| James Lloyd Ashbury, Cambria
| 1-0
|
schooner
match
| 1871
| New York City
| New York Yacht Club
| Franklin Osgood, Columbia
(2-1
) and
William Proctor Douglas, Sappho
(2-0
)
| Royal Harwich Yacht Club
| James Lloyd Ashbury, Livonia
| 4-1
|
| 1876
| New York City
| New York Yacht Club
| John Stiles Dickerson, Madeleine
| Royal Canadian Yacht Club
| Charles Gifford, Countess of Dufferin
| 2-0
|
| 65' sloop
| 1881
| New York City
| New York Yacht Club
| Joseph R. Busk, Mischief
| Bay of Quinte Yacht Club
| Alexander Cuthbert, Atalanta
| 2-0
|
| NYYC 85'
| 1885
| New York City
| New York Yacht Club
| John Malcolm Forbes syndicate, Puritan
| Royal Yacht Squadron
| Sir Richard Sutton, Genesta
| 2-0
|
| 1886
| New York City
| New York Yacht Club
| Charles Jackson Paine, Mayflower
| Royal Northern Yacht Club
| Lt. & Mrs. William Henn, Galatea
| 2-0'''
|
| 1887
| New York City
| New York Yacht Club
| Charles Jackson Paine, Volunteer
| Royal Clyde Yacht Club
| James Bell syndicate, Thistle
| 2-0
|
| SCYC 85'
| 1893
| New York City
| New York Yacht Club
| Charles Oliver Iselin syndicate, Vigilant
| Royal Yacht Squadron
| Earl of Dunraven, Valkyrie II
| 3-0
|
| SCYC 90'
| 1895
| New York City
| New York Yacht Club
| William K. Vanderbilt syndicate, Defender
| Royal Yacht Squadron
| Earl of Dunraven syndicate, Valkyrie III
| 3-0
|
| 1899
| New York City
| New York Yacht Club
| J. Pierpont Morgan syndicate, Columbia
| Royal Ulster Yacht Club
| Sir Thomas Lipton, Shamrock
| 3-0
|
| 1901
| New York City
| New York Yacht Club
| J. Pierpont Morgan syndicate, Columbia
| Royal Ulster Yacht Club
| Sir Thomas Lipton, Shamrock II
| 3-0
|
| 1903
| New York City
| New York Yacht Club
| Cornelius Vanderbilt III syndicate, Reliance
| Royal Ulster Yacht Club
| Sir Thomas Lipton, Shamrock III
| 3-0
|
| Universal 75'
| 1920
| New York City
| New York Yacht Club
| Henry Walters syndicate, Resolute
| Royal Ulster Yacht Club
| Sir Thomas Lipton, Shamrock IV
| 3-2
|
Universal
J-Class
| 1930
| Newport
| New York Yacht Club
| Harold S. Vanderbilt syndicate, Enterprise
| Royal Ulster Yacht Club
| Sir Thomas Lipton, Shamrock V
| 4-0
|
| 1934
| Newport
| New York Yacht Club
| Harold S. Vanderbilt syndicate, Rainbow
| Royal Yacht Squadron
| Sir Thomas Sopwith, Endeavour
| 4-2
|
| 1937
| Newport
| New York Yacht Club
| Harold S. Vanderbilt, Ranger
| Royal Yacht Squadron
| Sir Thomas Sopwith, Endeavour II
| 4-0
|
International
12mR
| 1958
| Newport
| New York Yacht Club
| Henry Sears, Columbia
| Royal Yacht Squadron
| Hugh Goodson syndicate, Sceptre
| 4-0
|
| 1962
| Newport
| New York Yacht Club
| Mercer, Walsch, Frese syndicate, Weatherly
| Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron
| Sir Frank Packer, Gretel
| 4-1
|
| 1964
| Newport
| New York Yacht Club
| Eric Ridder syndicate, Constellation
| Royal Thames Yacht Club
| Anthony Boyden, Sovereign
| 4-0
|
| 1967
| Newport
| New York Yacht Club
| W. J. Strawbridge syndicate, Intrepid
| Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron
| Emile Christenson, Dame Pattie
| 4-0
|
| 1970
| Newport
| New York Yacht Club
| W. J. Strawbridge syndicate, Intrepid
| Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron
| Sir Frank Packer, Gretel II
| 4-1
|
| 1974
| Newport
| New York Yacht Club
| Robert W. McCullough syndicate, Courageous
| Royal Perth Yacht Club
| Alan Bond, Southern Cross
| 4-0
|
| 1977
| Newport
| New York Yacht Club
| Ted Turner, Courageous
| Sun City Yacht Club
| Alan Bond, Australia
| 4-0
|
| 1980
| Newport
| New York Yacht Club
| Freedom syndicate, Freedom
| Royal Perth Yacht Club
| Alan Bond, Australia
| 4-1
|
| 1983
| Newport
