1992

Winning boat: America3 (U.S.) | Skipper: Bill Koch

SAN DIEGO -- Shortly after the New York Court of Appeals issued its ruling in 1990 which awarded the America's Cup to the San Diego Yacht Club, millionaire Bill Koch burst upon the scene with his mantra of technology, teamwork and talent -- and one of the most massive war chests ever. The combination proved unbeatable as the rookie, who insisted on occasionally steering his own boat despite a lack of technical sailing knowledge, showed the veterans how to build a fast sailboat.

1988

Winning boat: Stars & Stripes (U.S.) | Skipper: Dennis Conner

SAN DIEGO -- The 27th defense, coming just one year after one of the best events, is widely considered to be the low point in the history of the America's Cup. Despite much disagreement over rules, boats and court decisions, this series finally ended in a rule change defining the formula for an America's Cup-Class yacht, and helped to level the playing field for future series.

1987

Winning boat: Stars & Stripes (U.S.) | Skipper: Dennis Conner

FREMANTLE, AUS. -- The first Cup contested outside of the U.S. was one of the best in the series' long history. Not only did a record number of challengers -- representing Canada, England, France, Italy, New Zealand and the United States -- turn out, but the hosts put on a spectacular show for the world. Sailors regard the 1986-87 event as the best ever because of Aussie hospitality and the challenging sailing conditions. Conner further entrenches himself in Cup lore by reclaiming the trophy for the United States.

1983

Winning boat: Australia II | Skipper: Alan Bond

NEWPORT, R.I. -- After 132 years of winning, the unthinkable finally happened: The New York Yacht Club lost the America's Cup. Although NYCC members wanted to place Dennis Conner's head on the pedestal where the Cup once rested, Sept. 26, 1983 concluded a historical series that saw Alan Bond and his Australian finally pry the Cup from American clutches.

1980

Winning boat: Freedom (U.S.) | Skipper: Dennis Conner

NEWPORT, R.I. -- Alan Bond's Australia ran into Dennis Conner, whom Ted Turner blamed for ruining the Cup, in the America's Cup finals. Conner, coming off the '76 Olympic campaign, spearheaded the most-thorough Cup effort to date. Conner's preparedness paid off in the finals when he defeated Australia, 4-1. Despite the score, the Australian crew, skippered by Sir James Hardy and including a young tactician named John Bertrand, was a worthy foe.

1977

Winning boat: Courageous (U.S.) | Skipper: Ted Turner

NEWPORT, R.I. -- Courageous, like Columbia and Intrepid before her, became the third defender to win back-to-back America's Cups. This time the flamboyant Ted "Captain Outrageous" Turner -- yes, the Atlanta Braves-owning media mogul -- was at the helm, having bested two new boats in the defender trials. Turner's victory was the last for an amateur helmsman. Year-round preparation for the next Cup, in 1980, would take it to new heights of professionalism and end the participation of the more-casual sailor, who only raced during the summer.

1974

Winning boat: Courageous (U.S.)

NEWPORT, R.I. -- Although the 1974 match itself was anticlimactic, a competitive defence elimination series and many America's Cup firsts marked this pivotal year in America's Cup history; it marked the transition from wooden to aluminium hulls; it was Australian syndicate boss Alan Bond's blustery entry into a relatively unknown sporting event that he turned into a household word nine years later; and it was the first Cup appearance for a young San Diegan named Dennis Conner ...

1970

Winning boat: Intrepid (U.S.)

NEWPORT, R.I. -- The first defense involving a challenger elimination series eventually matched the Australians against the returning defender, Intrepid. But despite the most competitive 12-Meter challenge yet, a strong team aboard the defending yacht again retained the Cup. Heated debates arose around the boats used, and the fight that ensued would only make the Australians more determined in the future.

1967

Winning boat: Intrepid (U.S.) | Skipper: Emil "Bus" Mosbacher

NEWPORT, R.I. -- Australia's second America's Cup challenge had the unfortunate luck of racing the Olin Stephens-designed Intrepid, considered by many to be the greatest 12-Meter ever built. Dame Pattie, designed by Warwick J. Hood, barely threatened Intrepid's skipper Emil "Bus" Mosbacher and his crew, and was sent home in disgrace.

