The AC turns 155

Happy birthday to the America's Cup. Most Cup historians consider today, 22 August, as the founding day of this great adventure and pursuit that many of us here in Valencia, and elsewhere around the world, are on -- now 155 years later.

You may find interesting the "155 Years Ago Today" story we posted earlier today on the BMW ORACLE Racing blog. It also answers, one hopes, the question "The What Cup?" that we posed some months ago in a post here on the CC Blog.

In that post last November we promised to publish the related reply to our "The What Cup" question from Hamish Ross (NZL, Alinghi General Counsel). A Cup historian, Hamish also has a book on the AC in the works. Here is an excerpt from his take on the confusion around the Cup's name:

The answer in my opinion is the Cup had an advertised value of £100.00 in the RYS's programme for 1851. What the Cup in fact cost when it was purchased from Garrards is probably unknown. It was very common in the nineteenth century for yacht clubs, at least in Britain and the colonies, to hold yacht races to win a trophy of a nominated value....It is the "America's Cup." It had a value in 1851 of £100.00. Let's put to rest all the other inappropriate and unnecessary appellations.



The America's Cup, flanked by the Louis Vuitton Cup, in China earlier this year -- another first in the trophy's storied 155-year history. As usual, you can click on the image, above, to enlarge; it makes great wallpaper for your computer desktop.