| New York Yacht Club
| Freedom syndicate, Liberty
| Royal Perth Yacht Club
| Alan Bond, Australia II
| 3-4
|
| 1987
| Fremantle
| Royal Perth Yacht Club
| Kevin Parry, Kookaburra III
| San Diego Yacht Club
| Sail America, Stars & Stripes 87
| 0-4
|
| DOG match
| 1988
| San Diego
| San Diego Yacht Club
| Sail America, Stars & Stripes 88
| Mercury Bay Boating Club
| Sir Michael Fay, KZ-1
| 2-0
|
| IACC
| 1992
| San Diego
| San Diego Yacht Club
| Bill Koch, America³
| Compagnia Della Vela di Venezia
| Raul Gardini, Il Moro di Venezia
| 4-1
|
| 1995
| San Diego
| San Diego Yacht Club
| Young America, Young America
| Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron
| Team New Zealand, Black Magic
| 0-5
|
| 2000
| Auckland
| Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron
| Team New Zealand, NZL-60
| Yacht Club Punta Ala
| Luna Rossa, ITA-45
| 5-0
|
| 2003
| Auckland
| Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron
| Team New Zealand, NZL 82
| Société Nautique de Genève
| Alinghi, SUI-64
| 0-5
|
| 2007
| Valencia, Spain
| Société Nautique de Genève
| Alinghi, SUI-100
| Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron
| Team New Zealand, NZL-92
| 5-2
|
| DOG match
| 2010
| Ras al-Khaimah
| Société Nautique de Genève
| Alinghi 5
| Golden Gate Yacht Club
| BMW Oracle Racing, USA
| TBD
|
The defending club only lost its title five times (
1851,
1983,
1987,
1995,
2003).
In the media
Traditionally, commercial airships or
blimps built by the
Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company, of
Akron,
Ohio, USA, have been named after former America’s Cup winning boats. Paul W. Litchfield, an early chairman of Goodyear, envisioned airships as “the aerial yachts of the wealthy” and began the tradition of naming blimps after A.C. boats, in 1925, with the christening of the
Pilgrim
. The tradition continued with Goodyear blimps named
Stars & Stripes
,
Columbia
,
Ranger
,
Rainbow
,
Enterprise
,
Resolute
,
Reliance
,
Defender
,
Vigilant
,
Volunteer
,
Mayflower
,
Puritan
and
America
.
See also
- America's Cup Hall of Fame
- Citizen Cup awarded in the defenders series for the America's Cup - not raced for since 1995
- Little Americas Cup
- “New” Little Americas Cup
- 18th man
References
- This puts yacht racing back on the map!
- "Many thanks for your enquiry. Unfortunately Wikipedia can never be used as definite origin of actual facts. The trophy is not made of Britannia metal, or Britannia silver. It was manufactured from sterling silver. I hope this assists you." email from Garrads, June 3, 2009
- A Cup is a Cup, by any other name
- The Lawson History of the America's Cup
- "Ah, Your Majesty, there is no second"
- Title Unavailable
- Title Unavailable
- The Queen's Cup race
- The First Challenge
- Yachting - The plank on edge
- American Yachting
- The America's Cup: How it was Won by the Yacht America in 1851 and Has Been Since Defended
- A Testimonial to Charles J. Paine and Edward Burgess, from the City of Boston, for their successful defence of the America's Cup
- The Victory of the Vigilant
- Valkyrie's steel mast
- The Curtain falls on Dunraven
- skipper success of the Fife cutter ''Minerva''
- Barr's success on the Fife cutter ''Minerva''
- Temple to the Wind: The Story of America's Greatest Naval Architect and His Masterpiece, Reliance
- Title Unavailable
- The America's Cup Races
- ''Shamrock IV''
- Title Unavailable
- Enterprise - The Story of the Defense of the America's Cup in 1930
- Title Unavailable
- Title Unavailable
- Enterprise to Endeavour - the J-Class yachts
- Title Unavailable
- Mercury Bay Boating Club v San Diego Yacht Club, Opinion of the Court