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1.0 History

1.1 1851 America wins the Cup

1.2 1870-1881 First challenges

1.3 1885-1887 The NYYC Rule

1.4 1889-1903 The Seawanhaka Rule

1.5 1914-1937 The Universal Rule

1.6 1956-1987 The Twelve-Metre Rule

1.7 1988 The Mercury Bay Challenge

1.8 1992-2007 The IACC Rule

1.9 The future

2.0 Challengers and defenders

3.0 In the media

4.0 See also

5.0 References

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Americas Cup Wiki Information

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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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]

thumb , 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]

thumb & 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.

thumb 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 .

thumb 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
fleet regatta	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
schooner match	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 .