AMERICA CUP

Dominion, Volume 22, Issue 225, 19 June 1929, Page 11

AMERICA CUP

NEXT YEAR’S RACES

Australian Press Association.

(Rec. June 18, 10.5 p.m.) New York, June 18.

The New York Yacht Club has accepted the Royal Ulster’s challenge on behalf of Sir Thomas Lipton for the America Cup. The races will be held off Newport, Rhode Island, the best three of five. The first race is to start on September 13, 1930. The competing yachts are to be 76 feet rating, and there will be no time allowance. The New York Club’s rules will govern the races.

[The race for the America Cup was instituted in 1851. Sir Thomas Lipton first expressed a desire to win back the America Cup in 1887, when the American boat had won 13 times in succession, but it was not until 1898 that he had a yacht designed for that purpose by William Fife. The race was in October, 1899, but Shamrock I was beaten. Sir Thomas tried again in 1901, 1903, and 1920, with the same result, and the total expenses in connection with one of his efforts came to nearly £250,000. In April, 1926, however, he announced his intention of .building yet another Shamrock to try again. Apart from this particular contest Sir Thomas is a keen yachtsman and a member of all the yacht clubs, and his boats are seen at every big regatta in Europe. During the war his splendidlly-equipped yacht Erin was sunk by a mine while it was performing valuable .work for the Serbians as a hospital ship. Sir Thomas was knighted in 1898 and received a baronetcy in 1902.]