159 years ago today, on August 22, 1851, the yacht America beat the best of the British fleet in a race around the Isle of Wight off the south coast of England.
The trophy they won on that day, would later be called the America’s Cup, named after the winning schooner.
For more on the history of the America’s Cup see here and here.
The America's Cup, on display in Cowes, during the 1851 Cup.
The iconic America’s Cup trophy returned to Cowes, England, this week for just the second time in its storied history. Current holders BMW ORACLE Racing brought the trophy to Cowes to help celebrate the 1851 Cup, a one-off match racing regatta between the American team and TEAMORIGIN of the U.K.
In its storied history the America’s Cup has returned to Cowes only once before. Team New Zealand and the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron brought the trophy to Cowes in 2001 for the America’s Cup Jubilee Regatta. Then it arrived at dawn in a Maori war canoe.
This week’s visit was more regal for the stately “Auld Mug.” It arrived in its custom travel case created by Louis Vuitton and carried in a BMW X5 under the watchful eyes of two security guards. Weather permitting the trophy is on display daily along The Parade beginning around 10:00 am Cowes local time.
“The America’s Cup has such a magical appeal it transcends the sport of sailing,” said BMW ORACLE Racing CEO Russell Coutts. “For centuries it has inspired businessmen, entrepreneurs, sailors and yacht designers to grand acts, all in pursuit of winning it. We’re proud to have the opportunity to present it to the public in Cowes.”
The legend that is the America’s Cup was born in 1851 in a race around the Isle of Wight. The schooner America, led by a syndicate of six businessmen from New York, conquered a fleet of British yachts to win what was then known as the Hundred Pound Cup, or Hundred Guinea Cup.
The trophy was later renamed the America’s Cup after the winning yacht when it was donated to the New York Yacht Club as a perpetual challenge trophy for competition among foreign countries.
Sailors from BMW ORACLE Racing and TeamOrigin talk sailing with a group of local youth sailors at the 1851 Cup in Cowes, England.
BMW ORACLE Racing won the 33rd America’s Cup last February in Valencia, Spain. Since then BMW ORACLE Racing has showcased the America’s Cup in venues around the world including:
San Francisco, California. (home of BMW ORACLE Racing’s home club, the Golden Gate Yacht Club); Auckland, New Zealand; San Diego, California; Sardinia, Italy; and Newport, Rhode Island.
On June 29 the Cup and team visited The White House, Washington D.C., at the invitation of U.S. President Barack Obama.
The America’s Cup stood 27 inches (68cm) in height when originally crafted in 1848, but since every race of each match is engraved on the trophy additional bases have increased its height to 44 inches (111cm). The trophy weights 32.4 pounds (14.7kg).
The 1851 Cup features BMW ORACLE Racing and TeamOrigin, led by their skippers Jimmy Spithill of Australia and Ben Ainslie of the U.K., in a series of match races off the Isle of Wight, Aug. 3-6. On Thursday, Aug. 5, the two teams are scheduled to sail the famous 53-nautical-mile course around the island.
An X40 catamaran on a 'fly by' during the Media Trials off Valencia, Spain
The final batch of footage from the Media Trials is now online on the 34th America’s Cup YouTube Channel.
We want to know what you think, so please leave comments through the form below.
The trials will shift into a new phase in August, when positioning and performance data will be experimented with during the 1851 Cup in Cowes, England. The regatta features BMW ORACLE Racing and Britain’s TeamOrigin. in a series of match races aboard V5 America’s Cup Class sloops off the Isle of Wight.
“We have a long way to go still, but we’re very upbeat about this process,” said BMW ORACLE Racing CEO Russell Coutts as the Valencia trials concluded on Sunday. “We really want to transform the next Cup to make it appealing and enthralling for television, and we feel we’re heading down that path.”
