On 10 June, four men who have made outstanding contributions to the America's Cup will be inducted into the America's Cup Hall of Fame during a festive ceremony.
This year's honourees are the New Zealander Brad Butterworth, the Americans Tom Whidden and Hank Haff and the Briton William Fife III.
Bradley William Butterworth (born 1959) has been a tactician on three winning boats alone: in 1995 and 2000 on New Zealand's "Black Magic" and most recently in 2003 on the Swiss "Alinghi". He set a new record last year by winning 15 consecutive Cup races.
William Fife III (1857 to 1944) was the designer of two yachts with which Sir Thomas Lipton attempted to wrest the Cup from the Americans at the beginning of the last century. Together with George L. Watson, Fife dominated the design of large sailing yachts in Great Britain for many years.
Henry Coleman Haff (1837 to 1906) won the America's Cup like no other sailor. Between 1881 and 1895, he took part in four regattas, either as skipper or tactician. To date, only Nathanael G. Herreshoff, C. Oliver Iselin and Dennis Conner can boast the same number of successful Cup participations.
Thomas A. Whidden (born 1948) was one of the most successful Cup participants in the 1980s. In 1980, 1987 and 1988, alongside Dennis Conner, he helped to keep the Cup in America and bring it back to the States after it was temporarily lost to Australia.
The current members of the America's Cup Hall of Fame are:
Charles Francis Adams, James L. Ashbury, Charles Barr, J. Burr Bartram, Robert N. Bavier, Jr, John Bertrand, Baron Marcel Bich, Sir Peter Blake, Alan Bond, Dick Brown, Edward Burgess, W. Starling Burgess, Malin Burnham, James E. Buttersworth, William F. Carstens, Dennis Conner, Russell Coutts, Briggs S. Cunningham, Sir Michael Fay, William P. Ficker, Sir James Hardy, Nathanael G. Herreshoff, F. E. "Ted" Hood, Chandler Hovey, Sherman Hoyt, C. Oliver Iselin, Gary Jobson, Arthur Knapp, Jr, William I. Koch, Sir Thomas J. Lipton, Harry "Buddy" Melges, Edward I. du Moulin, E.D. Morgan, Henry Sturgis Morgan, Emil "Bus" Mosbacher, Jr, Frank J. Murdoch, Charles E. Nicholson, Sir Frank Packer, General Charles J. Paine, Victor A. Romagna, Morris Rosenfeld, Stanley Rosenfeld, Tom Schnackenberg, George L. Schuyler, Henry Sears, T.O.M. Sopwith, George Steers, John Cox Stevens, Olin J. Stephens, II, Roderick Stephens, Jr, R. E. "Ted" Turner, Harold S. Vanderbilt, Gertrude Vanderbilt, George L. Watson, The Earl of Wilton.
Pascal Schürmann
Editor YACHT
