The 6th

Louis Vuitton Cup The Louis Vuitton Cup is the name of the Challenger (America's Cup), Challenger Selection Series sailing competition from 1983, named after its Sponsor (commercial), sponsor, Louis Vuitton. The winner of the competition became the Challenger (A ...

was held in

Auckland Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...

, New Zealand, in 2003. The winner,

Alinghi Alinghi, or Alinghi Red Bull Racing because of the sports marketing branding by Red Bull, is the syndicate set up by Ernesto Bertarelli, racing under the colors of the Société Nautique de Genève, to challenge for the America's Cup, as well ...

, went on to challenge for and win the

2003 America's Cup The 31st America's Cup was contested between the holder, Team New Zealand, and the winner of the 2003 Louis Vuitton Cup, Alinghi. Build Up The 2002–2003 Louis Vuitton Cup, held in the Hauraki Gulf in Auckland, New Zealand saw nine teams from ...

Teams

The Yacht Club Punta Ala was the challenger of record.

Alinghi

Founded by Swiss businessman

Ernesto Bertarelli Ernesto Silvio Maurizio Bertarelli (born 22 September 1965) is an Italian-born Swiss billionaire businessman and philanthropist. The 2017 edition of the Sunday Times Rich List estimated the family's wealth at £11.5 billion, an increase of £1 ...

, Alinghi featured

Russell Coutts Sir Russell Coutts (born 1 March 1962) is a world champion New Zealand yachtsman. He won an Olympic gold medal and skippered three Americas Cup victories in 1995, 2000, and 2003. Early life Coutts was educated at Otago Boys' High School ...

and

Brad Butterworth Bradley William Butterworth (born 1959) is a New Zealand yachtsman known for the role he played as tactician and skipper in the America's Cup for Team New Zealand and the Alinghi team of Switzerland. Butterworth was born in Te Awamutu, New Zea ...

who had both joined from Team New Zealand.

Jochen Schümann Jochen Schümann (; born 8 June 1954) is a German sailor and three-time Olympic champion. He competed at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, where he won a gold medal in the '' finn class''. He competed in the Soling class at the 1988, 1996 ...

was also involved in the team.

GBR Challenge

Put together by Peter Harrison and New Zealander David Barnes, the team was skippered by Ian Walker and included Jim Turner. GBR 70 was known as Wight Lightning while GBR 78 was called Wight Magic.

Le Defi Areva

Despite 2000 skipper

Bertrand Pacé Bertrand Pacé (born 15 August 1961 in Petite-Synthe) is a French sailor competing in offshore racing. He won the 1994 World Match Racing Championships in La Rochelle, France. Pacé was a navigator for the Challenge Kis France at the 1987 Lou ...

joining

Team New Zealand Team New Zealand or TNZ is a Sailing (sport), sailing team based in Auckland, New Zealand, representing the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron. The team has been branded as Emirates (airline), Emirates Team New Zealand at America's Cup competiti ...

, Le Defi returned in 2003 with Luc Pillot skippering FRA 79.

Mascalzone Latino

Headed by shipping magnate Vincenzo Onorato, Mascalzone Latino featured an all-Italian crew. The syndicate was only established in 2001 and Paolo Cian served as helmsman and the crew included Flavio Favini, Shannon Falcone, Giuseppe Brizzi, Davide Scarpa, and Pierluigi De Felice. and Francesco De vita

OneWorld

Part-financed by

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company, technology conglomerate headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975, the company became influential in the History of personal computers#The ear ...

mogul

Paul Allen Paul Gardner Allen (January 21, 1953 – October 15, 2018) was an American businessman, computer programmer, and investor. He co-founded Microsoft, Microsoft Corporation with his childhood friend Bill Gates in 1975, which was followed by the ...

, OneWorld was based in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

. Skippered by

Peter Gilmour Peter Gilmour (born 25 January 1960) is an Australian sailing skipper. He is an America's Cup veteran and was named Western Australian Sportsman of the Year in 1987. He is also the only 4 time World Match racing Tour Champion. He currently res ...

