THE AMERICA'S CUP

Press, Volume LXX, Issue 21281, 28 September 1934, Page 4 (Supplement)

THE AMERICA'S CUP

If the English yacht Endeavour had won the America's Cup contest, Mr T. O. M. Sopwith would have taken back to England a trophy which has been competed for 16' times in the last 83 years, but which has not yet been won by an English challenger.

The story of the contest for the cup—which is named after the first boat to win it—goes back to 1851, the year of the Great Exhibition in England. It was suggested then that it would be "eminently fitting" if the United States sent across the Atlantic a yacht to compete in the races

which were being held in English waters. So the America was built for a syndicate of members of the New York Yacht Club, Commodore J. C. Stevens being the moving spirit of the syndicate. In the early summer he sailed the America across the Atlantic. She was a moderatesized schooner, 90ft long on the waterline and 101 ft 9in over all. Her hull embodied theories which were to revolutionise yacht designing.

The America competed in the open regatta of the Royal Yacht Squadron, on August 22, 1851, in which 22 yachts started. The course was round the Isle of Wight. The America won handsomely, although Aurora was

THE HISTORY OF THE RACE

overhauling her towards the finish. After the race America was sold to an English owner.

Commodore Stevens and his crew returned to the United States with the trophy they had won, and some years later it was presented by the syndicate which had owned the America to the New York Yacht Club. It was offered for competition between England and the United States, a condition being that the challenger had to sail across the Atlantic to compete for it. This has meant that the English challengers have always had to be more strongly and heavily built than the American defenders, for a yacht built purely as a racing machine and without regard for

seaworthiness would never stand up to the violence of the weather on the Atlantic crossing. No English yachtsman challenged for the cup until 1870— nearly 20 years later. In that year Mr James Ashbury crossed the Atlantic in his yacht Cambria to attempt to regain the cup. Fourteen American yachts took part in the race beside the Cambria, which had no chance of winning. Mr Ashbury challenged again the next year, but was again unsuccessful. Since then 13 English yachts have challenged for the cup, of which five (the Shamrock boats) were owned by Sir Thomas Lipton. The last contest was in 1930, when Sir Thomas Lipton's I

Shamrock V. was beaten by Enterprise. What it must have cost him to compete so many times will be realised from the fact hat the cost of building and racing a yacht for the cup is anything from £150,000 to £200,000. The yachts seen in New Zealand waters are mere cockleshells compared with the Endeavour and the Rainbow, which are about three times as long as the largest yacht on Lyttelton harbour. The principal dimensions and particulars of the two boats, those of Rainbow being mentioned first, are: Tonnage, 138, 143; overall length, 126.6 ft, 130 ft; waterline length, 82,« 83; beam, 21.9 ft, 22ft; draught, 14.9 ft, 15ft; sail area, 7555 square feet, 7550 square feet.