Louis Vuitton Cup

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Louis Vuitton Cup is one of the most famous and prestigious competitions in the sport of yachting simply because of its relationship to the America's Cup. For a challenger to win the America's Cup, the challenger must first win the Louis Vuitton Cup by defeating other challengers to earn the right for a match against the defender of the Cup.

1 History
2 Today
3 Louis Vuitton Cup winners
4 External links

[edit] History

In 1970, for the first time in America's Cup history, multiple international challengers competed for the right to challenge the New York Yacht Club, the defender of the America's Cup (the key word being "international", in 1964, for example, two British challengers competed for the right to challenge the NYYC.) The multiple international challenger format continues to this day. For the 1983 Cup match, Louis Vuitton offered a trophy for the winner of the challenger selection series. The idea of the LV Cup is generally credited to Bruno Trouble, a French yachtsman. Ever since then (except in 1988), the Louis Vuitton trophy has been awarded to the winner of the challenger series.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Today

The Louis Vuitton Cup hosts 13 "Acts" of competition, with the first 3 acts not awarding points toward rankings. Some challengers do not enter the competition by the start of the acts. Rules for the current races (2005–2007) stipulate that ranking points awarded for each act of competition will increase as they get closer to the final. For acts taking place in 2005, standard points were awarded, with 11 ranking points for a first place finish, and points awarded decreasing based on placing. Acts in 2006 double the points, with 22 ranking points for first place, and the final act 13 which takes place in 2007 will award triple points, giving 33 points to the winner.

[edit] Louis Vuitton Cup winners

Year	Winning vessel		Location
2003	Alinghi	Switzerland	Auckland, New Zealand
2000	Prada	Italy	Auckland, New Zealand
1995	Black Magic	New Zealand	San Diego, United States
1992	Il Moro di Venezia	Italy	San Diego, United States
1987	Stars and Stripes '87	United States	Fremantle, Australia
1983	Australia II	Australia	Newport, United States