The oldest and most prestigious type of yachting competition is the America's Cup race.
The culture of the legendary sailing regattas, as well as the traditions of yachting in general, were formed with the direct participation of royalty and the richest people of their time. After the English King George IV became a member of the Royal Yacht Squadron (Royal Yacht Squadron), and his brother and heir William IV established a prize cup for the winners of regattas in 1834, yachting became a royal sport, sanctioned by the supreme rulers of the state.
But it was the reign of the brilliant Queen Victoria, when "the sun never set on the British Empire", that gave the world the oldest and most prestigious type of yachting competition - the America's Cup race. In 1848, Victoria's husband, King Albert, proposed to hold a world industrial exhibition in London, which would once again confirm England's status as the leading modern power. And since yachting had become an extremely popular sport among aristocrats and not only, even in the period after the end of the Napoleonic wars, it was decided that the decoration and culmination of the exhibition would be the regatta in Cowes. The regatta was supposed to glorify British yachting, but, naturally, sailing sportsmen from all over the world were invited to participate. Commercial and business circles of the USA, for obvious reasons, were extremely interested in participating in the exhibition. However, American yachtsmen were inspired to participate in the Cowes regatta by chance. In the autumn of 1850, a certain English journalist suggested that the Commodore of the New York Yacht Club, John Cox Stevens, take part in the regatta. The Americans spent a long time deciding which of the yacht club's vessels to send to these competitions, until the shipbuilder George Steers announced that he was able to build a new yacht that would be able to outrun the fastest British vessel and any yacht in the world. The story of the search for investors and patrons who would agree to finance such a risky undertaking as the construction of a schooner and its transportation across the Atlantic deserves a separate story. Let us just say that in the end, the faith in Steers' strength and talent on the part of American entrepreneurs overcame all doubts. And on June 17, 1850, the legend of sailing, the schooner America, was launched and finally accepted by the commission.
Its length along the deck, from bow to stern, was 28.5 m, and together with the bowsprit - 38.25 m; width - 6.86 m; draft - 3.35 m; lifting capacity - 170.5 tons. The height of the fore mast is 24.23 m, the main one - 24.69 m. The hull was built on a frame composed of five types of wood and covered with steel fasteners. The hull planking is made of light oak, 76 mm thick, and the decks are made of yellow pine, 64 mm thick. The entire bottom up to a height of 15 cm above the waterline is covered with copper sheets. The hull was painted tin-colored on the outside and white on the inside.
The luxuriously appointed main cabin had 15 berths. The total area of the set of main sails of the schooner "America", made by the best New York master of that time, R. G. Wilson, was 489 sq.m.
In one line, omitting the tense intrigue of the America's struggle with the British yachts, let's say that the schooner won a brilliant victory. Among the British spectators, there was a uniform hysteria when they saw that the British schooner "Aurora" finished 18 minutes after the "America".
The day after the defeat of fourteen of the best English yachts, Lord Paget, Marshal of the Queen's Household, notified Stevens that Victoria, along with her husband the duke, would personally visit the victorious American schooner. It was a huge honor. The victory of "America" significantly raised the prestige of the United States in the eyes of the British Crown and for many years made the Americans leaders in sailing.
The Royal Yacht Squadron Prize, won in 1851 by the schooner America, weighed about 3 kilograms. It is a silver vessel 68 cm high, 19.3 cm in diameter at the base and 91 cm in circumference at its widest point, with an elegantly curved neck and a carved handle. Its value in 1851 was only 500 dollars. The prize became the property of seven members of the syndicate and has survived to this day. After the death of John Cox Stevens and several other partners, it was decided on July 8, 1857, to transfer the prize for safekeeping to the New York Yacht Club under certain conditions. The deed of gift stated: "Any yacht club in any country may at any time require through one or more of its members to hold a race for this prize on any yacht or other sailing vessel. The vessel shall have a displacement of not less than 30 and not more than 300 tons, which shall be determined in accordance with the mandatory customs regulations in force in the country to which the vessel belongs. The party requesting a race for the cup may contest the regatta with the club holding the prize on mutually agreed terms. If no agreement is reached on these terms, the race shall be held on the normal course used for the annual regattas of the club holding the prize and in accordance with its rules and regulations for holding regattas. The party making the challenge shall notify in writing six months in advance on which day it wishes to start. The notice shall state the length of the vessel, its tonnage, the type of sailing rig and its name.
