The original schooner America was the winner of the Royal Yacht Squadron's race round the Isle of Wight for a Cup of One Hundred Sovereigns in August 1851. Watching America sail in first place past the Royal Yacht, Queen Victoria famously asked: ‘Who came second?’
"Your Majesty, there is no second," was the reply.
Those words are perhaps the best description of the America's Cup, and how it represents the singular pursuit of excellence. Beyond the world of yachting, that first race was symbolic of the shifting fortunes of the world’s leading nations at the time.
Sadly, the original America was crushed by a heavy fall of snow landing on its boathouse roof in 1942.
Our America was commissioned in 1967 and built in Maine by an America’s Cup enthusiast as a replica of the original yacht.
Schooner America today
America is owned by Schooner America Limited which is ultimately owned by the Hukka Trust of New Zealand, which supports philanthropic projects for young people, and managed by a Swiss company, Midsummer Shipping SA. America is registered in Bermuda and carries a British flag. She is currently moored in Barcelona, where she sailed in July 2005 from her previous base in Malta.
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