America's Cup races are held in open water off Newport, R. I. Seven races are scheduled from July 31 but the series ends as soon as a boat has won four. First, third, fifth and seventh races are sailed over a back-and-forth course of two straight 15 nautical-mile legs. The other races take place on a 30-mile triangular course, like the one mapped here. (On such a course, Ranger this year broke all cup records, finishing in 2 hours, 43 minutes.) A following fleet of nearly 1,000 craft will carry some 20,000 spectators.
The race presented in these pages is the one which decided the 1934 series and kept the America's Cup in America. It was sailed on September 25 in a moderate breeze. Endeavour I footed down the first leg well ahead of Rainbow. But after coming about, Sopwith violated a basic rule of racing tactics. With his boat faster, he should have stayed close to Rainbow, protected his lead by covering his opponent. Instead, when he crossed her bow, he sailed off on another tack, delayed replacing Genoa jib with quadrilateral. He lost almost four minutes through his mistakes. Not even Endeavor's amazing last-leg spurt could make this up. Rainbow won by 55 seconds.