Whether TV mogul Ted Turner, "Mr America's Cup" Dennis Conner, Great Britain's Prime Minister Edward Heath, the German father of sailing Hans-Otto Schümann, New Zealand's legendary circumnavigator Sir Peter Blake or five-time America's Cup winner and SailGP conductor Sir Russell Coutts - the most famous sailors of their time have helped shape the Amiral's Cup. The hosts and record winners from Great Britain have won "their" Cup nine times. With four victories (1973, 1983, 1985, 1993), Germany is in second place on the all-time list, followed by Australia and the USA with three victories each.
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Now the series is set to return to its former glory days in a new guise in the British Solent region. The most important events in fast motion:
1957
Sir Miles Wyatt, Chairman of British united Airways, and Sir Peter Green, later Chairman of Lloyd's in London, dream of an international offshore racing series over a few glasses of Plymouth Gin. Together with Geoffrey Pattison, Captain John Illingworth and Selwyn Slater, they formulate a challenge to the Americans. When Slater later finds an old horse racing trophy, the Admiral's Cup is born. At the premiere, Great Britain beats the USA in the Solent region of southern England, winning the Admiral's Cup, named after the then club admiral Wyatt.
1959
The Americans are missing from the second edition. The Admiral's Cup remains in British hands in the battle with the Netherlands and France.
1961
With the USA, Sweden, France, the Netherlands and the hosts, five nations are already competing for the ornate gold trophy. The USA wins for the first time.
1963
After the US victory, the British organise eliminations for the first time and take back "their" Admiral's Cup, technically and athletically well-equipped. Driven by Hamburg entrepreneur Hans-Otto Schümann and the team on "Rubin II", a German team takes part for the first time and finishes sixth at the first attempt.
1965
Australia and Ireland make their Cup debut on the Isle of Wight, increasing the number of participants to eight nations. The hosts remain the winners. Team Germany sails to eighth place.
1967
The fleet includes remarkable boats such as Éric Tabarly's fork-tree ketch "Pen Guick III" and Dick Carter's "Rabbit". The American sails with his wife and children. A misprint in the English press turns the German "Jan Pott" into a "Jam Pot". Australia gets serious, makes hardly any mistakes and wins the nine-nation competition. Germany takes fifth place.
1969
Eleven national teams compete, with the USA winning for the second time. Team Germany repeats the result from 1967.
1971
With 16 nations, the series, dubbed the "unofficial world championship for ocean-going nations", is heading for an all-time high. The British win for the fifth time. They were led by the then Prime Minister Sir Edward Heath and his "Morning Cloud". The German team finished in ninth place.
1973
Albert Büll's "Saudade", Dieter Monheim's "Carina III" and Hans-Otto Schümann's "Rubin IV" win the Admiral's Cup for Germany. This is the first time a non-English-speaking nation has won. "Saudade" is the only one of the 48 Cup boats to finish in the top ten in every race.
1975
In the all-time record field of 19 nations (as in 1977 and 1979), the British regain the Cup, relegating the German challengers to second place.
1977
Ireland's "Big Apple" is mocked as applesauce when she runs aground in a slow-motion fastnet. Japan takes part for the first time, the British win for the seventh time and Germany's sailors narrowly miss out on the podium in fourth place.
1979
15 participants lose their lives in the deadly Fastnet Race. Admirals Cup sailors are not involved, but they also experience dramas in the "hurricane out of nowhere". "Jan Pott" capsizes and loses her mast, "Tina" loses her rudder, only "Rubin" comes through unscathed. The heavy weather specialists from Australia win for the second time. Team Germany came eleventh out of 19 nations, but that is unimportant in this black year in which survival and arrival are the greatest gifts.
1981
Rating scandals before the Admiral's Cup prove that international sailing is getting tougher. Great Britain takes victory number eight, Germany sails to third place on the podium.
1983
Champagne Mumm acquires the title rights to the Admiral's Cup at the height of the one-tonner dominance and adds glamour to the series. The favourites are smaller boats and 7/8 rigs. Willi Illbruck's "Pinta", Tilmar Hansen's "Outsider" and Hermann Noack's "Sabina" take win number two for black-red-gold.
1985
Single-tonne boats dominate the scene: Denmark, England, New Zealand and - for the second time - Papua New Guinea are each competing with three single-tonne boats. Germany won for the third time overall and for the second time in a row with Peter Westphal-Langeloh's "Diva", Tilmar Hansen's "Outsider" and Hans-Otto Schümann's "Rubin XII". In the Fastnet Race, the wind blew at force six to nine for four days.
1987
Eight years before the Kiwis' first America's Cup triumph, New Zealand already presents itself as the new superpower of sailing in the Admiral's Cup, winning the gold pot for the first time with top designers such as Farr and Davidson. Germany finishes fifth.
1989
The 50-footers become the new strongest force thanks to a modified time allowance rule. The British win for the first time since 1981, benefiting from a forestay break on the Danish "Andelsbanken", without which the Scandinavians would have won for the first time. Team Germany travelled home in eighth place.
1991
Bleu-Blanc-Rouge tops the podium for the first time in 32 years: France wins with strong support from the national federation, watch manufacturer Corum and a convincing weather strategy even on the short course. Germany is on the up again with fifth place.
1993
Willi Illbruck's "Pinta", Hans-Otto Schümann's "Rubin" and Udo Schütz's "Container" take the fourth and final victory for Germany to date, a quarter of a point ahead of Australia. A dramatic one-million-dollar crash between the 50-foot rockets "Mandrake" (Italy) and "Pro-Motion" (Netherlands) costs the highly favoured Azzurri the victory they had hoped for. In the series of breakages, the Irish "Jameson", named after a whisky manufacturer, runs aground on a rock and sinks. The headline: "Jameson on the Rocks".
1995
Viva Italia! The Italians finally win the Admiral's Cup for the first time with "Brava Q8", "Capricorno" and "Mumm a Mia!". Germany's sailors take bronze.
1997
America wins in Europe, relegating Team Germany to second place in the IMS competition. With only seven teams left, the fleet has shrunk further.
1999
The Dutch fly to victory. The team is spurred on by sailing greats of the time: Roy Heiner, Bouwe Bekking, Wouter Verbraak and Peter van Niekerk. Gerd-Jan Poortman, one of the Dutch skippers in the current line-up of the Rotterdam Offshore Sailing Team this year, was one of the winners at the time. Germany's boats sailed to fourth place.
2001
Cancelled.
2003
Bob Oatley's "Wild Oats" and Colin O'Neil's "Aftershock" win the Admiral's Cup for Australia in the absence of German boats, which was the last of its kind for a long time and was already very weak at the time, with four British and four international two-boat teams. Down Under is the defending champion at the revival in summer 2025.
2025
The 24th Admiral's Cup officially started on 17 July. The first short offshore race (Channel Race) starts on 19 July. The starting signal for the final Rolex Fastnet Race from Coews around the Rock to Cherbourg (France) will be given after the inshore races from 22 to 24 July on Sunday 26 July. The Admiral's Cup victory ceremony will take place on 31 July.
