Boston Teapot Trophy

Boston Teapot Trophy
Boston Teapot Trophy
Status	Active
Frequency	Annual
Country	Varying
Inaugurated	1964 (1964)
Founder	Sail Training Association
Most recent	2023
Activity	Sail Race
Organised by	Sail Training International
Website	sailtraininginternational.org

The Boston Teapot Trophy is an annual international award given to the sail training vessel that covers the greatest distance under sail within a 124-hour period - 5 days and 4 hours. A vessel must have a waterline length exceeding 30 feet (9.14 m) with a majority of the crew under 25 years of age. ^{[1] [2]}

The race was first established in 1964 by the Sail Training Association (STA) after a two-boat ‘race’ back to Europe from the US following OpSail 1964. It was originally structured for a more traditional yardstick, the greatest distance covered in 24 hours, won by the Italian yacht Corsaro II , under the command of 1952 Olympics sailing gold medalist Agostino Straulino. It was later expanded to 124 hours to create a more challenging race dependent on the skill of the crew to maintain speed rather than simply stumbling into a short term gust of wind. ^[3]

The teapot now recognized as the trophy was sponsored by Brooke Bond Tea Ltd. Prince Philip was an early patron of STA and its then biennial Tall Ships Races. He presented the first perpetual trophy to CF Ricardo Franke, Captain of ARA Libertad , in 1966. Libertad travelled 1,335 nautical miles (2,472 km; 1,536 mi) for an average of 10.7 knots (19.8 km/h; 12.3 mph), a record she would hold for 24 years until broken by Kaiwo Maru in 1990. ^[4]

In 2016, Captain Marcus Seidl set the Guinness World Record aboard Statsraad Lehmkuhl , with an average speed of 12.49 knots (23.13 km/h; 14.37 mph), running a total of 1,556 nautical miles (2,882 km; 1,791 mi). During that run, she saw a high speed of 19.5 knots (36.1 km/h; 22.4 mph). ^{[5] [6]} Overall, Statsraad Lehmkuhl has taken home the trophy a total of 9 times, matching ARA Libertad and second to Juan Sebastián de Elcano with 10 wins. Kaiwo Maru previously held the speed record with 1,394 nautical miles (2,582 km; 1,604 mi) travelled at an average speed of 11.2 knots (20.7 km/h; 12.9 mph). ^[2]

The trophy is a replica of a simple drum-shaped silver tea pot now found at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. ^[7] Made in 1782 by noted silversmith Paul Revere, best known for his midnight ride immortalized by Longfellow, it is one of six known surving samples of this style made by him. ^[8] Original teapots by Paul Revere of this style are now worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. ^[9]

Trophy aboard BAP Union in 2023

The replica trophy is approximately 30 centimetres (12 in) high and 15 centimetres (5.9 in) in diameter with an additional silver base engraved with "The Boston Teapot" ^[10] , and housed in a custom protective wooden box, 40cm x 40cm x 20cm (16in x 16in x 8 in), with a blue velvet lining. ^[11]

The trophy is currently presented to the winning ship by Sail Training International at their International Sail Training and Tall Ships Conference held in November of each year. The winning ship keeps the trophy for the year. ^[12]