, the team was docked one Louis Vuitton point by an arbitration panel for being in possession of design secrets from another team. The design team included Laurie Davidson, Bruce Nelson and Phil Kaiko and the sailing team included 10 Olympic medallists, three round-the-world winners, 60 world championship titles in various classes, and 16 America's Cup winners. The crew included

Kevin Shoebridge Kevin Shoebridge is a New Zealand sailor who has competed in multiple Volvo Ocean Races and America's Cups. In the 1985–86 Whitbread Round the World Race, Shoebridge sailed on board ''Lion New Zealand''. In 1987, Shoebridge joined the New Zea ...

as a trimmer,

Mark Mendelblatt Mark Mendelblatt (born February 19, 1973) is an American yachtsman. Married to windsurfer Carolina Mendelblatt (née Borges), he primarily sails the Laser Radial, a one-design class of small ( long, and ) single-handed sailing dinghy. Beginnin ...

as backup helmsman, Kevin Hall, Rick Dodson, David Endean, Grant Spanhake, Peter Waymouth, Matt Mason, Joey Newton,

James Spithill James Spithill (born 28 June 1979) is an Australian yachtsman. In 2010, as skipper and helmsman for BMW Oracle Racing, Spithill won the America's Cup. He defended the cup twice, both times against Emirates Team New Zealand, first successfully ...

Jeremy Scantlebury Jeremy Scantlebury is a New Zealand sailor who has competed in multiple America's Cups. Scantlebury sailed with Digby Taylor on ''NZI Enterprise'' during the 1985–86 Whitbread Round the World Race. He raced with New Zealand Challenge on '' K ...

, Alan Smith, Andy Fethers, Andrew Taylor, Scott Crawford, and Olympians

Craig Monk Craig John Monk (born 23 May 1967 in Stratford, New Zealand) is a competitive sailor who won a bronze medal in the Finn class at the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona. Monk also competed at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta after narrowly ...

, Don Cowie,

Ben Ainslie Sir Charles Benedict Ainslie (born 5 February 1977) is a British sailing (sport), competitive sailor. Ainslie is the most successful sailor in Olympic history. He won medals at five consecutive Olympics from 1996 onwards, including gold at four ...

Kelvin Harrap Kelvin Harrap (born 1970) is a New Zealand sailor (sport), sailor who has represented his country at the Summer Olympics and sailed in multiple America's Cups and Volvo Ocean Races. Harrap was born 1970 in Napier, New Zealand, Napier, New Zealand ...

Charles Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English language, English and French language, French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic, Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''* ...

and Jonathan McKee.

Oracle BMW Racing

Founded by

Larry Ellison Lawrence Joseph Ellison (born August 17, 1944) is an American businessman and entrepreneur who co-founded software company Oracle Corporation. He was Oracle's chief executive officer from 1977 to 2014 and is now its chief technology officer a ...

who bought the assets of 2000 syndicate AmericaOne. The team was skippered by

Peter Holmberg Peter William Holmberg (born October 4, 1960) is a sailor from the U.S. Virgin Islands, who won a silver medal in Men's Finn class at the 1988 Summer Olympics The 1988 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIV Olympiad () ...

and also featured

Paul Cayard Paul Pierre Cayard (born May 19, 1959) is an American yachtsman and professional sailor. He has competed at multiple world championship level sailing events, including the America's Cup, the Whitbread Round the World Race, the Volvo Ocean Race ...

, Matt Welling, Bob Wylie, John Cutler, Phil Jameson, Brad Webb, Brian MacInnes, Cameron Dunn, and Chris Dickson. USA 71 and USA 76 were designed by

Bruce Farr Bruce Kenneth Farr (born 1949 in Auckland) is a New Zealand designer of racing and cruising yachts. Farrdesigned boats have won, challenged for, or placed highly in the Whitbread Round the World Race, America's Cup, and Sydney to Hobart Yacht R ...

Roy Heiner Roy Heiner (born 22 November 1960, in Virginia, Free State, South Africa) is a sailor from the Netherlands, who represented his country at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Pusan. Heiner took 7th place in the Finn. In 1992 Summer Olympics, Barcelona H ...

sailed the trial boat.

Prada Challenge

Founded by

Patrizio Bertelli Patrizio Bertelli (born 6 April 1946) is an Italian businessman and former co-chief executive officer (CEO) of the Prada Group, a role he shared with his wife Miuccia Prada. Life and career Born in the Tuscan city of Arezzo in 1946, Patrizio ...

