As we countdown to the 35th America’s Cup The Royal Gazette will bring you one fun fact a day about the boats, the sailors, the crew, or the history of this illustrious competition. There are now 43 days until the month-long sporting spectacle gets under way.

The 1995 Citizen Cup was the defender selection series regatta for the 1995 America’s Cup, held in the United States. Three defence syndicates (featuring four IACC yachts) competed over four round robins and a semi-finals series in order to earn a berth in the Citizen Cup finals; the winner earned the right to defend the America’s Cup against the winner of the Louis Vuitton Cup, which was the challenger selection series regatta.

The 1995 Citizen Cup featured the first all-female crew aboard Mighty Mary of the America3 Foundation syndicate, defender of both the Citizen Cup and America’s Cup.

The America3 Foundation programme was operated by Bill Koch and Harry Melges in the 1992 America’s Cup. After winning the defender series, America3 defeated Il Moro di Venezia, the Italian challenger, to successfully defend the Cup.

In 1995, Bill Koch revamped the programme to begin the first all-female, America’s Cup boat. America3’s successor, Mighty Mary, was on her way to the 1995 America’s Cup, in the lead of the last race of the defender series over Stars & Stripes. However, with a commanding lead of nearly five minutes, Dave Dellenbaugh, the only man on the otherwise all-female crew, committed a crucial tactical error and Dennis Conner, the Stars & Stripes skipper, made a series of moves to beat Mighty Mary to the finish line by scant seconds.

After winning the defender series, Conner opted to use the third syndicate that year, Young America, to defend the Cup, losing to Team New Zealand, 5-0.