No sooner had Intrepid nosed out Australia's Gretel 11 in the fifth and deciding America's Cup race last week than the spectator boat America, a replica of the schooner that first won the cup in 1851, hoisted the signal flags for Q.E.D. (quod erat demonstrandum—which was to be proved). A more fitting postscript would have been V.Q.P., for vincit qui patitur—he that can endure overcometh. In defeating Gretel II by 4-1 in the best-of-seven series, Intrepid had endured the longest (14 days) and strongest challenge in decades.
Indeed, in the first four races Gretel II had shown herself easily as swift a...