The America's Cup: Trials and Triumphs

by Richard V. Simpson

Overview

America's Cup: Trials & Triumphs is a concise history of some of the most interesting of the international struggles for possession of the acclaimed Cup. But more than that, Simpson writes about the ingenuity and technical advancements made over the years in hull and sail design for swift oceangoing sailing yachts. Not satisfied by relating only the history of the America's Cup challenges and defenses, Simpson illustrates some of the interesting events that have changed commercial sailing into the popular sport of sailboat racing. A sport that was once the singular pleasure of wealthy barons of industry is now enjoyed by thousands of middle-class citizens from many nations with access to the sea. Also included in this volume are sailing techniques, maneuvers and useful nautical terminology.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781596293298
Publisher:	Arcadia Publishing SC
Publication date:	06/04/2010
Pages:	160
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

Richard V. Simpson is a native Rhode Islander who has always lived within walking distance to Narragansett Bay; first in the Edgewood section of Cranston and in Bristol, where he has lived since 1960. A graphic designer by trade, he has worked in advertising, printing, display and textile design studios. After retiring in 1996 from a twenty-nine-year Federal Civil Service career with the U.S. Navy in Newport, he began a second career as an author of books on subjects of historical interest in Rhode Island's East Bay, with his principal focus on Bristol. This is Richard's sixteenth published title and the third with America's Cup yachts as its subject. He continues as a contributing editor for the national monthly Antiques & Collecting Magazine, in which eighty-five of his articles have appeared, a position he has enjoyed since 1985. Bristol's famous Independence Day celebration and parade has also been the subject of Richard's pen. His 1989 Independence Day is the singular authoritative book on the subject, and his many anecdotal Fourth of July articles have appeared in the local Bristol Phoenix and the Providence Journal.

Table of Contents

Foreword: The Race for the America's Cup 7

Author's Note 11

Acknowledgements 13

Introduction 15

1 The Deed of Gift 19

2 The New York Yacht Club 23

3 Yacht Development up to the America 29

4 Schooners, Sloops and Cutters 35

5 Points and Paces of Sailing Yacht Racers 45

6 Anatomy of a Classic Cup Yacht 59

7 Meeting the Challengers (1870-1887) 71

8 The Herreshoff Defenders (1893-1937) 81

9 The Shamrock Challengers (1899-1930) 103

10 The Js, 12-Metres and the IACC Yachts 117

11 Sailing Lingo and Mariners' Manners 135

12 A Gallery of Challengers, Defenders and Contenders 139

Appendix. Historical Chronology 147

Notes 151

Bibliography 155

About the Author 157