The 2017 America’s Cup will be held this month in Bermuda. This will be the 35th edition of this yacht race. Here are some fun facts about the America’s Cup:
- The first event was held in 1851 and they raced around the Isle of Wight, in England. The schooner America, of the New York Yacht Club, won the race with an 8 minute lead.
- The New York Yacht Club has won the most titles (25).
- The USA has won 28 times. New Zealand and Switzerland have two wins each. Australia has one win.
- The entry fee for the 2017 America’s Cup is $2 million per team.
- The winner of the America’s Cup has the right to decide the rules for the next event, including the types of boats to be used, the race course, and when the race will take place.
- Sir Russell Coutts, of New Zealand, has won the America’s Cup five times, including three times as skipper.
- Sir Thomas Lipton, the British tea magnate, challenged for the trophy five times between 1899 and 1930. He never won the event, but is credited with introducing the idea of sponsorship in the sport.
- In 1997, a Maori activist damaged the America’s Cup trophy by hitting it with a sledgehammer. Its makers, Robert Garrard of London, later repaired it.
- Glenn Ashby, the skipper of Emirates Team New Zealand, learned to sail on a lake that was often near dry.
- The gaff schooner, America, won the first race. It was later sold to the Confederate States of America, and was used in the American Civil War for blockade running. After the war, it was used as a training ship at the US Navel Academy.
