Kennedys, Vanderbilts, & Liptons: When The America’s Cup Was Actually Cool

This comes from a local San Francisco publication that, it appears, is not so enamored with the type of America’s Cup that has come to its town:

There was a time, before evil supervillians got involved and started throwing Sting concerts, when the America’s Cup was just a traditional highfalutin boat race between a Scottish tea magnate and an American captain of industry. Now it’s all carbon fiber and body armor and helmet cams. More Days of Thunder than the Thomas Crown Affair we’d hoped for, really.

We take a look back at the much classier eras of the America’s Cup, when it was a weekend affair for Kennedys instead of an advertisement for sneakers. Click here for the photos.

Nineties superbabe Rachel Hunter waves to photographers while she waits on the wind that failed to arrive on the Hauraki Gulf, causing the cancelation of races in 1999.(Photo by David Hallett/Getty Images)