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Admiral's Cup

International yachting regatta


Summary

International yachting regatta

The Admiral's Cup is an international yachting regatta. For many years it was known as the unofficial world championship of offshore racing.

The Admiral's Cup regatta was started in 1957 and was normally a biennial event (occurring in odd-numbered years) which was competed for between national teams. However the event was not staged in 2001 and was last held in 2003. It was cancelled at short notice in 2005. After this hiatus the Admiral's Cup returned in 2025 which 15 teams entered from around the world.

The 2003 event did not follow the normal format and allowed entries from any yacht club affiliated to a national authority, thus allowing the possibility of several teams per country.

The regatta was based at Cowes on the Isle of Wight off southern England and was organised by the Royal Ocean Racing Club.

History: 1957–1999

From 1957 to 1999 the cup was competed for between national teams, each having three boats. Initially only Great Britain and the United States took part but, in later years, many other teams also participated. The Fastnet race was part of the Admiral's Cup during this time.

The Australians won for the first time in 1967, the winning boat—Mercedes III—designed by Ted Kaufman and Bob Miller (later Ben Lexcen), who went on to success in the America's Cup.

In 1971 the British Prime Minister, Edward Heath, captained the British Admiral’s Cup Team and also skippered one of the winning boats (Morning Cloud).

Recent history

The 2003 event, was planned to be based in Dún Laoghaire in Ireland, but this was changed at short notice for reasons that are still unclear. In addition, instead of being a competition between national teams, the event was competed between yacht clubs, each with two boats.

The 2005 event was cancelled only months before the event was to be held, after only two teams had entered.

Although the RORC (Royal Ocean Racing Club) was looking into reviving the event for 2011, this did not happen and it wasn’t until July 2025 that the event was resurrected.

Winners

YearWinnerTop Placed Yacht
1957
1959
1961
1963Clarion of Wight (GBR)
1965
1967Mercedes III (AUS)
1969Red Rooster (USA)
1971
1973
1975
1977Imp (USA)
1979Police Car (AUS)
1981
1983
1985
1987Propaganda (NZL)
1989Jamarella (GBR)
1991Corum Saphir (FRA)
1993
1995
1997
1999
2001cancelled
2003Wild Oats (AUS)
2005cancelled
2007cancelled
2025Jolt 6 (MON)

References

References

  1. [https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/general/sailing-walker-flies-home-flag-in-relaunched-admirals-cup-586648.html Independent Newspaper, England, 2003]{{dead link. (August 2021)
  2. [https://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/other_sports/1256265.stm BBC news on 2001 event]
  3. Bob Fisher. (2009). "1967: The Aussies' Big Success". Royal Ocean Racing Club Ltd.
  4. (11 August 1971). "1971: Admiral's Cup triumph for Heath". BBC.
  5. [http://archive.dailyecho.co.uk/2002/11/9/58579.html Southern Daily Echo, November 2002]
  6. [http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/archived_Detail.asp?key=1230 Scuttlebutt News]
  7. [http://www.ussailing.org/offshoreteams/teams.asp US Sailing 2003 Events page] {{webarchive. link. (May 13, 2008)
  8. "RORC Admiral's Cup page. Checked April 2008".
  9. (April 7, 2005). "Admiral’s Cup cancelled".
  10. "RORC Enlist Skandia To Help Revive the Admiral’s Cup". Royal Ocean Racing Club.
  11. Alexander, Stuart. (3 June 2009). "Admiral's Cup could be revived". Independent News and Media.
  12. "2025 Admiral's Cup - Cowes, Isle of Wight".
Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

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