VLC - Ciudad Sede 32 America's Cup The
America´s Cup: the Oldest Sports Trophy in the World
The America’s Cup is different
from other international regattas; it is more than a mere
sports competition, it possesses the spirit of an old fashioned
duel, the defiant response to the throwing down of a gauntlet.
This spirit is reflected in the words “Madam, there
is no second”, a comment made to Queen Victoria
during the celebration of the very first regatta that took place in
1851, in the Isle of Wight. The challenge was a competition between
the British and American fleets with the schooner America finishing
victorious.
Today,
after 154 years of history, the continued success of the event
is based on three key factors: teamwork, strategy and
technology.
The competition is divided into two parts: the Louis
Vuitton Cup and the America’s
CupMatch. In the
Louis Vuitton Cup the challengers fight for the
right to sail against the winner of the last America’s
Cup, the current title holder, known as the defender.
One
winner emerges from the races of the Luis Vuitton Cup, with the
honour of competing in the America’s CupMatch final
against the defending champion.
There are two types of regatta: the MatchRace – a
head-to-head confrontation with two teams, and the Fleet
Regattas which see all the teams competing against
each other in the same race.
The winner of last edition -which took place
in 2003 in Auckland, New Zealand- was the Alinghi syndicate
from Switzerland who brought back the America’s Cup to
Europe after an absence of 150 years.
As the Cup must take place at sea, the Geneva
Nautical Society the club to which Alinghi,
team belongs, carried out a selection process among a number
of European candidate cities. On the 26th November 2003,
the club announced that Valencia had been chosen to
host the Cup in 2007.