Trophy winners

Year	Name of ship	Ship registry	Running distance (nm)	Average speed (knots)	Notes
1964	Corsaro II	Italy	1121 nm	9 kts	[3]
1965	Gorch Fock	Germany	1079 nm	8.7 kts	[3]
1966	ARA Libertad	Argentina	1335 nm	10.7 kts	[13] [14]
1967	Gorch Fock	Germany	1040 nm	8.3 kts	[3]
1968	Gorch Fock	Germany	977 nm	7.8 kts	[3]
1969	Gorch Fock	Germany	1191 nm	9.6 kts	[3]
1970	ARC Gloria	Colombia	1058 nm	8.5 kts	[3]
1971	Esmerelda	Chile	1026 nm	8.2 kts	[3]
1972	USCGC Eagle	United States	1100 nm	8.8 kts	[15]
1973	USCGC Eagle	United States	1019 nm	8.2 kts	[3]
1974	ARC Juan Sebastián de Elcano	Spain	952 nm	7.6 kts	[16]
1975	no entry				[3]
1976	ARA Libertad	Argentina	1248 nm	10 kts	[13]
1977	no entry				[3]
1978	no entry				[3]
1979	ARC Juan Sebastián de Elcano	Spain	1029 nm	8.3 kts	[16]
1980	no entry				[3]
1981	ARA Libertad	Argentina	1115 nm	8.9 kts	[13]
1982	Cisne Branco	Brazil	1101 nm	8.8 kts	[3]
1983	Gorch Fock	Germany	1098 nm	8.8 kts	[3]
1984	no entry				[3]
1985	ARA Libertad	Argentina	684 nm	5.5 kts	[13]
1986	Nippon Maru	Japan	955 nm	7.7 kts	[2]
1987	ARA Libertad	Argentina	1174 nm	9.4 kts	[13]
1988	Dar Młodzieży	Poland	1241 nm	10 kts	[3]
1989	Nippon Maru	Japan	1134 nm	9.1 kts	[2]
1990	Kaiwo Maru	Japan	1350 nm	10.8 kts	[2]
1991	Kaiwo Maru	Japan	1244 nm	10 kts	[2]
1992	ARA Libertad	Argentina	1041 nm	8.4 kts	[13]
1993	Nippon Maru	Japan	1201 nm	9.6 kts	[2]
1994	Kaiwo Maru	Japan	1312 nm	10.5 kts	[2]
1995	Kaiwo Maru	Japan	1394 nm	11.2 kts	[2]
1996	no entry				[3]
1997	ARC Juan Sebastián de Elcano	Spain	1126 nm	9 kts	[16]
1998	ARA Libertad	Argentina	1158 nm	9.3 kts	[13]
1999	ARC Juan Sebastián de Elcano	Spain	1088 nm	8.7 kts	[16]
2000	ARA Libertad	Argentina			[13]
2001	ARC Juan Sebastián de Elcano	Spain			[16]
2002	ARM Cuauhtémoc	Mexico			[17]
2003	ARM Cuauhtémoc	Mexico			[17]
2004	ARC Juan Sebastián de Elcano	Spain			[16]
2005	ARC Juan Sebastián de Elcano	Spain			[16]
2006	ARC Juan Sebastián de Elcano	Spain			[16]
2007	ARA Libertad	Argentina			[18]
2008	Statsraad Lehmkuhl	Norway			[18]
2009	NRP Sagres	Portugal			[18]
2010	Statsraad Lehmkuhl	Norway			[18]
2011	Statsraad Lehmkuhl	Norway			[18]
2012	Statsraad Lehmkuhl	Norway			[18]
2013	ARM Cuauhtémoc	Mexico	1189 nm	9.7 kts	[17] [19]
2014	Statsraad Lehmkuhl	Norway			[18] [20]
2015	ARC Juan Sebastián de Elcano	Spain			[18] [16]
2016	Statsraad Lehmkuhl	Norway	1263 nm		[18] [21]
2017	Statsraad Lehmkuhl	Norway	1556 nm	12.5 kts	[5] [18] [20]
2018	Statsraad Lehmkuhl	Norway	1254 nm	10.1 kts	[18] [12]
2019	Fryderyk Chopin	Poland	1218 nm	9.8 kts	[18] [22]
2020	ARC Juan Sebastián de Elcano	Spain	1013 nm		[3] [16] [23]
2021	Fryderyk Chopin	Poland	1288 nm		[3] [24]
2022	Statsraad Lehmkuhl	Norway	1125 nm	9.1 kts	[18] [3]
2023	BAP Unión	Peru	1261 nm	10.7 kts	[18] [25] [26]
2024	ARM Cuauhtémoc	Mexico	1171 nm	9.4 kts	[18] [17]

