Exposed: The Dark Side of the America’s Cup

Scuttlebutt editor Craig Lewick says he is sent too many books too read, with most never to be opened.

He goes on to say: There are others I start, with only a few that I finish. I only share my thoughts on this later group, as I care not to disparage the efforts of those authors that failed to meet my interest. The efforts of Alan Sefton and Larry Keating met my interest.

Their book, Exposed: The Dark Side of the America’s Cup, delivers the details of the most notable event in sailing. I am not a fan of the headline, as I fear it attempts too hard to attract our attention. They did not deliver a dirt-digging, gossipy tell-all, but rather they compiled a very readable historic depiction of why the America’s Cup has been elevated above so many other events in our sport.

The book is not their words alone, but a collage with the reporting that has followed the event. It is this approach, as they navigate the eras, which delivers the reader to those times.

The authors do not bore us with the details, but it is these profound changes in the world that occurred since America bested the best of Britain’s fleet which purposely provides the canvas for which the book is painted.

There are many lessons in the pages. The length at which the New York Yacht Club made certain the Deed of Gift was to be upheld in the early years would prove critical to its enduring history. The America’s Cup is far more a mere contest, but more a reflection of the nations, its people and the times.

The event’s roots are profoundly unique, and it is this which makes the America’s Cup unique that must be respected for it to remain so.

Scuttlebutt is flattered to have been among the supporting contributors. With so much ‘this and that’ which surrounds the America’s Cup in real time, Scuttlebutt has long sought to provide the stepping stones for which one can confidently follow the path.

Along with other contributing sources, Sefton and Keating has brought these steps together in a manner that offers an engaging stroll through the circuitous surroundings of this historic competition.