Description: HAROLD WYLLIE
Great Britain, 1880-1973
The 1930 America's Cup off Newport - Shamrock V and Enterprise. Circa 1930. Signed lower left.

Provenance:
Ulster Museum, National Museums of Northern Ireland, Ulster, Ireland.
N.R. Omell Gallery, London.
The current owner.

The 1930 America's Cup was the first to be held off Newport, Rhode Island, and was the first to be raced in J-Class yachts. Sir Thomas Lipton offered his fifth and final challenge on behalf of the Royal Ulster Yacht Club with Shamrock V , built by Camper Nicholson. The defender Enterprise was built by Nathaniel Herreshoff, with the first duraluminum mast, which was significantly lighter than Shamrock V 's wooden mast. Shamrock V had an outstanding racing season during the summer of 1930, winning fifteen races and coming in second in four more, and she crossed the Atlantic with a great deal of expectation. The races began in hazy conditions off Newport and Enterprise , skippered by Harold Vanderbilt, won the first two races easily, but in the third race Shamrock V was leading until she lost her main halyard and had to be towed back to port. In the fourth race Enterprise won by nearly six minutes and retained the America's Cup.

Oil on canvas, 28" x 36". Framed 34" x 42.25".