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The Road to the America's Cup

Known as yachting's Holy Grail, the Cup's original home is Cowes, England, home of the Royal Yacht Squadron.

The British did not hold on to the Cup for long. First contested in 1851, it was won by the 'America', owned by a wealthy syndicate from New York.

At the turn of the millennium, New Zealand played host to 11 syndicates from seven nations, and defeated its challenger, Prada of Italy.

The sheer expense of competing kept New Zealand out of the Cup arena for many years. The events of the mid-1980s changed all that when the Australians, with their wing-keeled 12-metre yacht, Australia II, won the Cup in Newport, Rhode Island.

Suddenly, the Cup moved closer to home. As the fleet prepared for the Fremantle contest in 1986-87, everybody except the New Zealanders followed the established formula of building 12-metre yachts in aluminium.

	Team New Zealand in the 12-Metre Grand Prix
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New Zealand's next Cup attempt also broke the mould when the New Zealand Challenge nominated a 90ft waterline yacht, not the 12-metre class that had been used in all the post World War Two matches.

	USA's Stars and Stripes catamaran and New Zealand's KZ1 – a fundamental mismatch.
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These modern racers, with their space-age materials and huge, fully-battened mainsails, are much more in keeping with the Cup's image as the leading event in match race sailing.

San Diego 1992 marked the inauguration of this new breed. The New Zealand challenge built four boats, one of which was radically different from any others of that generation.

Though the New Zealanders looked poised to win the right to sail for the America's Cup, they were beaten by the Italians.

Their next chance was 1995, which saw the dawn of the Black Magic era, led by the late Sir Peter Blake. Blake's Team New Zealand, with Tom Schnackenberg leading the design team, defined the kind of boat they wanted; nothing too radical, no breakthrough gimmicks. Highly refined, minutely detailed and meticulously planned.

	Team New Zealand Trial Racing 2000
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