From Kaiser to cruiser – the history of sailing

The history of the famous America’s Cup, probably the most important trophy in sailing, goes right back to the year 1851. After a regatta around the Isle of Wight in south England, the yacht America from the New York Yacht Club won and gave the bottomless ewer, as the America’s Cup is called, its name. For 132 years, the East Coast of the USA remained the cup’s home. Time and again, famous names with impressive sailing vessels challenged the cup’s defenders, the New York Yacht Club. Thomas Lipton was one of the challengers and must be one of the best losers of all time. He tried to win the cup a total of five times between 1899 and 1930 and lost five times with his yacht, Shamrock. However, it did have the effect of making his Lipton Tea very well known. Harold S. Vanderbilt, from the famous American railway dynasty, fared no better. He competed three times in the 1930s and lost three times. As Dennis Connor, one of the most famous sailors in the world, became the first American to lose the America’s Cup to the crew of the Australian businessman Alan Bond in 1983, it was a national tragedy for the USA. Alongside Australia and the USA, today the America’s Cup is dominated above all by New Zealand. Switzerland was the only European country to win the cup in 2003 with the Alinghi Team. Ironically with New Zealand skipper Russell Coutts, who had already nabbed the cup twice for New Zealand. Nowadays, the cup competition is raced on modern foiling, almost flying, catamarans 15 metres long. For the next America’s Cup, the 36th, a new type of boat has been developed. Foiling (floating on runners) monohulls which sweep over the water at 30 knots. The final will be held in December 2020 in Auckland.

But for fans and sailors, it wasn’t the boats that made the Olympics interesting but the sailors themselves. Paul Elvström, whose sailmakers have been providing perfect sails to Bavaria Yachts for over 40 years, took part in the Olympics eight times between 1948 and 1988. He won five gold medals for Denmark and ended twice unluckily without a medal in fourth place. That makes Paul Elvström one of the most successful sailors of all time. Today’s head of Elvström Sails, Jespar Bank, has also competed in the Olympics, winning two gold medals and one bronze medal. In July 2020 at the Japan Olympic Games, 350 sailors in ten boat classes will compete for gold, silver and bronze.

In the middle of the last century it was already becoming clear that sailing is not just a sport for the rich, but for everyone. Both the class associations which represent the interests of individual boat classes and sailing clubs continued to gain members. At the coast, on rivers and on lakes, people set sail for small and large regattas or simply to enjoy sailing. Some trained hard for regattas, others wanted to explore the world on cruises.

Unfortunately, regattas don’t last 90 minutes and don’t take place in a stadium. But they are a combination of high‐performance sport and chess on the water; an old insight which is simultaneously both the joy and the woe of sailing. Spectators and the media can only get an idea of what’s happening on the water with great effort put into video technology. On the other hand, regatta sailing is not only a question of fitness and stamina, but also requires experience and the right tactics. Today, those who are only interested in tactics can take part in plenty of international virtual regattas on the computer, tablet or smartphone. Whether it’s the Ocean Race around the world or Kiel Week.

Sailing is still an adventure. Boris Hermann can confirm that. The young skipper, who sailed Greta Thunberg across the Atlantic to the climate change conference last summer, is currently preparing for one of the greatest challenges in sailing. He is aiming to sail non‐stop single‐handed around the world in the Vendee Globe Race. That means being alone at sea for almost 80 days and sailing around all the world’s capes. He will need to be able to perform every change of sail with his eyes closed – though he won’t be able to indulge himself by closing his eyes that often. The Vendee Globe begins in November 2020.