America's Cup Hall of Fame Induction - Images from the Model Room
by America's Cup Hall of Fame/Sail-World on 20 Nov 2016
The Hall of Fame induction was held at the New York Yacht Club's magnificent Model Room. Measuring forty-five feet wide and ninety-six feet deep, the Model Room holds most of the Club’s collection of approximately 1,300 models—including fully-rigged models of Cup challengers and defenders. The galleon-style bay windows and the carvings of dolphins, shells, and clouds punctuated with lightning bolts, create the impression, as one visitor observed, that “except for the absence of motion, one might fancy oneself at sea.” - Hall of Fame induction for Ernesto Bertarelli Alinghi and Lord Dunraven Carlo Borlenghi /
www.carloborlenghi.com
The America's Cup Hall of Fame inducted two competitors for the most prestigious trophy in Sailing at a function at the New York Yacht Club's Model Room on October 21, 2016.
These images by renowned photographer Carlo Borlenghi capture the essence of the ceremony, as well as capturing the spectacle and ambience of the hallowed Model Room at its finest.
There were two Inductees into the America’s Cup Hall of Fame Ernesto Bertarelli and Lord Dunraven.
Ernesto Bertarelli, two-time winner of the Cup, in 2003 and 2007, and competitor in 2010; and the late fourth Earl of Dunraven, Cup challenger in 1893 and 1895.
The America’s Cup Hall of Fame was founded in 1992, as an arm of the Herreshoff Marine Museum by Halsey Herreshoff, a four-time America's Cup defender and grandson of legendary yacht designer Nathanael G. Herreshoff. Over eighty legends of the Cup have been inducted into the Hall.
Candidates eligible for consideration include members of the crew, designers, builders, syndicate leaders, supporters, chroniclers, and other individuals of merit. Each nominee is judged on the basis of outstanding ability, international recognition, character, performance, and contributions to the sport. The members of the Selection Committee are persons intimate with the history and traditions of America's Cup and committed to the integrity of the Hall of Fame.
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Ernesto Bertarelli (Switzerland) b. 1965
As founder, owner, and crew member of the first Cup boats from Switzerland, all named Alinghi, Bertarelli won the America's Cup in Auckland, New Zealand in 2003, and defended it successfully in Valencia, Spain in 2007. In 2010, at Valencia, in the first Cup match between two multihulls, Alinghi’s winning streak came to end.
Bertarelli sailed aboard his Cup yachts continuing the Cup tradition of owner-sailors that have included Harold Vanderbilt, T.O.M. Sopwith, and Ted Turner. Bertarelli competed in all the races in the 31st, 32nd, and 33rd America's Cup matches in several roles, including navigator, afterguard member, backstay trimmer, and, in 2010, as helmsman.
As the first Cup winner from continental Europe, he took the Cup back to Europe and produced the 32nd America's Cup in Valencia, which was among the most successful events in the competition’s post-war history: the event hosted more challengers than any other with the exception of the 1987 Cup and it witnessed exciting races including Alinghi’s thrilling, one-second victory over Emirates Team New Zealand in the final race.
Bertarelli's vision for the America's Cup clearly broke boundaries: he organized the first Louis Vuitton Acts (now called the Louis Vuitton America’s Cup World Series), a series of regattas for the challengers and the defender, which toured venues in Europe. This format allowed Cup crews to sharpen their skills and it also helped raise and maintain the public’s awareness of the America’s Cup during the years leading-up to the challenger selection series.
The 33rd Match in 2010, beset by legal challenges, was eventually decided on the water by gigantic multihulls, the fastest Cup yachts ever built up to that time, with Alinghi losing the Cup to BMW Oracle Racing.
Alongside his achievements in other highly competitive circuits, Ernesto Bertarelli demonstrated a depth of ability to build talented teams and a remarkable determination to win. He has created a new winning tradition in Swiss sailing and has both inspired and invested in the next generation of his nation’s sailors.
Windham Thomas Wyndham-Quin, fourth Earl of Dunraven and Mount-Earl (Great Britain) (1841-1926)
Lord Dunraven was an Oxford graduate, cavalry officer, war correspondent, adventurer, big game hunter, politician, racehorse owner and yachtsman. A fully qualified yacht captain and helmsman, he did much to encourage yacht racing and the advance of yacht design. He was also a prolific yacht owner with myriad small racing yachts, Big Class racers, cruisers, and power yachts.
In 1893, Lord Dunraven challenged the Cup’s holder, the New York Yacht Club. During the negotiations over the conditions of the match, Dunraven achieved the concession to drop one of the mandatory courses used in previous matches: the notorious Inside Course, riddled with shoals and strong currents that favored the defender. From that point on, only an ocean course, free from headlands and largely clear of shoals, was used for the races, leveling the playing field in one respect.
Dunraven hired the brilliant George L. Watson to design his contender, Valkyrie II. While she was out-sailed by the defending Vigilant, the first Herreshoff Cup defender, the races attracted vast crowds and increased the popularity of the Cup as a sporting spectacle. The last race in the series was one of the most exciting in America’s Cup history, with Vigilant trailing for many miles until finally overtaking Valkyrie II near the finish, winning by just 40 seconds on corrected time—the closest Cup race up to that time.
Having caught “America’s Cup fever”, Dunraven returned in 1895 with another Watson design, Valkyrie III, a pioneer of the modern challenger that was better adapted to local racing conditions. But the race series descended into acrimony by misunderstandings and disagreements between the competitors. The spectator fleet had grown to unmanageable proportions and was perceived as a major problem by the challenger. A minor collision in the second race for which Valkyrie III was found to be at fault led Dunraven to withdraw from the series. Thereafter he made increasingly intemperate accusations, and the contentious match made headlines for all the wrong reasons.
However, Dunraven’s two campaigns for the Cup raised the level of Cup racing and were directly responsible for ushering in the Cup’s classic golden age from Sir Thomas Lipton’s challenges to those of T.O.M. Sopwith.
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