Shortly after winning the Sydney Hobart Race for the third time, the maxi-yacht Comanche has been sold by its current owners, Jim Cooney and his wife Samantha Grant, to Russian interests.  Perhaps, oddly enough, the transaction brought to mind the yacht America of 1851.

International yacht racing has traditionally been a sport for the rich. The cliche that a yacht is a hole in the water into which the owner pours money, is often repeated because it is, more often than not, highly accurate.

In rare cases, however, there are exceptions. One such example was the syndicated formed by John Cox Stevens, the founder and first commodore of the New York Yacht Club. The idea was to build a racing yacht to show off U.S. shipbuilding skill and to make money through competing in yachting regattas. 

The design of the schooner America was based on George Steers’ pilot boat designs, whose concave waterlines were influenced by the designs of American clipper ships. On August 22, 1851, America won the Royal Yacht Squadron’s 53-mile (85 km) regatta around the Isle of Wight by 18 minutes and was awarded the squadron’s “One Hundred Sovereign Cup.” 

What does this have to do with the sale of Comanche ? Just as Comanche was sold shortly after her recent Sydney Hobart race, so too was the schooner yacht America sold within weeks of winning the One Hundred Sovereign Cup to John de Blaquiere, 2nd Baron de Blaquiere. I am not aware of any record of the transaction, but it was rumored that Stevens and his investors netted a tidy profit in the deal. Stevens and his team sailed home with the cup which would subsequently be known as the America’s Cup. 

In the first America’s Cup challenge race of 1870, the famous schooner was one of the competitors. After passing through several owners, including a short career as a Confederate blockade runner during the Civil War, schooner America was owned by the US Navy in the first America’s Cup race.  The schooner came in 6th overall.