The America's Cup

The America's Cup is the world's most eminent sailing race. It is also the oldest active sporting trophy in the world. The race is seen as the biggest price in sailing and the cost of the yachts used in the race places them in the realms of luxury yacht sales
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The first race took place off the Isle of Wight in England in the middle of the Victorian Age in 1852. This long history marks the race out as a special sporting event. It predates the University Boat Race by four years, the FA Cup by nineteen years and the modern Olympics by forty four years. The long history of the America's Cup makes it the most sort after prize in yachting. The cup is named after the first boat to win the trophy the New York Yachting Clubs schooner the America. The America won the race against fourteen other yachts around the fifty three mile course off the coast of Isle of Wight in England. When Queen Victoria asked who had came second to be greeted with famous reply of "Ah, Your Majesty, there is no second". The reality is somewhat different as the schooner Aurora trailed in only eight minutes behind the America.

This first win by an American boat was to start a series of victories for the USA that lasted until 1983 by far the longest winning streak in sporting history. The trophy was held by the New York Yachting Club for this entire period. The races switched from a single race that decided the first cup too a series of races deciding the winner. The current cup is decided on a best of seven format.

Holders of the America's Cup, the winning yacht club, get to decide the venue of the next race so the racing took place off the coast of New York between 1870 and 1920 and then off the coast of nearby Rhode Island between 1930 and 1983. The American grip on the trophy was so great not only did they not lose the series but did lose a single leg or race between the single race won by Livonia in 1871 (they lost the series 4-1) and the two races won by Shamrock IV in 1920 (they lost 3-2).

Australia II brought to an end the American winning streak by taking the America's Cup by the margin of 4-3 in 1983. The yacht that finally broke the grip of the American's was designed by Ben Lexcern, owned by notorious Australian business man Alan Bond and skippered by John Bertrand. The victory of Australia II was confirmed when the yacht won the deciding race on 25th September 1983. The famous victory was Bond's forth attempt at winning the cup having failed with the yacht Southern Cross in 1974 and twice with the yacht Australia in 1977 and 1980.

Since the hegemony of the USA in the race was broken by Australia the trophy has been shared between a number of nations. The USA regained the America's Cup from Australia in 1987 and won again in 1988 and 1992. New Zeeland took the trophy from the Americans in 1995 and retained it in 2000. They lost out to Switzerland in 2003, the first landlocked nation to win the America's Cup. The victory of the Swiss yacht Alinghi in 2003 was the first since the changes in the nationality rules. Pre 1992 all the crew had to come from the country that the boat came from. The rule changes allowed the Swiss syndicate headed by Ernesto Bertorelli to recruit some of the world's best sailors including a number from New Zeeland. The team member poached from the successful New Zeeland team included the captain Russell Coutts and team tactician Bradley Butterworth. This experience resulted in a 5-0 victory for the Swiss team.

The Swiss team won the cup again in 2007 on the Alinghi sui-100. They are current holders of the America's Cup. The next race is set for 2010 with the Swiss team taking on the Golden Gate Yacht club of San Francisco. The races are set to take place off the coast of Valencia in northern Spain.

The current role of honor for the America's Cup stands at USA 28 wins, New Zealand 2 wins, Switzerland 2 wins and Australia 1 win. The English have contested the America's Cup on ten occasions and lost every time.
Tony Heywood ©