America's Cup history: 1851 to the foiling era.

1851: the race around the Isle of Wight

The schooner America was built at William H. Brown's yard on New York's East River, to a design led by George Steers, and launched on 3 May 1851 (Wikipedia). She belonged to a New York Yacht Club syndicate headed by Commodore John Cox Stevens. The Royal Yacht Squadron says Stevens challenged for its cup in a race around the Isle of Wight, and America won. History.com dates the race to 22 August 1851, over a course of about 53 miles.

Almost every other detail of that day varies by source:

• The trophy's name. The Royal Yacht Squadron calls it the "£100 Cup." Britannica and History.com call it the "Hundred Guinea Cup."
• The winning margin. History.com says America beat the cutter Aurora by 22 minutes. Wikipedia's article on the yacht says 18 minutes, and its history of the Cup says 8 minutes ahead of the nearest rival.
• The fleet. History.com says America raced 14 British yachts, 15 boats in all. Wikipedia's history article says she beat 15 Royal Yacht Squadron yachts.
• "There is no second." History.com reports the famous exchange in which Queen Victoria asks who is second and is told there is none. Wikipedia presents it as legend, and we could not confirm it.

The trophy itself is a sterling silver ewer made by Garrard & Co in 1848, according to Wikipedia. The official AC38 press kit names Henry Steers, 15 years old in 1851, as the youngest crew member ever on a winning America's Cup boat. America was sold in Britain on 1 September 1851. Wikipedia traces her later career through Confederate service, scuttling in Florida in 1862, recovery by the Union and use as a US Naval Academy training ship, until her shed collapsed in a snowstorm in 1942 and her remains were scrapped in 1945.

The Deed of Gift and the NYYC era

On 8 July 1857 the surviving owners gave the cup to the New York Yacht Club under a Deed of Gift, which renamed it the America's Cup and made it a perpetual challenge trophy between nations. Wikipedia reports that the Deed was amended in 1881 and replaced by a new Deed in 1887, and calls the Cup the oldest competition in international sport.

The first formal challenge came in 1870, when the British schooner Cambria finished eighth in a fleet race run by the NYYC (Wikipedia). From then until 1983 the club never lost, but sources count the streak differently. History.com and Wikipedia say the NYYC defended the Cup 24 times in a row over 132 years. The official AC38 press kit, version 3.1 of October 2025, gives 24 defences in one section and 25 in another, and gives the span as 132 years in one place and 134 in another.

Wikipedia lists the boats that carried the contest: schooners in the early matches, J-Class yachts in 1930, 1934 and 1937, and 12 Metres from 1958 to 1987. In 1974 Ted Hood skippered the 12 Metre Courageous to a successful defence, Soundings reports.

1983: Australia II ends the streak

The Australian Sailing Hall of Fame records that on 26 September 1983 Australia II crossed the line at 5:21 pm to win the series 4-3. She was skippered by John Bertrand and designed by Ben Lexcen, whose winged keel had beaten conventional keels in secret tests in the Netherlands, and was built and owned by a Western Australian syndicate chaired by Alan Bond. The racing was off Newport, Rhode Island, and the defender was Liberty, skippered by Dennis Conner (History.com; Herreshoff Marine Museum). The press kit records the Royal Perth Yacht Club as the winning club; the result ended the NYYC's run of defences.

1987 to 2010: new homes, new boats, courtrooms

Conner won the Cup back in 1987 for the San Diego Yacht Club, sweeping Kookaburra III 4-0 at Fremantle in Stars & Stripes. A year later New Zealand challenged under the Deed's default terms with a very large monohull. San Diego answered with a Stars & Stripes catamaran, the first in America's Cup racing, and won 2-0, a result then contested in the New York courts (Herreshoff Marine Museum). Invention and Technology says that catamaran also carried the first wing sail used in a Cup match, designed by David Hubbard and Duncan MacLane.

Invention and Technology reports that USA-17's rigid wing stood about 223 ft tall, the largest yet built, and was designed and built in about six months.

The foiling era: 2013 to 2024

In San Francisco in 2013 both finalists raced AC72 wing-sail catamarans that flew on hydrofoils. Oracle Team USA came back from 8-1 down to beat Emirates Team New Zealand 9-8, winning eight races in a row, with Ben Ainslie joining as tactician from race six (Wikipedia). In Bermuda in 2017, Emirates Team New Zealand beat Oracle Team USA 7-1 in AC50 foiling catamarans, and the press kit records Peter Burling, at 26, as the youngest helmsman ever to win the Cup.

The AC75 foiling monohull class rule was launched in 2018. In Auckland in 2021, Emirates Team New Zealand beat Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli 7-3 in AC75s (Wikipedia). In Barcelona in 2024, INEOS Britannia won the Louis Vuitton challenger series 7-4 against Luna Rossa on 4 October; the Royal Yacht Squadron says it was the first British team to win a Cup challenger series and the first British team in the Match for 60 years. Emirates Team New Zealand then beat INEOS Britannia 7-2. News reports of the deciding race are dated 19 October 2024, and the Royal Yacht Squadron's account is dated 20 October. Luna Rossa won both the women's and youth America's Cup events in Barcelona that year.

Records, per the AC38 press kit (October 2025)

Winning nations

Only four: the United States, Australia, New Zealand and Switzerland.

Most recent run

The Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron has won in 1995, 2000, 2017, 2021 and 2024, the last three in a row.

Top AC75 speed

55.6 knots, set by INEOS Britannia during the 37th edition.

Longest-serving helm

Jimmy Spithill, with eight campaigns and 17 Match race wins.

Most Match race wins, modern era

Peter Burling, with 22.

For the 38th edition in Naples in July 2027, its teams and the new America's Cup Partnership, see the America's Cup today. For the people behind these results, see notable sailors.