Some unusual facts about the race, its history and background and the sailors taking part19\/12\/20 – Auckland (NZL)
\n36th America\u2019s Cup presented by Prada
\nRace Day 3
\nNew York Yacht Club American Magic, Ineos Team UK1. Britain has never won the America\u2019s Cup
\nSkipper Ed Baird with the America\u2019s Cup after Switzerland won in 2007. Credit Wikimedia Commons
\nDespite the inaugural America\u2019s Cup race taking place in Cowes in 1851, Britain has never won the \u201cAuld Mug\u201d.
\nThe USA has won it 28 times, New Zealand three times, Switzerland twice, and Australia once.
\n2. Winners decide the race locations
\nBermuda will host the America\u2019s Cup in 2017. Credit: Wikimedia Commons
\nThe winner of the America\u2019s Cup match has the right to decide the rules for the next contest, including the types of boats to be used, the location of the race course and when the race will take place.
\nIn 2021, the Cup will take place in Auckland, New Zealand.
\n3. New Zealander Russell Coutts is the America\u2019s Cup\u2019s\u00a0most successful\u00a0racer
\nSir Russell Coutts. Credit: Wikimedia Commons
\nNew Zealand sailor, Sir Russell Coutts has won the America\u2019s Cup five times, including three times as skipper, where he has a perfect 14-0 record on the water (1995, 2000, 2003).
\nHe was CEO of the Oracle Team when it won the America\u2019s Cup twice with 13 wins and 8 losses in 2010 and 2013. Both times with James Spithill as skipper and helmsman.
\n4. It costs a billionaire\u2019s\u00a0fortune\u00a0to\u00a0take part
\nCredit: beka\/Twitter
\nThe entry fee for the 2021 America\u2019s Cup is $2 million per team \u2013 but that is barely the tip of the iceberg.
\nThe cost of running a team, developing some of the most high-tech boats in the world, the support crews, sailors and infrastructure runs to tens of millions.
\nDuring the 2013 America\u2019s Cup, Oracle Team USA, underwritten by billionaire Larry Ellison was rumoured to have spent around $200 million securing their eventual victory.
\nContinues below\u2026<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tHow the America\u2019s Cup contenders compare going into the Prada Cup<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAs each of the new AC75s were wheeled out into the open for the first time, amid the celebration and\u2026<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tEmirates Team New Zealand win World Series in first clues for 36th America\u2019s Cup<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCan the Kiwis be beaten for the 36th America\u2019s Cup? They must be on short odds already, three months out\u2026<\/p>\n
5. The America\u2019s Cup\u00a0trophy\u00a0
\nThe famous silver trophy was made by London silvermaker Garrard in 1848, two years before the 100 Pound Cup that kickstarted the America\u2019s Cup and is actually a claret jug.
\nThe cup has its own travel box and typically has its own seat on any plane in which it is flown, where it is accompanied by a cup minder to ensure it remains safe.
\n 6. The Cup has been vandalised
\nThe America\u2019s Cup. Credit: Wikimedia Commons
\nIn 1997 in New Zealand, a Maori activist damaged the America\u2019s Cup trophy after hitting it with a sledgehammer. It was subsequently repaired by Garrard of London.
\n7. One of the key New Zealand sailors grew up in a landlocked area
\nGlenn Ashby. Credit: North Sails\/Twitter
\nGlenn Ashby, the skipper and mainsail trimmer of Emirates Team New Zealand in 2017 (Pete Burling was the helmsman while Ashby\u2019s skipper role saw him take crew directing responsibilities from Burling\u2019s shoulders), grew up in Bendigo, Victoria, in Australia. He learnt to sail on a lake that was often near dry.\u00a0
\nThe 43-year-old, who goes by the nickname Gashby is once again an integral part of Emirates Team New Zealand as mainsail trimmer and is fast becoming one the most respected sailors in the America\u2019s Cup.
\n8. A most persistent challenger
\nSir Thomas Lipton. Credit: Library of Congress
\nBritish tea magnate Sir Thomas Lipton challenged for the trophy five times between 1899 and 1930 in his yachts Shamrock through to Shamrock V.\u00a0Although he never won (he was awarded\u00a0a specially designed cup for \u201cthe best of all losers\u201d), he is credited as introducing the idea of sponsorship in sport. An Ulster-Scots businessman, his\u00a0challenging yacht club was Royal Ulster Yacht Club in Bangor, Northern Ireland.
\n9. What\u2019s in a name?\u00a0\u00a0
\nBritannia\u2018s name also includes Ben Ainslie\u2019s lucky boat name Rita
\nThere are many sailors who have strange superstitions. There are those who never wear the regatta shirt at the regatta, some will not have a haircut during the event (both of those are held by ex-America\u2019s Cup skipper, Nathan Outteridge). Others will not have green anywhere on a boat and yet others still insist bananas onboard will banish them to the back of the fleet.
\nBen Ainslie is not averse to a little superstition too and uses a lucky name for all his boats since his early Olympic days. They are all called Rita. When INEOS took over the team for this 36th America\u2019s Cup, INEOS CEO, Sir Jim Ratcliffe apparently wanted a suitably patriotic name so they came up with Britannia, which usefully has Rita within it an can be seen picked out in orange on the team\u2019s graphics.
\n10. The famous\u00a0schooner America had a sad end
\nThe first winner of the iconic race, America. Credit: Wikimedia Commons
\nThe gaff schooner America won the race that promoted the establishment of\u00a0the\u00a0America\u2019s Cup, beating 15 other rivals in a race round the Isle of Wight organised by\u00a0the Royal Yacht Squadron on 22 August 1851.
\nRead more\u00a0about that race and the controversies and questions that have burned ever since.
\nThe trophy for which the modern event is raced was named\u00a0the America\u2019s Cup after the winning yacht.
\nAmerica continued to race until being sold to the Confederate State of America for use as a blockade running in the American Civil War\u00a0After she was scuttled in Dunns Creek, the yacht was\u00a0raised, repaired and renamed America by the Union, and served on the Union side for the remainder of the war.
\nAfter the war, America was used as a training ship at the US Naval Academy.
\nAmerica was again sold, and went back to competitive racing. \u00a0After falling into disrepair, the vessel was sold to the America Restoration Fund, who donated her to the US Naval Academy in Annapolis.
\nBy 1940, the gaff schooner had been sorely neglected. The vessel\u2019s condition deteriorated even further after the shed where America was stored collapsed in a heavy snowstorm.
\nThe ship was finally scrapped and burnt in 1945.
\nThe post Did you know\u2026? 10 interesting facts about the America\u2019s Cup appeared first on Yachting World.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Some unusual facts about the race, its history and background and the sailors taking part19\/12\/20 – Auckland (NZL) 36th America\u2019s Cup presented by Prada Race Day 3 New York Yacht Club American Magic, Ineos Team UK1. Britain has never won … <\/p>\n