Here is another little gem of useless but great information be it true or myth. Ever heard the term “There is no second” in relation to the America's Cup?
In that first race that established the cup they raced the other way round the Island to the direction the now famous Round the Island race goes, without going into too much detail about the events of the race, by the time America rounded the Needles and was sighted coming back up the Western Solent she had a significant lead, no other yachts were in sight. When Queen Victoria was informed the lead yacht had been sighted, she inquired who was in second, to which the reply was “Ah, Your Majesty, there is no second.”
And that in itself is a nice little story, but it doesn’t end there. When the Auld Mug was taken to America, and engraved with the name of the winning yacht, it was also engraved with the names of all the other yachts involved, all except the name of Aurora, the yacht that finished second.
Another small more recent side-light. The first time the Auld Mug was wrested away from America was by Australia, with a revolutionary winged keel designed by Ben Lexcen. (sub side-light, the Americas tried to take that to court to nullify the result then. Not happy with the results) After the races were run, unhappy with the legal wrangle, Ben Lexcen suggested Australia take the cup, return to Australia with it and run it over with a road roller, renaming it "The Americas Plate"😷
