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 when buoy racing or multiple legs when point-to-point racing.
The America's Cup, informally known as the Auld Mug, is a trophy awarded in the sport of sailing. It is 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. There is no fixed schedule, with matches held several years apart on dates agreed between the defender and the challenger. The most recent America's Cup match took place in March 2021.
Bruce Kenneth Farr is a New Zealand designer of racing and cruising yachts. Farr‑designed boats have won, challenged for, or placed highly in the Whitbread Round the World Race, America's Cup, and Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race, among others.
Benjamin Lexcen AM was an Australian yachtsman and marine architect. He is famous for the winged keel design applied to Australia II which, in 1983, became the first non-American yacht to win the prestigious America's Cup in 132 years.
The International Americas Cup Class is a class of racing yacht that was developed for the America's Cup between 1992 and 2007. These yachts, while not identical, were all designed to the same formula to offer designers the freedom to experiment whilst keeping the boats sufficiently comparable to race in real time. The class was established for the 1992 America's Cup because of perceived shortcomings of the 12-metre class, which had been used in the America's Cup since 1958.
The 12 Metre class is a rating class for racing sailboats that are designed to the International rule. It enables fair competition between boats that rate in the class whilst retaining the freedom to experiment with the details of their designs. The designation "12 Metre" does not refer to any single measurement on the boat, and is not referencing the vessels overall length, rather, measures the sum of the components directed by the formula which governs design and construction parameters. Typically 12 Metre class boats range from 65 to 75 feet in length overall; they are most often sloop-rigged, with masts roughly 85 feet tall.
Intrepid is a 12-metre class racing yacht which won the America's Cup in 1967 and again in 1970.
Dame Pattie is an International 12-metre class racing yacht built for the America's Cup challenge series in 1967. She was designed by Warwick Hood and built by W.H. Barnett in New South Wales, Australia.
Reliance was the 1903 America's Cup defender designed by Nat Herreshoff.
Gary Mull was an American yacht designer who created many popular fiberglass sailboats.
The International Six Metre class is a class of classic racing yachts. Sixes are a construction class, meaning that the boats are not identical but are all designed to meet specific measurement formula, in this case International rule. At their heyday, Sixes were the most important international yacht racing class, and they are still raced around the world. "Six metre" in class name does not, somewhat confusingly, refer to length of the boat, but product of the formula; 6mR boats are, on average, 10–11 metres long.
NZL 82 was a 2003-generation International America's Cup Class racing yacht. Raced by defenders Team New Zealand in the 2003 America's Cup match, she was defeated 5–0 by challenger Alinghi.
Frederick Emmart Hood was an American yachtsman and Naval architect. He started the company Hood Sails in Marblehead, Massachusetts which makes sails. He won the America's Cup in 1974 skippering the yacht Courageous, which was built at Minnefords Shipyard in City Island, New York, after which he built a what he believed to have been a faster yacht and sold Courageous to Ted Turner, who beat him in it on his way to winning the 1977 America's Cup.
The AC72 is a class of wingsail catamarans built to a box rule, which governs the construction and operation of yachts competing in the 2013 Louis Vuitton and the America's Cup races. The class was subsequently replaced by the smaller AC50 class.
Gretel II (KA-3) is an International 12-metre class racing yacht built for the America's Cup challenge series in 1970. She was designed by Alan Payne and built by W.H. Barnett for Australian media tycoon Sir Frank Packer.
The 1974 America's Cup was held in September 1974 at Newport, Rhode Island. The US defender, Courageous, skippered by Ted Hood, defeated the Australian challenger, Southern Cross, skippered by James Hardy, in a four-race sweep.
Australia (KA–5) is an Australian 12-metre-class America's Cup racing yacht that twice challenged unsuccessfully for the America's Cup in 1977 and 1980. Designed by Ben Lexcen in association with the Dutch designer Johan Valentijn for Alan Bond, Australia failed to win a single race against the 1977 defender, Courageous (US-26), but won one race against the 1980 defender, Freedom (US-30). Australia resides in Sydney, Australia.
Britton Chance, Jr. was an American naval architect yacht designer who helped work on core design elements of craft that won the America's Cup.
Liberty (US-40) was an American racing yacht in the 12-metre class that unsuccessfully defended the 1983 America's Cup.
Miss Nylex is a C-Class racing catamaran, designed and built in Australia in the 1970s specifically to compete in the International Catamaran Challenge Trophy (ICCT). It has a single wingsail with two aerodynamic flaps, instead of the conventional mast and sail combination.
New York Yacht Club 
United States