1995 Louis Vuitton Cup

The 4th Louis Vuitton Cup was held in San Diego, United States in 1995. The winner, Team New Zealand, went on to challenge for and win the 1995 America's Cup.

4th Louis Vuitton Cup
Date 12 January 1995 – 21 April 1995
Winner Team New Zealand
Location San Diego, United States

The teams

Originally ten challengers from seven nations submitted bids to compete for the 1995 Louis Vuitton Cup. However Il Moro di Venezia collapsed after the death of its director Raul Gardini. The Challenger of Record Committee then eliminated a Russian bid after it missed several deadlines and the French challenge representing Yacht Club d'Antibes withdrew even though its yacht Harmony was almost completed.[1]

Club Team Skipper Yachts
Royal New Zealand Yacht SquadronTeam New Zealand Russell CouttsNZL-32 & NZL-38 [2]
Southern Cross Yacht ClubOne Australia John BertrandAUS-31 & AUS-35
Cruising Yacht Club of AustraliaSydney 95 Syd FischerAUS-29
Monte Real Club de Yates de BayonaSpanish Challenge Pedro Campos Calvo-SoteloESP-42
Yacht Club de SèteFrance America 95 Marc PajotFRA-33 & FRA-37
Nippon Yacht ClubNippon Challenge Makoto NambaJPN-30 & JPN-41
Tutukaka South Pacific Yacht ClubTag Heuer Challenge Chris DicksonNZL-39

Team New Zealand

Team New Zealand represented the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron and was headed by Peter Blake. The skipper was Russell Coutts and the crew included Brad Butterworth, Tom Schnackenberg, Murray Jones, Tony Rae, Kevin Shoebridge and Craig Monk.[3]

The team was the second challenge from the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron but built on the work of three previous challengers since 1987. Co-designed by Doug Peterson and Laurie Davidson, their boat showed a significant jump forward in speed. In sea trials against New Zealand's 1992 entry, NZL-20, a very good boat at the 1992 Cup, the new black boat easily outpaced it. Recalled boat Doug Peterson, "That first day Brad Butterworth came back and said, 'My god, it's like a different class of boat.' "[4] The team finished with an official record of 41–2 and led 93% of the 260 legs it competed in.[5]

One Australia
Main article: oneAustralia

One Australia was skippered by John Bertrand, the winner of the 1983 America's Cup. The syndicate won the 1994 IACC World Championship with AUS-31. AUS-35 was then constructed through a partnership agreement with the Australian Challenge – a deal that, it was claimed, violated the two boats per syndicate rule.[6] However the boat was allowed to compete in the 1995 Louis Vuitton Cup. She performed well until halfway through its match race of 5 March 1995, when it suddenly broke in half in heavy seas and sank within two minutes.[7] She was the first America's Cup contender ever (144 years) to lose a match race by shipwreck. The crew survived, and reverted to their second boat, AUS-31 for the rest of the regatta. They still made the Louis Vuitton Cup final, where they lost to Team New Zealand 5–1.

The crew included Adam Beashel, navigator Andrew Cape,[8] Iain Murray, Matt Mitchell,[9] Billy Bates, Mark Richards, Alan Smith,[10] Don McCracken and Rod Davis.[11][12][13] The backup helmsman was David Barnes

Sydney 95

The Syd Fischer challenge from Sydney, this was Fischer's fourth America's Cup entrant. The team made frequent changes to its afterguard during the Cup and finished with a 19–5 record, finishing last on points. The crew included Chris Law and mainsail trimmer and tactician Neal McDonald.[14]

Spanish Challenge

Copa America '95 Desafio Español was the last team to arrive in San Diego. The team was restrained financially and could not build on the 1992 campaign. The team only had one boat, ESP-42, and finished with a 3–21 record.