, Prada's crew included members of the 2000 Young America syndicate. They were again skippered by Francesco de Angelis and Rod Davis,

Pietro D'Alì Pietro D'Ali (born 5 July 1963) is an Italian former yacht racer who competed in the 2000 Summer Olympics. He sailed on '' Brooksfield'' in the 1993–94 Whitbread Round the World Race. He joined Prada Challenge and was part of their campaign ...

, Thomas Burnham, Hartwell Jordan, Piero Romeo,

Gavin Brady Gavin Brady (born 1 November 1973 in Timaru) is a New Zealand sailor who has competed in the Summer Olympics and multiple America's Cups. After sailing the sponsor boat for New Zealand Challenge at the 1992 Louis Vuitton Cup, Brady was the tact ...

, Francesco Bruni, Andrew Hemmings,

Steven Erickson Steven Richard Erickson (born August 14, 1961) is an American sailor and Olympic champion in the Star class. He competed at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles and won a gold medal in the Star together with William Earl Buchan. Career Ol ...

, Matteo Plazzi, Gilberto Nobili, Massimo Gherarducci, Alberto Barovier, and

Torben Grael Torben Schmidt Grael (born 22 July 1960) is one of the most well known Brazilian sailors, renowned in international competitions. A descendant of Danes, he was taken sailing by his grandfather at the age of five years on the sailboat ''Ailee ...

were in the crew.

Team Dennis Conner

Team

Dennis Conner Dennis Walter Conner (born September 16, 1942) is an American yachtsman. He is noted for winning a bronze medal at the 1976 Olympics, two Star World Championships, and three wins in the America's Cup. Sailing career Conner was born September ...

's USA 77 suffered a massive blow when it sank off the Californian coast in July before the Cup began. The helmsman was

Ken Read Kenneth John Read (born November 6, 1955) is a former World Cup alpine ski racer from Canada. He was a specialist in the downhill and a two-time Olympian. He won five World Cup races during his ten-year international career, all in downhill. ...

and the team included

Terry Hutchinson Terry Hutchinson (born May 20, 1968) is an American sailor eleven-time world champion in the Corel 45, J/24, TP 52, Farr 40 and IMS classes, and a winning tactician of the Louis Vuitton Cup. In 2008 and 2014, he was named Rolex Yachtsman of ...

Victory Challenge

Principal backer

Jan Stenbeck Jan Hugo Robert Arne Stenbeck (; 14 November 1942 – 19 August 2002) was a Swedish business leader, media pioneer, sailor and financier. He was head of Kinnevik Group from 1976 and founded among other things the companies Comviq, Invik & ...

died of a heart attack in August 2002. This was Sweden's first America's Cup bid since 1992 and the crew included

Magnus Holmberg Johan Magnus Holmberg (born 23 September 1961) is a Swedish Olympic sailor that represented Sweden at the 1984, 1992, and 1996 Summer Olympics. In 1992, he finished 5th together with his crew of Björn Alm and Johan Barne in the Soling class. He ...

, Lars Linger, Stefan Rahm, Mikkel Røssberg,

Jesper Bank Jesper Bank (born 6 April 1957 in Fredericia) is a Danish sailor and Olympic champion. He received a bronze medal in the ''Soling class'' at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul. He won a gold medal at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona ...

, Mats Johansson, Roger Hall and Olympian

Magnus Augustson Karl Magnus Augustson (born 14 Match 1973) is a Swedish Olympic sailor. He finished 7th in the Soling event at the 2000 Summer Olympics together with Hans Wallén and Johan Barne. Augustson has sailed in multiple America’s Cups, competing for V ...

. Their boats were designed by

Germán Frers Germán Frers Sr. (born July 4, 1941) is an Argentinian naval architect known for designing racing yachts. He designed his first yacht in 1958 and has been involved in the design of more than 1000 yachts, including '' Kialoa V'' and '' Hyperion' ...

and Cole (Skip) Lissiman was their coach.

Round robin

* OneWorld was docked one race win.

Finals

Quarter-finals

Finals

References

External links

Ultimatesail.com
{{America'sCup Louis Vuitton Cup

Sport in Auckland Sailing competitions in New Zealand 2003 America's Cup International America's Cup Class Auckland waterfront Waitematā Harbour