1964

Winning boat: Constellation (U.S.) | Skipper: Bob Bavier

NEWPORT, R.I. -- The British returned in 1964, but were dismissed with little fight, harking back to their rout in 1958. Once again, David Boyd designed the challenger, Sovereign, which was completely outclassed by defender Constellation, designed by Olin Stephens and skippered by Bob Bavier. The closest Sovereign came was in the first race of the seven-race series, losing by five minutes, 30 seconds.

1962

Winning boat: Weatherly (U.S.)

NEWPORT, R.I. -- Australia's first challenge for the Cup planted a seed that would finally bear fruit 21 years later, when Alan Bond's Australia II would finally wrest the Cup away from the Americans. Australian media mogul Sir Frank Packer led the first of his country's many assaults on the Cup with the Alan Payne-designed 12-Meter, Gretel. But the challenge suffered from internal strife with Payne constantly modifying his design and Packer firing crew members with reckless abandon.

1958

Winning boat: Columbia (U.S.) | Skipper: Olin Stephens

NEWPORT, R.I. -- After World War II halted America's Cup racing for 21 years, the British felt their time to win had finally arrived. The new class of boat, 12-Meter, was raced actively in Britain but not the U.S. The American defenders, however, had an ace up their sleeve in the persona of Olin Stephens, whose Columbia would rout the British challenger, Sceptre, in four straight races.

1937

Winning boat: Ranger (U.S.)

NEWPORT, R.I. -- Much research and tank testing allowed the defender's design team, led by Starling Burgess, the ability to sweep Sopwith's Charles Nicholson-designed Endeavour II in four races. The design team also included the young Stephens brothers, Rod and Olin, and Professor Kenneth Davidson of the Stephens Institute of Technology, who would play a critical role in races to come.

1934

Winning boat: Rainbow (U.S.)

NEWPORT, R.I. -- British aviation pioneer Sir T.O.M. Sopwith, manufacturer of the famous World War I aircraft Sopwith Camel, turned his technological ingenuity toward the water and nearly took the Cup with him back to Britain. Sopwith built the Charles Nicholson-designed Endeavour, considered one of the best J Boats ever and easily superior to the NYYC's defender Rainbow, yet trickery and some cunning tactics on the water helped the NYYC keep the America's Cup.

1930

Winning boat: Enterprise (U.S.)

NEWPORT, R.I. -- Thirty years after his first failed challenge, the aging Sir Thomas Lipton, approaching 80 years of age, received a final thrashing. Neither the new Cup-specific boat design, the J Class, nor the new venue off Newport, R.I., could help Northern Ireland's Lipton fulfil his dream of winning the "Auld Mug," as he called the America's Cup.

1920

Winning boat: Resolute (U.S.)

NEWPORT, R.I. -- Sir Thomas Lipton returned yet again after World War I had interrupted Cup racing for 17 years and brought along his best challenge to date. Though he lost the match, Lipton's fourth challenge closed a chapter in America's Cup racing history by being the last event located in New York. It also was the final time cutters were sailed in the America's Cup finals.

1903

Winning boat: Reliance (U.S.)

NEW YORK -- Cornelius Vanderbilt and William Rockfeller, the largest industry moguls of the day, commissioned Nathanael G. "Nat" Herreshoff to design and build the defender Reliance. At 144 feet in length, Reliance was the largest yacht in America's Cup history, and easily defeated Lipton's challenger, Shamrock III.

1901

Winning boat: Columbia (U.S.)

NEW YORK -- The 20th century was ushered in by a defender from the previous century. Nat Herreshoff's 2-year-old Columbia proved faster than any newer design and was selected to defend the Cup a second time. Northern Ireland's Sir Thomas Lipton, on the other hand, commissioned veteran designer George L. Watson to create the 135-foot Shamrock II. To research his fourth Cup challenger, Watson introduced the technique of tank testing, which mainly had been used to test ships.

1899

Winning boat: Columbia (U.S.)

NEW YORK -- The 10th America's Cup defense marked the beginning of Sir Thomas Lipton's long and colorful participation in the revered regatta. But the outcome became a recurring nightmare for the beloved "Tea King" from Northern Ireland, who mounted a record five straight unsuccessful challenges for what he affectionately termed the "Auld Mug."