France America 95

From Yacht Club de Sete and skippered by Marc Pajot, France America '95 failed to live up to expectations in 1995. France 2 (FRA-33) was damaged while it was being launched in December 1994 and then the keel fell off in February while it was testing a new sail. France 3 (FRA-37) was then demasted in the last round robin. The crew included Bertrand Pace, Jan Dekker, Yann Gouniot, Christian Karcher and Bernard Labro,[15] and Harold Cudmore was an advisor.[16]

Nippon Challenge

Nippon Challenge built on the 1992 campaign to enter two teams in the 1994 IACC World Championships and have a strong team in the 1995 Cup. Nippon had a 9–9 record sailing with JPN-30 before finishing the round robin in JPN-41 with a 2–4 record. Nippon Challenge then went 0–11 in the Semi finals to finish with an 11–24 overall record. The helmsman was John Cutler and the crew included Peter Evans, Chris Mason and Guy Barron.[17]

Tag Heuer Challenge

Tutukaka Challenge was run on a shoe string budget that saw the team nearly not make it to San Diego until the intervention of Tag Heuer. The team was led by Chris Dickson and the crew included Peter Lester, Mike Sanderson, Kelvin Harrap, Gavin Brady, Grant Loretz, Chris Salthouse, Brad Webb,[18] and Denis Kendall. The team finished with a 24–12 record, making the semi-finals.

Round robin

Four round robin series (RR1-RR4) were held. During Round Robin 1 a team scored 1 point per win, during RR2 a team scored 2 points per win, during RR3 a team scored 4 points per win and during RR4 a team scored 5 points per win.

Team name Races Won RR1 Pts. RR2 Pts. RR3 Pts. RR4 Pts. Total Pts. Ranking
Team New Zealand 24 23 6 10 24 30 70 1
One Australia 24 17 3 10 20 20* 53 2
Tag Heuer Challenge 24 17 5 8 16 20 49 3
Nippon Challenge 24 11 4 6 8 10 28 4
France America '95 24 8 1 6 8 10 25 5
Spanish Challenge 24 3 0 0 4 10 14 6
Sydney 95 24 5 2 2 4 5 13 7

*One Australia's boat AUS-35 sunk when racing Team New Zealand during RR4 and they were left with only AUS-31.[19][20]

Finals

Semi finals
Team name Races Won Ranking
Team New Zealand 11 9 1
One Australia 11 7 2
Tag Heuer Challenge 11 6 3
Nippon Challenge 11 0 4

Final
Team Name 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 T
Team New Zealand W (4:55)W (1:57)W (2:26)LW (3:04)W (2:13)---5
One Australia LLLW (0:15)LL---1
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References
  1. Bill Center. America's Cup '95: The Official Record. Hong Kong, Tehabi Books, 1995. ISBN 0-7900-0442-9 p.34
  2. "1995 Syndicates and Yachts:Black Magic". America's Cup.
  3. http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/2724322/Black-Magic-to-take-its-place-in-Blake-memorial
  4. Swift, E.M. (22 May 1995). "A Clean Sweep". Sports Illustrated.
  5. Bill Center. America's Cup '95: The Official Record. Hong Kong, Tehabi Books, 1995. ISBN 0-7900-0442-9 p.37
  6. Bill Center. America's Cup '95: The Official Record. Hong Kong, Tehabi Books, 1995. ISBN 0-7900-0442-9 p.38
  7. Lloyd, Barbara (6 March 1995). "Yacht Splinters and Sinks in America's Cup Race". The New York Times.
  8. http://www.boats.com/reviews/boats/swiss-team-for-americas-cup-announced/#.WW_H8FFLftQ
  9. http://tvnz.co.nz/americas-cup-team-news/oracle-usa-5456412
  10. http://www.sail-world.com/NZ/Prada--OneWorld-=-Luna-Rossa-Challenge/14969
  11. "Cruising World". January 1995.
  12. http://www.sfgate.com/sports/article/%5B%5D
  13. https://www.nytimes.com/1995/03/06/us/yacht-racing-yacht-splinters-and-sinks-in-america-s-cup-race.html
  14. "Neal McDonald joins Victory Challenge". Yachts and Yachting Online. Retrieved 1 August 2017.
  15. http://www.cupinfo.com/en/alinghi-press4.php
  16. https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/sailing-australian-sinking-makes-waves-1610305.html
  17. http://www.americaone.org/news/scuttlebutt/brits.html
  18. http://oracleracingblog.blogspot.co.nz/2010/01/sailor-profile-brad-webb.html
  19. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 15 November 2009. Retrieved 3 November 2009.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  20. "1995 Syndicates and Yachts: One Australia". The America's Cup.
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