Back in 1958
"It's a spectacle calculated to make the tea break in a cricket test seem wildly exciting."
The New York Herald Tribune's view of Columbia's thrashing of British challenger Sceptre. The America's Cup was put on hold for more than 20 years, but when the British returned to New York,
they may as well have stayed at home.
After the Second World War, the trend had turned to smaller boats, so all parties agreed that after the extravagance of the monster J-boats, the cup needed yachts that were a little more economical.
The Deed of Gift was changed, and the 12-metre America's Cup yacht was born.
It was still not a prosperous time, and there were not a lot of new yachts being built.
To save embarrassment, the commodore of the New York Yacht Club, Henry Sears, built a 12-metre himself.
He asked reputable designer Olin Stephens to draw it up, and he produced Columbia.
In the defender trials, Columbia beat two other new boats, Weatherley and Easterner, but only just held off the 19-year-old Vim, built by Stephens for Mike Vanderbilt.
Columbia had to sail 40 trial races and won the right to defend the America's Cup in the last race.
The British had lost interest in round-the-buoys racing. The people were now into cruising yachts and ocean races.
However, Hugh Goodson and his friends pulled together a syndicate which built Sceptre.
There was a general lack of professionalism to the campaign. The boat was crewed by men from the armed forces, because they could afford to spend a summer away from home.
Later they were criticised for a lack of decent tank testing and a poor sail wardrobe.
Columbia was the better boat and swept through all four races.
It would be a while before the Brits could raise their heads again.
