The History of the America's Cup: A Silver Cup, a 132-Year Streak and the Foiling Revolution

The history of the America's Cup is the longest argument in sport. It begins in 1851 with a black schooner humiliating the British fleet in its own water, produces the longest winning streak any sport has recorded — 132 years — and ends, for now, with foiling monohulls flying above the sea at highway speeds. The Cup's technology trickles down to every racing and cruising sailboat afloat, including the sailboats for sale here — this is the full story.

1851: The Schooner America and the Hundred Guinea Cup

In 1851 a New York Yacht Club syndicate sent a radical pilot-boat schooner across the Atlantic to race the British at their own game. America, 100 feet long and built by George Steers and William H. Brown, entered the Royal Yacht Squadron's race around the Isle of Wight on 22 August 1851 against fifteen British yachts — and won outright. Per the America's Cup's official brief history, the trophy she took was the £100 Cup — subsequently inscribed, incorrectly, as the "100 Guineas Cup," which is why the older name survives (this chapter's title included, per long usage). The Cup is named for the yacht, not the country; it remains the oldest trophy in international sport, older than the modern Olympics by 45 years.

One legend needs labelling as such: the story that Queen Victoria, watching, asked who was second and was told "Your Majesty, there is no second." The reference record itself flags the exchange as apocryphal — a later retelling, not a documented quotation.

The Cup Crosses the Atlantic: Deeds of Gift and the Defender Era

The syndicate sold America but kept her trophy, and on 8 July 1857 the surviving members donated it to the New York Yacht Club under a Deed of Gift: the Cup was to be held as, in the Deed's words, "a perpetual challenge cup for friendly competition between nations." Challenges between yacht clubs of different countries, under rules lawyers have fought over ever since — that document still governs the event, and the reference history of the Cup is largely a record of its interpretations.

The first challenge came in 1870, when James Lloyd Ashbury's Cambria raced a New York fleet and lost — the defending schooner Magic won, and America herself, by then a refitted veteran, finished fourth. The defender era had begun: challenger after challenger crossed an ocean to race on the defender's water, under the defender's terms, against a defender picked from trials. Lipton's five Shamrock campaigns made him the era's beloved loser; the Cup stayed in New York.

The New York Yacht Club's 132-Year Hold (1851–1983)

The numbers still read as misprints. From the first defence in 1870 through 1980, the New York Yacht Club defended the Cup successfully 24 times. Measured from America's 1851 win to the loss in 1983, the hold lasted 132 years — the longest winning streak in the history of sport. Herreshoff's giant J-class defenders of the 1930s and the 12-Metres that replaced them after 1958 kept the pattern: the challenger was always, in the end, beaten.

The streak was an institution as much as a record, and it shaped the broader sport — the era fills our companion history of yachts and history of sailboats. By 1983 the challengers had been knocking for a generation. What broke the door was a keel nobody was allowed to see.

1983: Australia II, the Winged Keel and the Streak Ends

Australia's challenger of 1983, Australia II, carried a secret below the waterline: a winged keel, designed by Ben Lexcen, that cut drag and let her turn and accelerate like a smaller boat — hidden under a skirt whenever she was hauled, and the subject of furious eligibility arguments. Alan Bond's syndicate, with John Bertrand skippering, took the series to a deciding seventh race against Dennis Conner's Liberty off Newport.

On 26 September 1983 (US time; the early hours of 27 September in Australia), Australia II won that race by 41 seconds — the first successful challenge in 132 years. Prime Minister Bob Hawke told television cameras that any boss who sacked a worker for not turning up that day "is a bum." The Cup left New York for Perth, and a trophy monopolised for thirteen decades became, in one afternoon, genuinely international.

