The oldest international sporting competition, the America's Cup, was born 159 years ago in 1851. Amongst the spectators was Queen Victoria (above - also see story in post below) who asked who came second and was told "there was no second."Named after the first winner, the yacht America, the prize is the more correctly called R.Y.S £100 cup, though engraved in the inaccurate 100 guinea cup (thanks Wikipedia).
And this year there will be a friendly re-match, with the UK's Team Origin challenging BMW Oracle on the same course around the Isle of Wight as part of the Round the Island race.
It'll give a chance to see Ben Ainslie go up against Jimmy Spithill, though using ACC designs not wing sails. There is alas no "Concorde" style super yacht being designed somewhere on the shores of the Solent.
More from the Sunday Times here.
