Saturday, 21 May 2011 - 01:53 pm (CET/MEZ) Berlin | Author/Destination: North America / Nordamerika Category/Kategorie: General, SportReading Time: 4minutes
The America’s Cup is a trophy awarded to the winner of the America’s Cup match races between two yachts. One yacht, known as the defender, represents the yacht club who is the current holder of the America’s Cup and the second yacht, known as the challenger, represents the yacht club which is challenging for the cup. The America’s Cup is the oldest active trophy in international sport.
The trophy was originally awarded in 1851 by the Royal Yacht Squadron for a race around the Isle of Wight which was won by the schooner America. The trophy was renamed the America’s Cup after the boat and was donated to the New York Yacht Club (NYYC) under the terms of the Deed of Gift which made the cup available for perpetual international competition.
The Cup not only attracts the world’s top sailors and yacht designers but also the involvement of wealthy entrepreneurs and sponsors due to the history and prestige associated with the America’s Cup. It is not only a test of sailing skill, boat and sail design, but also of fund-raising and management skills.
The trophy was held by the NYYC from 1857 (when the syndicate that won the Cup donated the trophy to the club) until 1983 when the Cup was won by the Royal Perth Yacht Club (RPYC), represented by the yacht Australia II, ending the longest winning streak in the history of sport.
The Cup itself is an ornate sterling silver bottomless ewer, one of several off-the-shelf trophies crafted in 1848 by Garrard & Co. Henry William Paget, 1st Marquess of Anglesey bought one and donated it for the Royal Yacht Squadron’s 1851 Annual Regatta around the Isle of Wight.
It was originally known as the “R.Y.S. £100 Cup”, standing for a cup of a hundred GB Pounds or ‘sovereigns’ in value. The Cup was subsequently mistakenly engraved as the “100 Guinea Cup” by the America syndicate, but was also referred to as the “Queen’s Cup” and the “America’s Cup” (A guinea is an obsolete monetary unit of one pound and one shilling – now £1.05). Today, the trophy is officially known as the “America’s Cup” and affectionately called the “Auld Mug” by the sailing community. It is inscribed with names of the yachts that competed for it, and has been modified twice by adding matching bases to accommodate more names.