VLC – 1730 – The media evaluation trials finished today in great racing conditions, with sea breeze approaching 15 knots, fueled by the bright Valencia sun. The action was back on monohulls – with action being the operative word. With Russell Coutts at the helm of one boat (wearing the helmet camera) and Jimmy Spithill driving the other, the action was fast and furious, close and compelling. We won’t have video for you until Monday, but in the meantime, GMR captured the spirit of the day.
Russell Coutts, wearing the 'helmet camera'.
Working hard for the shot on board the RC44.
Jimmy Spithill raises his hand, calling for a penalty, during the Media Trials in Valencia.
Side by side, racing towards the mark...
Squeezing inside at the mark...
Running down...
The X40 catamarans were out sailing on Sunday as well, here crossing with an RC44.
Having a blast...
VLC – 13:00 - We’re currently uploading the footage from Saturday’s session to the 34th America’s Cup YouTube Channel, where you can take a look at 11 videos, each containing several short clips.
Saturday provided plenty of food for thought. The beginning of the session was in quite light conditions, with the sea breeze building as the day went on.
Some notes following this morning’s screening with the sailors and TV production crew:
Media Trials for the 34th America's Cup are underway in Valencia, Spain.
- The only sound gathered on the day was directly from the cameras. Depending on the camera housing, some of the shots will have no sound with them. Our ‘surround sound’ microphones and protective housings haven’t recovered from the soaking they received on Friday, so we don’t have that extra audio source on Saturday’s video.
- It was far more difficult for the on-board cameramen to shoot on the X40s compared with the RC44s. The catamarans are very weight sensitive, so the shooters often had to move at the direction of the race crew. Even when in position amidships, if another crew member moved across the trampoline, the bouncing effect often rendered the shot unusable. Of course both proposed designs (monohull and multihull) for the new America’s Cup Class are much larger than what we’re sailing on this week, so this should be less of an issue in the new class of boat – especially if thought is given now, pre-design rule, to on-board cameraman positioning.
- The ‘standard’ equipment being used in these tests limits the range of usable shots. Custom lenses and focal lengths will be required to get the best pictures. For example, the mast cam needs a wider lens to show a wider area around the base of the boat, and needs to be able to zoom in on the deck.
- The shots from the chase boat camera on Saturday (handheld) stand out because the colour is different. The image stabilizer being used on that camera doesn’t allow the full potential of HD to come through, resulting in it looking different compared to the other cameras on board the cats.
- Typically in sailing coverage, the cameras mounted on the camera chase boats have extremely long lenses to ensure the TV production crew can still get usable shots while being a long distance from the race boats. This limits any kind of ‘wide-shot’. If the camera boats can get closer, that opens up new possibilities in the range of shots they could produce. Again, both the monohull and multihull concepts for the new AC class will be much faster than the old ACC Version 5 boats, so a custom camera boat will likely be required to keep up and not interfere in the racing.
Today, the plan is for another session on the RC44s. Dock-out has been postponed to allow the sea breeze to build. We’re going to follow trimmer Joe Newton (AUS) today, and hopefully have a helmet-camera on one of the helmsman.
In addition to more TV trials, we’ll also be looking at different race format ideas – shorter first legs, downwind starts, etc.
It was a productive session off Valencia today for the X40 catamarans, which were out for nearly four hours in a 7 to 10 knot sea breeze. We’ll have the video clips on Sunday morning. Until then, here’s how the day looked through the lens of GMR:
Day 3 of the Media Trials off Valencia
Flying high on Day 3 of the Media Trials off Valencia
Close ups on Day 3 of the Media Trials off Valencia
X40s ride the wake on Day 3 of the Media Trials off Valencia
Heavy seas off Valencia on day two of the media trials
Friday’s testing session was curtailed early by heavy seas, but in the 90-minutes the crews were out on the X40 catamarans, they were able to generate some interesting footage.
The rushes from the catamaran session are currently being uploaded to the YouTube Channel of the 34th America’s Cup. Check it out and let us know what you think.
In the meantime, the cats docked out at 1100 today so we’ll have more multihull footage for you to look at by Sunday morning.
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