Yacht America - 1851

America
22 August 1851: The history of the Americas Cup began during the Great Exhibition of London. A regatta between the British Empire and the United States of America was staged as the 100 Guinea Cup to serve as definitive proof of the British Empire's technological leadership.

Inaugurated by Queen Victoria, the race was staged around the Isle of Wight. The schooner "America" defeated 14 yacht from the British Royal Fleet, finishing eight miles ahead.

America was modeled on the state-of-the-art pilot ships of New York Harbor, and astonished people from the moment she arrived in Europe. Her reversed bow, like a Clipper-ship, her tin plating, and her sails of vertical layers of cotton, laced to the masts, had never been seen before.