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America’s Cup Race, |
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international yacht race, in which individual yacht crews compete for the right to represent their home countries in either a challenge or a defense of the event's trophy. Only crews from the country currently holding the America's Cup may compete in the defender races, while any country may enter the challenger trials, with no limit on the number of boats per country. A series of trials among the challengers determines which crew will represent its country and meet the winner of the defender races. The challenger and defender then compete in a series of races for the cup. |
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The first contest for the prize, originally known as the 100 Guinea Cup or Queen's Cup, was sponsored by the Royal Yacht Squadron of Britain as part of an international exhibition in London in 1851. Members of the New York Yacht Club competed in the race with the 170-ton schooner America, which in August 1851 sailed against 14 Royal Yacht Squadron ships in a race around the Isle of Wight. America won the prize, a silver cup. In 1857 the cup was presented to the New York Yacht Club, to be held as a world trophy; thereafter it was known as the America's Cup. The deed of gift stipulated, among other things, that competing yachts must have a load waterline of not less than 65 ft (19.81 m) and must proceed exclusively under sail to the contest area. |
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From 1870 to 1895 two Canadian and seven British challengers lost to American defenders of the trophy. The craft in the matches of 1870, 1871, and 1876 were schooners; in 1881 all craft were sloops. Thereafter, competitors were all single-mast craft, such as sloops, cutters, or J boats. British yachtsman Sir Thomas Johnstone Lipton made five attempts to win the cup between 1899 and 1930. |
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From 1930 to 1983 the races were held off the coast of Newport, Rhode Island, with a more than 20-year hiatus caused by World War II (1939-1945). Postwar challengers were discouraged by the costs of building and maintaining craft with the required load waterline. On the initiative of the New York Yacht Club, the 1857 deed was amended on December 7, 1956, by the New York State Supreme Court to permit a load waterline of not less than 44 ft (13.41 m). Under the court's order, yachts of the 12-meter class became eligible. Since 1958 the race has been run over a triangular 39-km (24-mi) course. Although the race is usually the best four of seven heats, occasionally other designations, such as the best two of three heats or the best five of nine heats, are assigned. |
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In 1983 the Australia II defeated the United States entry, Liberty, for the first victory by a non-American boat in the race's history. Until 1983 American entries had successfully defended the cup 25 consecutive times. The 1988 contest, held off the coast of San Diego, California, was the first in which a catamaran, Stars & Stripes of the United States, was matched against a traditional single-hull yacht. After the catamaran won, New Zealand unsuccessfully contested the victory in court. In 1989 guidelines for the International America's Cup Class yachts were established, and ships up to 75 ft (22.86 m) became eligible. The 1992 competition, off San Diego was won by the United States entry, America. In 1995 Mighty Mary became the first yacht with a predominantly female crew to compete for the America's Cup, but it and another yacht, Young America, were defeated in the defender races by Stars & Stripes (a new boat, not the 1988 catamaran). In the 1995 America's Cup Race, held off San Diego, the Stars & Stripes crew defended the cup using the Young America yacht. Black Magic from New Zealand, however, defeated the Stars & Stripes crew to become the first yacht from that country to win the trophy. In the 2000 race, staged on a course off Auckland, New Zealand, the Black Magic crew successfully defended its title by defeating the Italian boat Luna Rossa. |
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