RESOLUTE Leading VANITIE with DEFIANCE in the Distance, Off Sandy Hook, June, 1914

oil on canvas, 22" x 30"

$22,000

This classic yacht racing scene depicts the events of June, 1914, when three New York Yacht Club yachts, each over 100 feet in length, squared off to earn the right to defend the America's Cup against Sir Thomas Lipton's fourth consecutive challenger SHAMROCK IV, later that year. The trials took place off Sandy Hook, New Jersey, where the Cup races were to be held. RESOLUTE seen here leading VANITIE set a course record at the trials, sailing 30 miles in just 3 hours, 16 minutes to become the defender. However, World War I intervened and the actual Cup races did not take place until 1920. There, Nathaniel Herreshoff designed RESOLUTE won the hotly contested match four to one. To the left in the painting, we see DEFIANCE who succumb to problems with her rig and hull.