How An Uneducated Creator Ended 132 Year Dynasty

You’ve heard about sports dynasty’s and streaks. The Lakers “Three Peat” comes to mind in my generation. John Wooden’s run at UCLA is iconic. But, did you know the Americans won the America’s Cup 132 years in a row!

The world’s premiere sailing championship was won by the New York Yacht Club in 1851 and was held until 1983. This unbelievable streak was broken by a hungry Australian team with both a strong will and a controversial new boat design in what could be the most dramatic upset in sports history. Their story is featured in the Netflix series titled, Untold: The Race of the Century. So, how’d they do it?

Controversially, they developed a uniquely designed boat for one. A boat that could take the title from the American’s after nearly a century and a half of dominance must have been designed by the world’s best engineers, right? 

Wrong. 

The man responsible is Ben Lexcen. His education? Just three years of formal education from age nine until age twelve! While some might say it’s impossible that someone not formally trained could yield such results, one of his teammates begged to differ. 

“He wasn’t restricted in his thinking.”

After all, you could make just as strong of an argument that a revolutionary advance in sailing wasn’t going to come from the traditional channels. It’s specifically the traditional channels that get traditional results.

If you want something extreme, the usual methods won’t work.