It should be emphasized that the prize must remain in the possession of the club and not of its members or the owners of the winning yacht. The conditions of its award as a challenge prize cannot be changed, for which, in accordance with the above conditions, yacht clubs of all countries are eligible to compete. Through this, the prize will mark a permanent call for friendly international competition.”
The establishment of a challenge international prize called the America's Cup was a significant event in the history of sailing. And although valuable prizes had already been raffled off in regattas before, for the first time such a prize gained international weight, becoming not so much a valuable as an honorary trophy.
The honor of winning the prize has attracted yachtsmen from all over the world for more than a hundred years, although only a few countries are able to participate in the fight for it. The costs associated with these regattas are very high: it has been estimated, for example, that the New York Yacht Club alone spent over $80 million over the next 125 years for this purpose. The same club reigned supreme in the Cup right up to 1983. Although approximately from the 70s of the XX century, there was a serious pressure from the contenders for winning the cup. Applications were received from several countries at once and qualifying competitions were introduced. Only the one who defeated everyone could now face the Defender. Since 1983, the French company Louis Vuitton has become the general sponsor of the qualifying round, establishing the Louis Vuitton Cup for applicants.
The first qualifying competitions between different countries were held in 1970 - France lost its debut to the Australians, who had already acquired a taste for the Cup. But they, in turn, lost to the Defenders, although they stated that the decision to disqualify their yacht in one of the races was unlawful. The fight for the Cup was turning into national politics. A powerful anti-American campaign in the Australian press reminded America of all its sins, no longer connected with sailing competitions. In order to avoid political scandals, since 1974 the races have been held under the guidance of the international jury of the IYPU (International Yachting Union). The distinct national character of the America's Cup races was also reflected in the names of the yachts being built. The French, under the patronage of de Gaulle, competed on the yacht "France". The Swedes, under the patronage of their king, built the yacht "Sweden". The Australians - the yacht "Australia" and "Australia II". By this time the English had left the arena of the fight for the main prize. It is also characteristic that in the entire history of the races not a single American club has acted as a Challenger. The Cup won by the yacht "America" is considered by the whole world to be the "America's Cup" - the country. The defeat of the New York Yacht Club occurred as a result of an exciting fight with the yacht "Australia II" of Alan Bond, representing the Royal Perth Yacht Club, with its innovative winged keel. Bond arrived in Newport, Rhode Island, holding a gold wrench in his hands, with which he swore to unscrew the America's Cup from its "sacred" pedestal in the New York Yacht Club. And he succeeded. Here is what Melissa H. Harrington wrote about the severity of the loss in the official 150-year history of the New York Yacht Club: “The endless stream of spectator vessels heading to Newport from the 88th America’s Cup race was, in effect, a funeral procession filled with the sad faces and pained feelings of the participants, who were truly and deeply affected by what had happened. No one had ever seen the New York Yacht Club without the America’s Cup; what else could we do and feel when it was gone but sorrow and defeat.”
At the moment, the defender of the America's Cup is the Swiss syndicate Alinghi. In September of this year, the German yacht United Internet Team Germany officially became the fifth contender for the Cup. The 33rd edition of the most prestigious trophy in sailing will be held in 2009 off the coast of Valencia, Spain. The German yacht will take part in it for the first time. This summer, the yacht Alinghi defended the trophy, which was contested by 11 contenders, including a team from Russia. But in the new edition, before the German application, there were only four contenders - the Spanish yacht Desafio Espagnol, the New Zealand Team New Zealand, the South African Shosholoza and the debutant from Great Britain Team Origin.
Ekaterina Sokolova
Based on the materials of the official website of "America`s Cup": www.americascup.com
And chapters from Volodzimierz Glovatsky's book "The fascinating world of sails".
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