References

1. "Sail Training International Annual Awards", STI, retrieved 15 July 2024
2. "The Boston Tea Pot Trophy", National Institute for Sea Training, archived from the original on 2013-01-06, retrieved 15 July 2024
3. Romański, Krzysztof (2 February 2023). "Statsraad Lehmkuhl wins Boston Teapot Trophy". zaglowce.info.
4. "IFR 2013 - Participating Tall Ships". Royal Australian Navy. October 2013. Archived from the original on 15 Dec 2012. Retrieved 28 May 2025.
5. "Fastest racing tall ship". Guiness World Records Ltd. Retrieved 28 May 2025.
6. Berglund, Nina (30 November 2016). "Bergen's Tall Ship sets speed record". NewsInEnglish.no.
7. "Teapot, Paul Revere, Jr., about 1782". collections.mfa.org. MFA Boston. Retrieved 28 May 2025.
8. Farlowe, Allie (5 June 2021). "Paul Revere Silver Teapots". Kamm Collection.
9. Pitman, Jennifer (24 January 2013). "A RARE SILVER TEA POT MARK OF PAUL REVERE JR., BOSTON, CIRCA 1782". www.christies.com.
10. Trellevik, Mads (17 October 2018). "Statsraaden kåret til verdens raskeste seilskip for 8. gang". Bergensavisen AS.
11. Jensen, Jonas (11 June 2019). "Statsraad Lehmkuhl details 3, the Boston Teapot Trophy". blogspot.com. Mulesaw.
12. "Statsraad Lehmkuhl kåret til verdens raskeste seilskip for 8. gang". lehmkuhl.no. Retrieved 28 May 2025.
13. Pilgrim, Mia. "Libertad". Tall Ships Network. Retrieved 28 May 2025.
14. "Se cumplen 54 años de la primera vez que la fragata ARA "Libertad" obtuvo el trofeo "Boston Teapot"". Armada de la República Argentina. 9 October 2020.
15. Wood, David (February 1974). "Tall Ships and Sailormen: Operation Sail 1972". Proceedings. Vol. 100/2/852. US Naval Institute.
16. "Training Ship "JUAN SEBASTIÁN DE ELCANO"". armada.defensa.gob.es. Retrieved 28 May 2025.
17. "El Buque Escuela Velero "Cuauhtémoc", Embajador y Caballero de los Mares, obtuvo el premio internacional "Tetera Boston 2024"". No. 176/2024. Secretaría de Marina. 26 November 2024.
18. "STI Annual Awards". sailtraininginternational.org. Retrieved 28 May 2025.
19. Silva Juarez, Angel (30 January 2014). "El buque escuela Cuauhtémoc recibe trofeo internacional". Estado Mayor.
20. "BOSTON TEAPOT TROPHY: MARCUS SIEDL, STATSRAAD LEMKHUL". sailtraininginternational.org. Retrieved 13 February 2018.
21. "INTERNATIONAL SAIL TRAINING AND TALL SHIPS CONFERENCE 2016: ANNUAL AWARDS". sailtraininginternational.org. 26 November 2016.
22. "INTERNATIONAL SAIL TRAINING AND TALL SHIPS CONFERENCE 2019: ANNUAL AWARDS". Sail Training International. 10 December 2019.
23. Diaz Lorenzo, Juan Carlos (21 February 2021). ""Juan Sebastián de Elcano" gana el trofeo Boston Teapot 2020". Puente de Mando.
24. Romański, Krzysztof (23 February 2022). "Fryderyk Chopin ponownie wygrywa Boston Teapot Trophy". zaglowce.info.
25. "B.A.P UNIÓN AWARDED BOSTON TEAPOT TROPHY IN CADIZ CEREMONY". sailtraininginternational.org. 6 February 2024.
26. "BAP Union receives the "Boston Teapot Trophy"". andina. Agencia Peruana de Noticias. 3 February 2023.