America's Cup Tickets Continued
The America's Cup regatta is a challenge-driven yacht series that currently involves a
best-of-nine series of match racing (a duel between two boats). Since the 1992 match, the regatta
has been sailed with the International America's Cup Class (IACC) sloop, a monohull boat that has
an average length of about 75 feet (23 m). Any challenger who meets the requirements specified in
the Deed of Gift, which governs the regatta, has the right to challenge the yacht club that holds the
Cup. Since 1983, Louis Vuitton has sponsored the Louis Vuitton Cup as a prize for the winner of the
challenger selection series (which was inaugurated for the 1970 match). The America's
Cup is a race between the winner of the Louis Vuitton Cup and the current holder. If the
challenging team wins the cup, the cup's ownership is transferred from the defender's yacht club to
the winning team's yacht club.
The trophy remained in the hands of the New York Yacht Club of the United States from 1852
or 1857 (when the syndicate that won the Cup donated the trophy to the club) until 1983 when the
Cup was won by the challenger, Australia II of Australia, ending the longest winning streak in the
history of sport. For the first time in 132 years, America had lost the "cup" to another country. The
skipper of Australia II, John Bertrand, was quoted in saying, "This puts yacht racing back on the
map!".