Mismatches and Multihulls: 1988 and the 2010 Trimaran Defence

Freed from New York, the Cup promptly discovered its Deed's sharp edges. In 1988 Michael Fay's New Zealand syndicate lodged a surprise challenge under the Deed's original terms with KZ1, a giant monohull crewed by 40. San Diego's defender, Dennis Conner, answered with the one design Fay had not anticipated: a 60-foot wing-sailed catamaran, Stars & Stripes. She won both races, on 7 and 9 September 1988, by 18 and 21 minutes. Then the lawyers took the trophy: in March 1989 a New York court awarded the Cup to New Zealand, calling the match a gross mismatch; the Appellate Division reversed — the Deed limits neither design nor hull count — and the New York Court of Appeals confirmed San Diego's win on 26 April 1990.

The precedent shaped 2010 directly. After another round of litigation, the Cup was settled at Valencia in February 2010 between two giant multihulls: the defender Alinghi 5, a catamaran, and BMW Oracle's USA 17, a 90-foot trimaran powered by a rigid wing sail. The trimaran won 2–0 — exactly what the 1988 ruling had guaranteed any Deed-of-Gift match would produce.

The Foiling Era: The 2013 Comeback and the AC75

San Francisco, 2013, rewrote what a sailing race could look like. The AC72 catamarans lifted clear of the water on hydrofoils and raced at over 50 mph — and still the boats were nearly upstaged by the scoreline. Emirates Team New Zealand led 8–1 on 18 September, one win from the Cup, against an Oracle Team USA carrying a two-race penalty. Oracle, skippered by Jimmy Spithill, then won eight straight races to take the match 9–8 on 25 September, the final race by 44 seconds — NPR's report of the finish called it one of the greatest comebacks in sport. (Oracle actually won eleven races that September; the penalty is why the official score reads 9–8.)

The foiling era then consolidated. Oracle defended in Bermuda in 2017 and lost to Emirates Team New Zealand, which introduced the AC75 — a foiling monohull, its ballast replaced by foil arms — and defended at home in Auckland in 2021, beating Luna Rossa 7–3. In Barcelona in October 2024, per Yachting New Zealand's account, the Kiwis beat INEOS Britannia 7–2 to complete the first modern three-peat. The Cup, 173 years on, remained New Zealand's.

What the History of the America's Cup Means for Buyers Today

The Cup's trickle-down is real and specific. Winged keels became ordinary production gear within a decade of 1983. Composite construction, computer-modelled hulls and sail-shape design migrated from Cup syndicates to the mainstream yards surveyed in our roundup of the best sailboat brands. Foiling escaped the Cup entirely — into dinghies, boards and production day boats — and the wing-sail experiments of 1988 and 2010 inform today's rigs.

If it has you dreaming bigger than your current boat, browse all boats for the cruisers and racers the Cup's ideas filtered into — and when the time comes, you can sell your boat through the same marketplace.

History of the America's Cup FAQs

Why is it called the America's Cup and not the America Cup?

It is named after the yacht America — the schooner that won the trophy in 1851 — not after the country. The trophy itself was the Royal Yacht Squadron's £100 Cup, and the winning syndicate's own inscription mislabelled it the "100 Guineas Cup." The possessive form simply follows the yacht's name.

What is the Deed of Gift?

The 1857 trust deed under which America's owners gave the Cup to the New York Yacht Club, requiring it to be held as "a perpetual challenge cup for friendly competition between nations." It sets the match's basic terms — challenge by a foreign yacht club, one challenger against one defender — and because it is a legal trust document, disputes have repeatedly been settled by the New York courts, most famously in 1988–1990.

How long was the American winning streak, really?

From America's win in 1851 to Australia II's victory in 1983 is 132 years, encompassing 24 successful New York Yacht Club defences between 1870 and 1980. It is generally described as the longest winning streak in sport.

What was the greatest America's Cup comeback?

San Francisco 2013. Emirates Team New Zealand led Oracle Team USA 8–1 on 18 September, one win from taking the Cup; Oracle — racing under a two-race penalty, so it ultimately won eleven races — then won eight straight to close the match 9–8 on 25 September, the final race by 44 seconds. It remains the definitive comeback in the event's modern history.

Bottom line: The history of the America's Cup is 173 years of design wars, legal wars and one unbeatable streak. To shop the descendants, start with the sailboats for sale at Boat Deals Direct.