1. It's spectacular. "A synonym of things brave and big and famous" is what one historian called the America's Cup. For 150+ years teams have been dueling for international supremacy in breathtakingly beautiful boats.

2. It's passionate. Cup-obsessed owners, sailors and engineers push the limits of teamwork and technology, always aware that in these big, fragile boats the chances of mistakes and even disaster are high.

3. It's complex yet simple. Australia's Alan Bond, the former sign painter who took the Cup from the New York YC in 1983, described the aura of the Cup this way: "You get out there and you're as good as the next guy, who might be a Vanderbilt. You get out there and all you've got is a common element -- the wind and the sea -- and everybody's equal."

4. It's thrilling. There's nothing like sailing on the knife edge of control, with stinging salt water flying in your face, and the yacht groaning with strain as you fight for an advantage of a few centimeters.

5. It's the Challengers' race to win. Challengers have won two of the last three AC Matches (Cup finals), and four of the last seven. Of all the Challengers, none has worked harder nor is better prepared than BMW ORACLE, and none can call on so many Cup veterans and so much cutting-edge technology.

(With thanks to John Rousmaniere, Cup historian and yachting author par excellence.)


September, 1983 -- Australia II syndicate
chairman Alan Bond during the prizegiving
at Marble House in Newport, RI the day
after Aus II won the seventh and final
race in the '83 Match, thus ending the
longest winning streak in sports history
(NYYC's 132-year reign as Defender) and
signalling the start of the brave, new
"globalized" world of Cup racing we enjoy
today.