The regatta’s origins date back to August 22 1851 when the 30.86 m schooner-yacht America owned by a syndicate that represented the New York Yacht Club, raced 14 yachts representing the Royal Yacht Squadron around the Isle of Wight. America won by 20 minutes. Apocryphally, Queen Victoria asked who was second; the answer famously was: “There is no second, your Majesty.”
The RYS website contains further reference and details
The surviving members of the syndicate which owned the America officially donated the Cup through a Deed of Gift (written in 1852) to the New York Yacht Club on July 8, 1857. The trophy would be held in trust as a “challenge” trophy to promote friendly competition among nations.
Stung by this blow to contemporary perception of invincible British sea power, a succession of British syndicates attempted to win back the Cup. The New York Yacht Club remained unbeaten for 25 challenges over 113 years, the longest winning streak in the history of sport. Matches were held in the vicinity of New York City from 1870 and 1920, which includes the “Herreshoff Period” between 1893 and 1920, when Cup defenders were designed by Nathanael Herreshoff. From 1930 to 1983, the races were sailed off Newport, Rhode Island for the rest of the NYYC’s reign.
One of the most famous and determined challengers was Scottish tea baron Sir Thomas Lipton. He would mount five challenges between 1899 and 1930, all in yachts named Shamrock, two of which were designed by William Fife. One of Lipton’s motivations for making so many challenges was the publicity that racing generated for his Lipton Tea company, though his original entry was at the personal request of the Prince of Wales in hopes of repairing trans-Atlantic ill-will generated by the contentious earlier challenger, Lord Dunraven. Lipton was preparing for his sixth challenge when he died in 1931. The yachts used during the Lipton era, were very large sailing sloops; for example, Shamrock V, still sailing today, measures 120 feet (36 m) long.
After World War II
After World War II, the huge and expensive J-class yachts were replaced by 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 defences, running from 1958 to 1980. The inventor of the cunningham sail control device to increase performance, Briggs Cunningham, skippered the Columbia during its 1958 victory in the first challenge after 1937. 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.
In 1983 there were six 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. In a stunning, come-from-behind win, the Australians won the America’s Cup in a seven-race match 4–3 to 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 an innovative winged keel, and the New Zealand boat that Conner had beaten in the Louis Vuitton final in Fremantle was the first 12-metre class to have a fibreglass hull construction rather than aluminium. The New Zealand syndicate had to fight off legal challenges from Conner’s team who were demanding that “core samples” be taken from the plastic hull to prove that it met class specifications (requiring damage to the yacht hull by drilling of holes in it). “Why would you build a plastic yacht unless you wanted to cheat?” said Conner at a press conference. The legal challenge, apparently a successful attempt to unsettle the New Zealand challenger, created a legacy of bitterness between Team New Zealand and Conner.
The end of the 12-metre era
In 1988, soon after Stars and Stripes’ victory had redeemed Dennis Conner’s legacy but before the San Diego Yacht Club had publicly issued terms for the next regatta, a New Zealand syndicate, led by merchant banker Michael Fay, lodged a surprise “big boat” challenge under the original rules of the cup trust deed. The challenge, which was said to be a return to the tradition of the J-boat, used a gigantic yacht named KZ1, giving the defenders little time to prepare. Fay had challenged using the maximum size yacht possible—even larger that 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. Catamarans, due to less water friction, are vastly quicker than monohulls as a rule. 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 merely skated the edges of them. The teams were directed by one American court to compete in a farcical race which New Zealand predictably lost by a huge margin. A second court then awarded New Zealand the cup, only to have a third court decide the San Diego Yacht Club should hold the cup. The New Zealanders’ legal position asked the court to look to the spirit of the deed—it was based on the fact that the deed provided for a “match” between two yachts, and a multihull against a monohull could not be called a “match” in any sporting sense. The Americans’ black letter argument—that there was nothing expressly prohibiting a multihull in the Cup deed—prevailed in the third court.
In the wake of the 1988 challenge, the International America’s Cup Class (IACC) of yachts was introduced, replacing the 12-metre class that had been used since 1958. First raced in 1992, the IACC yachts are the ones used today.
2003 America’s Cup
The 2002–2003 Louis Vuitton Cup, held in the Hauraki Gulf in Auckland, New Zealand saw nine teams from six countries staging 120 races over five months to select a challenger for the America’s Cup.
On January 19, 2003 the Swiss challenger Ernesto Bertarelli’s Alinghi, skippered by Russell Coutts, won the Louis Vuitton Cup Finals by defeating the American challenger, Larry Ellison’s BMW Oracle Racing, 4–1, once again eliminating the United States from the America’s Cup competition.
On February 15, 2003, racing for the Cup itself began. In a stiff breeze, Alinghi won the first race easily after New Zealand, skippered throughout the series by Dean Barker, withdrew due to multiple gear failures in the rigging and the low cockpit unexpectedly taking onboard large quantities of water. Race 2, on February 16, 2003, was won by Alinghi by a margin of only seven seconds. It was one of the closest, most exciting races seen for years, with the lead changing several times and a duel of 33 tacking manoeuvres on the fifth leg. Then on February 18, in Race 3, Alinghi won the critical start, after receiving last minute advice about a wind shift, and led throughout the race, winning with a 23 second margin. After nine days without being able to race, first due to a lack of wind, then with high winds and rough seas making it too dangerous to race, February 28, originally a planned lay-day, was chosen as a race day. Race 4 was again sailed in strong winds and rough seas and New Zealand’s difficulties continued, when her mast snapped on the third leg. The next day, March 1, 2003, was again a frustratingly calm day, with racing called off after the yachts had again spent over two hours waiting for a start in the light air. Alinghi skipper Russell Coutts was unable to celebrate his 41st birthday with a cup win, but was in a commanding position in the series to do so on March 2. Race 5 started on time in a good breeze. Alinghi again won the start and kept ahead. On the third leg, New Zealand broke a spinnaker pole during a manoeuvre. Although it was put overboard and replaced with a spare pole, New Zealand was unable to recover, losing the race and the cup.
The win by Alinghi meant Coutts, who had previously sailed for New Zealand, had won every one of the last 14 America’s Cup races he had competed in as skipper, the most by any America’s Cup skipper. This meant he had won an America’s Cup regatta twice as challenger, as well as having been a successful defender.
2007 America’s Cup
To choose the challenger for the 2007 America’s Cup championship, the Louis Vuitton Cup was created with several races, called “Acts”. In 2004, there were three acts, Act 1 held September 2004 in Marseille, France; Act 2 held October 2004 in Valencia, Spain); and Act 3 held October 2004, also in Valencia. These events featured fleet and match racing between America’s Cup class yachts representing the syndicates that will be vying for the Cup in 2007. Points are awarded for each Act (excluding the first three), and the team with the highest score at the end of the Louis Vuitton Cup is declared the ACC (America’s Cup Class) Champion, and the challenger for the America’s Cup. In 2004, Emirates Team New Zealand narrowly won over second place American challenger BMW Oracle Racing and third place Swiss defender Team Alinghi.
From America’s Cup at Wikipedia, licensed under the GFDL.