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On this day…
05 April
In 1985 the New York Supreme Court ordered the Deed of Gift of the America’s Cup, which had been signed in 1887, to be amended to allow for a match for the Cup to take place during a Southern Hemisphere summer. The Deed provided that a race for the Cup could only take place between 1 May and 1 November. The drafters of the Deed never conceived that the Cup might be lost to a yacht club from the Southern Hemisphere. The Royal Perth Yacht Club of Western Australia was forced to go to the Court to secure the change before the 26th Match which was scheduled to take place in February 1987 in Fremantle, Western Australia. The Deed was amended to state that races in the Southern Hemisphere had to take place between 1 November and 1 May.
On this day in 1992 America³ won its first race in the Citizen Cup Defender Series defeating team mate Kanza. America³ went on to win the Series and the America’s Cup. Meanwhile, on the Defender’s course, New Zealander Chris Dickson, skippering Nippon, lost his race to New Zealand NZL20 after being penalised for an illegal luff having been slam dunked by New Zealand. In the other Semi Final race Ville de Paris inflicted a rare defeat on Il Moro di Venezia of 1 minute 56 seconds.
On this day in 2006, SUI91, Alinghi´s first new generation yacht for the 32nd America’s Cup, arrived in Valencia, Spain to be made ready for launching and sea trials.
© Hamish Ross 2007
