Hunt is on for Americas Cup Footage
It's the now legendary occasion we beat the Americans at their own game but as the 25th anniversary of the 1983 America's Cup victory passes, it appears somebody lost the footage of the victory.
'Americas Cup winning skipper John Bertrand'
The 25th anniversary of the race was last Friday. Recently, the race was voted by Sydney Morning Herald readers as the most significant sporting event in Australia's history.
Academic and avid sailing buff, Peter Edwards has spent the past four years trying to track down the footage of the seventh race of the 1983 America's Cup and, sadly, he believes it no longer exists.
Down three races to one, Australia II, funded by Alan Bond, came from behind to end the Americans' 132-year defence of the trophy.
Edwards was 14 when the Ben Lexcen-designed 12-metre yacht - famous for its controversial winged keel - won off Newport, Rhode Island, and he credits the event as engendering a lifelong love of sailing.
Now the vice-commodore of the Royal Australian Navy Sailing Association, he said that after a four-year hunt for the footage of the race from start to finish, he has come up empty-handed.
"I've talked to many people from the television stations. They were all really interested but they just couldn't find it. There's no record of it,' he said.
The skipper of Australia II, John Bertrand, said although the appeal of watching the full race - more than two hours - would be limited, he was disappointed the footage had been lost for ever.
'For our national archives, long term, it would be a shame if it didn't exist,' he said.
by Jeni Bone 
Bermagui, NSW