1895

Winning boat: Defender (U.S.)

NEW YORK -- Nathanael G. "Nat" Herreshoff designed William K. Vanderbilt's aptly named Defender, while George L. Watson designed Lord Dunraven's English challenger Valkyrie III. The series is officially recorded as a 3-0 victory for Defender, although it won just one race on the water. The other two victories were awarded by the race committee after Lord Dunraven refused to compete.

1893

Winning boat: Vigilant (U.S.)

NEW YORK -- Nathanael G. "Nat" Herreshoff, considered by many as the father of modern sailboat design, made his debut at this Cup defense with Vigilant. Vigilant was the first of six Cup defenders designed by the "Wizard of Bristol." Although Lord Dunraven's British challenge Valkyrie II failed to win a race from Vigilant, it put up a tremendous fight in the closest series to date.

1887

Winning boat: Volunteer (U.S.)

NEW YORK -- Secrecy became an America's Cup tradition began with the challenge of Scotland's Thistle. Designer George L. Watson felt he had created innovations with his hull, keel and rudder, and shrouded the 109-foot hull with canvas tarpaulins. Above the waterline both ships appeared remarkably similar, and the precedent that mattered most -- winning -- remained intact. New York's defender Volunteer came from behind in Race 1 and beat Thistle by 19 minutes, and then completed the seventh successful defense of the Cup in Race 2 when it led from start to finish.

1886

Winning boat: Mayflower (U.S.)

NEW YORK -- The centerboard cutter Mayflower, and others like her, was characterized as a "skimming dish" due to her broad beam and shallow draft. The configuration, however, proved fast as the 100-foot boat (owned by the Boston-based Paine syndicate) sent the lavish 103-foot cutter Galatea -- which featured rugs, potted plants, drapes and mirrors -- back to England, defeated, after two races.

1885

Winning boat: Puritan (U.S.)

NEW YORK -- In the second America's Cup defense featuring cutters, the 94-foot defender Puritan, designed by Edward Burgess, defeated Genesta, designed by J. Beavor Webb and owned by Sir Richard Sutton. A plea from the British challenge to race officials after Race 1, however, gave the United States an unexpected opportunity and the closest race in Cup history.

1881

Winning boat: Mischief (U.S.)

NEW YORK -- The 68-foot cutter Mischief, owned by NYYC member Joseph Busk of England and designed by A. Carey Smith, quickly dispatched a second challenge from a Canadian yacht, winning 2-0. The challenger, the 70-foot Atalanta representing the Bay of Quinte YC, was designed by Alexander Cuthbert, who also owned the boat.

1876

Winning boat: Madeleine (U.S.)

NEW YORK -- The third challenge for the Cup was no match for the NYYC's defender, Madeleine. The challenger, the Canada's Countess of Dufferin, marks this race by not only being the last challenger to sail a schooner, but also by being the first challenger to begin a race underway.

1871

Winning boat: Columbia (U.S.)

NEW YORK -- The centerboard schooner Columbia, designed and built by J.B. Van Deusen, and a second schooner, Sappho, from the board of C. & R. Poillon, easily defeated a second English challenge from James Ashbury and Michael Ratsey's schooner Livonia.

1870

Winning boat: Magic (U.S.)

NEW YORK -- With the modern rules early in the evolutionary stages, the first defense of the America's Cup was a single 35-mile race off New York. A fleet 14 sailboats from the NYYC defended against England's Cambria, owned by James Ashbury. The 84-foot schooner Magic easily defeated the 113-foot schooner Cambria -- the lone foreign entry -- which finished 10th overall.

1851

Winning boat: America (U.S.)

COWES, ENGLAND -- Sailed to England as an exhibit from the New York Yacht Club for the first World's Fair, the schooner America entered into a race around the Isle of Wight in an effort to win a silver ewer, valued at 100 pounds, from Britain's Royal Yacht Squadron. On Aug. 22, 1851, the low black schooner easily won the contest by defeating 14 other yachts. What would become the America's Cup belonged to the NYYC for the next 132 years.