The 1958

America's Cup The America's Cup, informally known as the Auld Mug, is a trophy awarded in the sport of sailing. It is the oldest international competition still operating in any sport. America's Cup match races are held between two sailing yachts: one f ...

marked the first Cup match sailed in

12-metre class The 12 Metre class is a rating class for racing sailboats that are designed to the International rule. It enables fair competition between boats that rate in the class whilst retaining the freedom to experiment with the details of their designs. ...

yachts. Twenty years had passed since the last Cup match, held between immense Universal Rule

J-class yacht A J-Class yacht (sometimes called a "J-boat") is a single-masted racing yacht built to the specifications of Nathanael Herreshoff's Universal Rule. The J-Class are considered the peak racers of the era when the Universal Rule determined eligibi ...

s in 1937 besides

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, and the

New York Yacht Club The New York Yacht Club (NYYC) is a private social club and yacht club based in New York City and Newport, Rhode Island. It was founded in 1844 by nine prominent sportsmen. The members have contributed to the sport of yachting and yacht design. ...

sought a more affordable alternative to restart interest in the Cup. In 1956

Henry Sears Henry Sears (1913 – March 1982) was an American commander and a commodore of the New York Yacht Club who competed in the America's Cup and discovered multiple species of marine fish. Early life Sears began sailing at the age of eight. As a ...

led an effort advancing class yachts. The

Royal Yacht Squadron The Royal Yacht Squadron (RYS) is a British yacht club. Its clubhouse is Cowes Castle on the Isle of Wight in the United Kingdom. Member yachts are given the suffix RYS to their names, and are permitted (with the appropriate warrant) to we ...

of Great Britain agreed to challenge with a new 12-metre, ''Sceptre''. The New York Yacht Club defended with theirs, ''Columbia'', winning the Cup in a four-race sweep.

Defender Series

Four yachts competed in a summer long regatta to determine which the NYYC would name as defender, ''Columbia'' (US-16), a new Olin Stephens boat, ''Weatherly'' (US-17), ''Easterner'' (US-18), and the

Olin Stephens Olin James Stephens II (April 13, 1908 – September 13, 2008) was an American yacht designer. Stephens was born in New York City, but spent his summers with his brother Rod, learning to sail on the New England coast. He also attended the Massa ...

designed ''Vim'' (US-15) from 1939. ''Columbia'' was chosen after a very close set of races resulted in only beating the 19-year-old ''Vim'' by 12 seconds in the final competition.

The Races

References

External links

Columbia article at AC-Cyclopaedia

Sceptre article at AC-Cyclopaedia

Current owner of Columbia in Newport, RI

''Sceptre'' Preservation Society

America's Cup Competitions

{{America'sCup

1958 Events January * January 1 – The European Economic Community (EEC) comes into being. * January 3 – The West Indies Federation is formed. * January 4 ** Edmund Hillary's Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition completes the third ...

A 1958 in American sports 12-metre class