SHAMROCK and Sycamore

If there is one enduring name in the history of the America’s Cup it is that of Sir Thomas Lipton. He challenged five times between 1899 and 1930, losing on each occasion. His yachts were all named Shamrock and numbered I to V. Lipton was not a sailor, but he loved the publicity his yachts brought to his business. He was hugely popular in America, except perhaps among the members of the New York YC who feared the cost of building boats to defend their cup. In truth he was never likely to win, as the odds were stacked heavily against the challenger by the terms of the Deed of Gift, or ‘Deed of Retention’ as G L Watson called it.

Paradoxically, although known for his failures, Lipton was one of the most successful yacht owners in the years before and after World War I. He hid his successes in plain sight by calling the yacht , although she was generally known as Shamrock 23-Metre. Her origins lay in yet another Lipton Cup challenge, in 1907, in which he proposed using