Hidden away until now in the basement of a French castle, a model collection of all 30 boats ever to hold the America´s Cup are now on display for the first time in history here in Port America´s Cup.
Beautiful, intricate and telling, the models were crafted by a former journalist and are the private collection of renowned French yachtsmen, Olivier de Kersauson. The exhibition is extensive and the models are organized into 7 eras. Each model is accompanied by a synopsis of that year´s racing highlights and a map of the race courses where the ships sailed on their original nautical charts.
The models, all to scale, make understanding the innovations of boat design easier by giving a visual to the sometimes confusing jargon of sailing. For example, the J-Class Era marks one of the most important shifts in boat design; but its hard to understand the difference between a gaff rig and a Marconi rig, or an aluminum mast and a wooden one. Seeing the 1920 and 1930 yachts (the first of the J-classes) side by side, these differences are blatant and undeniable.
The name ¨Model Boat Exhibition¨ does no justice for what can be learned there. Peppered with historical anecdotes, the exhibition gives perspective to the race´s history and how it is linked to world history. The Cup has seen the world through the first modern Olympic Games, Picasso´s birth, the Wright brothers´ maiden flight, two world wars and John F Kennedy´s assassination. The models assert the impact of these moments on the boats and their design, such as the pairing down of the post-Word War II boats. 1958´s Columbia US 16 is more modest than its predecessor, 1937´s Ranger (said to be the best boat in the history of the Cup). This reflected the world´s tightfistedness as it recovered from economic depression and war.
Furthermore, the intricacy of the models is astounding, getting right down to the nails in the deck and the rust on America´s hull, they truly are masterpieces.
A few points to note as you wander:
The most repeated boat name in the Cup is ¨Shamrock¨ because Sir Thomas Lipton sailed five different boats in five different Cups and named each one the same thing. If Lipton were the superstitious type he might have considered a different name as none of his ¨Shamrocks¨ took the Cup.
You may be wondering, if this is the 32nd America´s Cup, then why are there only 30 boats in the exhibition? You asked for it: First off, the America´s Cup didn´t exist until ¨America¨ won the cup and thus the race was born, so that first race doesn´t count. Then there were two winners in 1871 (Columbia and Sappho). And finally, the same boat won two editions on three different occasions (Columbia in 1899 and 1901, Intrepid in 1967 and 1970, and Courageous in 1974 and 1977 ). And so… 31 editions equals 30 boats.
There seems to be no rhyme or reason to the cycle of the Cup. The time between Cups has been as short as 1 year and as long as 20. This is because there´s no set schedule for the next Cup. A Cup takes place whenever a yacht club decides to step up and challenge the defender; this is entirely up to the will of the challenger.
The Cup has only been held in 5 different cities (soon to be 6), New York, Newport, Fremantle, San Diego, Auckland, and soon, Valencia.
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