Vancouver-Seattle sailing feud ends with Alexandra Cup

by Yvonne Zacharias on 20 Oct 2010 A century-long spat between Seattle and Vancouver officially comes to a glorious end on the peaceful waters of English Bay this weekend where two ancient, venerable sailboats will compete for a large, shiny, ornate piece of hardware known as the Alexandra Cup.

Such is the perfidy of human nature that battles can brew for an entire century.

After the United States won the first race in 1907 and Canada won in 1908, the big blow-up occurred in 1909 when Seattle's sailboat exceeded the 29-foot rule, so Vancouver packed up its boats and came home in a huff.

However, the good relationship between the Royal Vancouver Yacht Club and the Seattle Yacht Club has mended the rift. And the race is back on. Although the two clubs raced in 2008, this weekend's event is considered the first 'official' Alexandra Cup challenge as complex charter issues have been resolved in the intervening two years and vintage boats are back on the water for the first time.

So arcane are the rules governing nautical races that the Cup trustees had to track down a descendant of the Cup's originator, Lord Dunsmuir, who was B.C.'s governor-general. We're talking a more than 100-year interval here. That descendant turned out to be none other than Michael Audain, chairman of Polygon Homes, who was happy to rededicate the Cup on behalf of his family.

Read the entire story on the http://www.vancouversun.com/sports/Vancouver+Seattle+sailing+feud+ends+with+Alexandra/3678172/story.html!Vancouver_Sun website.