America's Cup
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The America’s Cup is a trophy awarded to the winner of the America's Cup sailing regatta match, and the oldest active trophy in international sport.
Originally named the Royal Yacht Squadron Cup, it became known as 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 (NYYC) from 1857 (when the syndicate that won the Cup donated the trophy to the club) until 1983 when the Cup was won by the Royal Perth Yacht Club, with their yacht, Australia II, ending the longest winning streak in the history of sport.[1]
The America’s Cup regatta is a challenge-driven series of match races between two yachts which is governed by the Deed of Gift which is the legal document that made the cup available for international competition. Any yacht club that meets the requirements specified in the Deed of Gift has the right to challenge the yacht club that holds the Cup. If the challenging yacht club wins the match, the stewardship of the cup is transferred to that yacht club.
From the third defense of the Cup in 1876 through the twentieth defense in 1967, there was always one challenger and one defender, although the NYYC ran a defender selection series to pick the yacht they would use in the match. Starting in 1970, interest in challenging was so high that the NYYC started allowing multiple challengers to run a selection regatta among themselves with the winner being substituted as Challenger and going on to the actual America's Cup match. From 1983 until 2007, Louis Vuitton sponsored the Louis Vuitton Cup as a prize for the winner of the challenger selection series.
The Cup attracts top sailors and yacht designers because of its long history and prestige. It is not only a test of sailing skill, boat and sail design, but also of fund-raising and management skills. From the first defense in 1870 the matches were between very large (65 ft (20 m) or greater on the waterline) racing yachts owned by wealthy sportsmen. This culminated in races in magnificent J-class yachts in 1930, 1934 and 1937.
After World War II almost twenty years went by without a challenge, so the New York Yacht Club made changes to the Deed to allow the smaller and less expensive 12-metre class yachts to compete, and this class was used until 1987 when it was replaced by the International America’s Cup Class.
The 2010 America's Cup was raced in 90 ft (27 m) multihull yachts in a one-on-one, best-of-three race regatta in Valencia, Spain in February 2010. The challenger BMW Oracle Racing beat the defender Alinghi 2-0 and won the Cup for the Golden Gate Yacht Club.