Publisher: David Bateman, £30
Publication Date: 2007
Another book on the America's Cup! It's amazing there's anything left to say about competing for this most prestigious of yachting trophies. In 2007 veteran yachting correspondent Bob Fisher published, in two massive volumes, what must be the definitive account; yet here we have another new contribution to the genre.
But wait a minute. The title conjures up distant memories of an excellent launch party for a book with a very similar title thrown by none other than - Ranulf Rayner and Tim Thompson. Is it an updated version of the one published over 20 years ago? No sign of it being called revised or updated edition in the book's prelims, but some of the early text has a dated ring about it, confirmed by the remark that designers are still trying to achieve a breakthrough in 12-metre design. I don't think so! Time
to check on amazon.com. This lists under Thompson's and Rayner's names not
only The Paintings of the America's Cup, 1851-1987 but three others which
have the same title as the present edition, covering the periods 1851-1992, 1851-2000, and 1851-2003. Quite an industry! Rather naughty of the publishers not to have come clean about the book's past.
Does it really matter? Not a scrap, for Tim Thompson¹s ravishing paintings of each challenge, beautifully presented in landscape format, are worth every penny of the purchase price. Maps of the courses, vignettes of the more interesting challengers, and black-and-white line drawings of the sail plan of every competing yacht add to the interest, and there are also enlarged details of each of the paintings that reveal the artist's incredible attention to detail. Buy and enjoy. That is, if you don¹t already have an earlier edition. – ID
