America's Cup & Challengers Series
America's Cup Overview

The America's Cup is the oldest trophy in sport. Imagine that when the first Olympic Games were held, the Cup as an event, was 45 years old.

The America's Cup was first won by the Yacht, America. In 1851, America was invited to race in an annual regatta held by the Royal Yacht Squadron around the Isle of Wight in England. The British put 17 of their finest yachts on the starting line but after 51 miles, it was the smallest yacht in the field, America, that crossed the line first. The Queen Victoria asked one of the race officers, "who is in second?" to which the officer responded, "Your majesty, there is no second."

The trophy awarded at that time was the 100 Guinea Cup. Shortly after winning the Cup, John Cox Stevens, then Commodore of the New York Yacht Club, and head of the syndicate that owned America, brought the Cup back to the New York Yacht Club. There they renamed it the America's Cup. The Cup was "Deeded" to a trust for the purpose of fostering "friendly competition between foreign countries". Over the years there have been 31 such competitions but most of them have not been that friendly.

The winning of the Cup was much more than just a sporting success. It was another notch in the belt of the new world over the old and established America's yachting supremacy.

The Cup saw big name industrialists like Vanderbilt, Lipton, and Sopwith do battle over several events. The Cup went dormant during the war years. Then in the late 70's, the multiple challenge became a reality. A series was organized to eliminate the challengers and to select the yacht that would challenge the defender in the America's itself. In 1983, this series became known as the Louis Vuitton Cup.

The Cup is one of the most difficult trophies in all of sport to win. Consider that in the 160 years of competition for the Cup, it has only been won by four countries other than the USA. Further, the America's Cup is a challenge based event where the holder of the trophy makes the rules. In the early years of the event, this made winning it an insurmountable challenge. The trophy lived in the NYYC, in a special room for 139 years until one day in September 1983 when Australia II won the seventh race of that series and took the Cup away from the USA for the first time.

Many say that that was the beginning of the America's Cup as a high profile professional event. The Cup became famous all over the world that day. Then in 1987, Dennis Conner, the first skipper ever to loose the Cup, got his revenge, and won the Cup back from the Aussies in a 4-0 blitz. This cycle of losing the Cup and then winning it back made Dennis Conner and The America's Cup household names in the USA.

In 2010, BMW Oracle Racing won the 33rd America's Cup in Valencia, defeating Alinghi 2-0. The 34th America's Cup will take place in San Francisco in September 2013. Paul Cayard is CEO of the Challenger of Record, Artemis Racing.