Yacht racing is a sailing sport involving sailing yachts and larger sailboats, as distinguished from dinghy racing, which involves open boats. It is composed of multiple yachts, in direct competition, racing around a course marked by buoys or other fixed navigational devices or racing longer distances across open water from point-to-point. It can involve a series of races with buoy racing or multiple legs when point-to-point racing.
The America's Cup is a sailing competition and the oldest international competition still operating in any sport. America's Cup match races are held between two sailing yachts: one from the yacht club that currently holds the trophy and the other from the yacht club that is challenging for the cup. The winner is awarded the America's Cup trophy, informally known as the Auld Mug. Matches are held several years apart on dates agreed between the defender and the challenger. There is no fixed schedule, but the races have generally been held every three to four years.
The New York Yacht Club (NYYC) is a private social club and yacht club based in New York City and Newport, Rhode Island. It was founded in 1844 by nine prominent sportsmen. The members have contributed to the sport of yachting and yacht design. As of 2001, the organization was reported to have about 3,000 members. Membership in the club is by invitation only. Its officers include a commodore, vice-commodore, rear-commodore, secretary and treasurer.
The Marblehead to Halifax Ocean Race (MHOR) is a biennial sailing race which celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2005. It runs between Marblehead, Massachusetts and Halifax, Nova Scotia. It is believed to be the longest running offshore ocean race in the world and is considered one of the pre-eminent ocean races of the North Atlantic.
The Puritan was a 19th-century racing yacht and the 1885 America's Cup defender of the international sailing trophy.
Mayflower was the victorious U.S. defender of the sixth America's Cup in 1886 against Scottish challenger Galatea.
Genesta was the unsuccessful English challenger in the fifth America's Cup in 1885 against the American defender Puritan.
Galatea was the unsuccessful Scottish challenger of the sixth America's Cup race in 1886 against American defender Mayflower.
The Deed of Gift of the America's Cup is the primary document that governs the rules to make a valid challenge for the America's Cup and the rules of conduct of the races. The current version of the deed of gift is the third revision of the original deed. The original deed was written in 1852 and forwarded to the New York Yacht Club on July 8, 1857.
Edward Burgess (1848–1891) was an American yacht designer. Several of his boats won fame in the waters of the eastern United States.
The 1920 America's Cup was the 13th challenge for the Cup and the first since 1903. It took place in New York Harbor and consisted of a best-of-five series of races between the defender Resolute, entered by a syndicate of New York Yacht Club members headed by Henry Walters, and Shamrock IV, the fourth in Sir Thomas Lipton's line of Cup challengers. Charles Francis Adams III was the skipper of Resolute in this race.
John Beavor-Webb was a British and American naval architect. He was a designer of sailing yachts, including Partridge 1885, a UK National Historic Ship and the America's Cup challengers Genesta (1884) and Galatea (1885). John Beavor-Webb began his career in England but later worked in the U.S.A. where he designed very large steamyachts like J.P. Morgan's Corsair II (1891) and Corsair III (1899).
Yankee was a 1930 yacht of the J Class built as a contender for the New York Yacht Club's defence of the 1930 America's Cup. She was ordered by a syndicate from the Eastern Yacht Club of Boston, organized by John Silsbee Lawrence, designed by Frank Cabot Paine, and built by Lawley & Son. Whirlwind was unsuccessful in her bid to become the Cup defender, an honor that went to Enterprise. With modifications, she took part in the trials for the 1934 America's Cup. She was eventually taken to the United Kingdom by a new owner in 1935 and was scrapped in 1941.
The 1895 America's Cup was the 10th staging of the America's Cup and occurred just two years after the 1893 America's Cup yet again pitting the New York Yacht Club against the Royal Yacht Squadron in a best-of-three-match--race-series. The 1895 race was between the Herreshoff designed sloop Defender owned by the William K. Vanderbilt syndicate, and the Watson designed Valkyrie III owned by Earl of Dunraven of the Royal Yacht Squadron.
America II is a racing sailboat and one of the final America's Cup 12 Meters. There were a total of three America IIs commissioned for the New York Yacht Club's challenge in the 1987 America's Cup. These were US 42, 44 & 46 and all boats were named America II.
The Hesper was a 19th-century Boston pilot boat built in 1884, designed from a model by Dennison J. Lawlor as a Boston yacht and pilot-boat for merchant and ship owner George W. Lawler. She was known to be the largest pilot boat under the American flag at 104 feet long and the fastest of the Boston fleet. She competed in several first-class sailing races, and in 1886, the Hesper won the silver cup in what was known as the first Fishermen's Race. She was withdrawn from the pilot service and sold in 1901. The Hesper became a wreck on the point off Cape Henlopen in 1919.
The 2024 America's Cup was the 37th staging of the America's Cup yacht race. It was contested from 12 October 2024 as a first-to-seven-wins match-race series in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, between Taihoro, representing the defender, the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron; and Britannia, representing the Royal Yacht Squadron of the United Kingdom, which won the Louis Vuitton Challenger Selections Series, also in Barcelona, on 4 October 2024. It was the first time the UK has sailed in an America’s Cup match since 1964.
The Gracie was a 19th-century racing sloop yacht built in 1868 by James E. Smith shipyard at Nyack, New York. She raced the America's Cup defender Mischief in the trails off Sandy Hook in 1881. Gracie raced at the New York Yacht Club, Atlantic Yacht Club and other eastern yacht clubs. After a 42-year career in racing, she was sold in 1909 and converted to a freight boat sailing from Milton Point, off Long Island to New York.
The America's Cup is the oldest international competition still operating in any sport.
The 1885 America's Cup was the 6th staging of the America's Cup yacht race. It was contested as a three-match-race series in New York City, New York, United States between Puritan owned by the John Malcolm Forbes syndicate, representing the defender, the New York Yacht Club; and Genesta owned by Sir Richard Sutton, representing the Royal Yacht Squadron. It was the first time since 1871 that a British club had issued a challenge.
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New York Yacht Club 
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