The
British had hoped to have an edge by sailing 12-meter
sailboats, which were raced actively in Britain, but
not in the U.S.
However, designer Olin Stephens was no stranger to
the class, having designed what was arguably the fastest
12-meter in the world, Vim. His Columbia proved even
faster in the summer trials, and in four races never
trailed Hugh Goodson’s Sceptre.
1962
- NEWPORT (USA)
WEATHERLY
(USA) def. GRETEL (AUS) - 4 / 1
Australian
media magnate Sir Frank Packer was the first challenger
from south of the equator. His sailboat Gretel, designed
by Alan Payne, is generally regarded the faster sailboat,
but managed only a single victory, the second race
of the best-of-seven series.
Weatherly, designed by Philip Rhodes, won on clever
tactics by skipper Emil "Bus" Mosbacher and crew.
But this was just the beginning of the flurry of fierce
challenges from "Down Under" that ultimately unseated
the Cup from its pedestal in the NYYC.
1964
- NEWPORT (USA)
CONSTELLATION
(USA) def.
SOVEREIGN (GBR) - 4 /
0
The
British were back in 1964, but the David Boyd-designed
Sovereign was completely out-classed by Constellation,
which was designed by Olin Stephens and skippered
by Bob Bavier.
The closest Sovereign came was in the first race,
losing by five and half minutes.
1967
- NEWPORT (USA)
INTREPID
(USA) def.
DAME PATTIE (AUS) - 4 /
0
Considered
by many to be the greatest 12-meter ever built, the
Olin Stephens-designed Intrepid took on Australia’s
Dame Pattie.
With the exception of a brief moment in the second
race, however, the determined crew from the Royal
Sydney Yacht Squadron could only watch Intrepid’s
stern as Bus Mosbacher sailed her to his second successful
Cup defense.
1970
- NEWPORT (USA)
INTREPID
(USA) def.
GRETEL II (AUS) - 4 /
1
The
beginning of the multiple challenges, and newspaper
magnate Frank Packer had to dispose of Baron Marcel
Bich of France before engaging the previous winner,
Intrepid.
Gretel II, a new design from Alan Payne, was the most
competitive challenger yet, but good crew work aboard
Intrepid and winning a controversial protest in the
second race ensured yet another American victory.
Packer did not go quietly, however, and his accusations
of cheating against the NYYC—the door to Intrepid’s
head had been removed, fairings were installed near
Intrepid’s rudder, and Gretel II ’s disqualification
in Race 2—errupted in a war of words that initiated
correspondence between the Australian consulate and
the U.S. State Department.
Nonetheless, finishing first in two races on the water
made the Aussies more determined than ever to continue
.
The
transition from wooden to aluminum hulls and the first
time an organized challenger elimination series was
conducted.
France’s Baron Bich was back with France I, but the
French boat was no match for Southern Cross, designed
by Bob Miller (who later made history under the name
Ben Lexcen).
The match itself was anti-climactical after the hottly
contested defender trials between two-time winner
Intrepid and Olin Stephen’s new aluminum-hulled Courageous,
which quickly dispatched Alan Bond’s Southern Cross
in four straight races.
The refitted Intrepid, sailed by a West Coast syndicate
headed by San Diego’s Gerry Driscoll, came within
one race of becoming a three-time defender.
1977
- NEWPORT (USA)
COURAGEOUS.(USA).def..AUSTRALIA.(AUS).-.4
/ 0
Like
Columbia and Intrepid before her, Courageous became
the third defender to win back-to-back America’s Cup
matches. This time it was the flamboyant Ted Turner
at the helm, having bested two new boats in the defender
trials.
Alan Bond was back with his new Australia, which emerged
atop a fleet of five challenging sailboats that also
included Baron Bich’s France II, Sweden’s Sverige
and Gretel II.
The match, however, was a replay of 1974, with Courageous
winning four straight.
1980
- NEWPORT (USA)
FREEDOM.(USA).def..AUSTRALIA.(AUS).-.4
/ 1
This
match marked Dennis Conner’s first Cup victory as
a skipper, his sailboat Freedom defeating Alan Bond’s
reworked Australia four races to one. It also set
the stage for the showdown three years later.
Serving as tactician to Australian skipper Sir James
Hardy was John Bertrand, who became Conner’s nemisis
in three year’s time.
The challenger trials included Frenchman Baron Bich’s
fourth and final challenge with France II, skippered
by Bruno Troublé, the first skipper to fall overboard
during an America’s Cup race.
Also entering the fray were Lawrie Smith’s Lionheart
from Great Britain, and Sverige from Sweden.
1983
- NEWPORT (USA)
LIBERTY.(USA).is
def..by
AUSTRALIA II.(AUS).-.3
/ 4
It
was only fitting that when the NYYC finally lost the
Cup, it was the most closely fought match in the event’s
history, and it went down to the final race.
Alan Bond’s years of effort finally paid off, and
he took the Victorian-era trophy, claimed by the upstart
American’s 132 years earlier, to a new home at Royal
Perth Yacht Club in Perth, Western Australia.
Dennis Conner and Liberty won the first two races,
John Bertrand and Australia II the third. The Americans
recovered in the fourth, but knew they were in trouble
in light air. The two-race American lead faded to
a 3-3 tie by the end of the sixth race.
And by the end of the seventh race, the Cup was in
Australian hands, the boys from Down Under finishing
41 seconds ahead of Liberty and terminating the longest
winning streak in the history of sport.
1987
- PERTH (AUS)
KOOKABURA.III
(AUS).is
def..by
S & S.(USA).-.0
/ 4
In
terms of the number of contestants, this still stands
as the biggest America’s Cup regatta yet. There were
four defense syndicates, and the challenger series
for the Louis Vuitton Cup featured 13 sailboats representing
a record six nations.
Dennis Conner mounting a campaign that lasted more
than three years, his curiously shaped Stars & Stripes
emerged the victor in a hotly contested challenger
elimination series and went on to rout the Australian
defender, Kookaburra II, 4-0.
Conner was now not only the first man to lose the
Cup, he was the first to win it back as well. The
America’s Cup was returning to America, but to a new—and
controversial—home at San Diego Yacht Club.
The
27th defense is the most contentious chapter in an
event chronicled in controversy, and considered by
many to be the low point in the history of the America’s
Cup.
New Zealander Michael Fay issued a renegade challenge,
specifying a sailboat double the size of a 12-meter,
and demanding the race be held within the 10 months
specified in the Deed of Gift. When SDYC officials
declared the challenge invalid, Fay took them to court
and won the first round.
The SDYC responded by building a 60-foot wing-sailed
catamaran as the defender against Fay’s 133-foot "Big
Boat." It was a laugher on the water, as Conner’s
Stars & Stripes easily defeated New Zealand, 2-0.
But things were deadly serious on shore, as the lawyers
picked up where the sailors left off. Ranting "Read
the Deed," Fay returned to the New York Supreme Court,
trustee of the America’s Cup Deed of Gift, where he
asked that SDYC’s victory be overturned.
Judge Carmen Ciparick granted his request. Not giving
up without a fight, SDYC appealed the ruling to the
New York Court of Appeals, and on April 26, 1990,
SDYC was finally declared the winner of the match
held more than a year and half earlier.
