Four new names for the America's Cup Hall of Fame

The America's Cup Hall of Fame has announced its class of 2026, with three-time Cup winner Glenn Ashby, the Beken family of photographers, navigator Peter Isler and sailmaking pioneer Lowell North set to be inducted at a gala in New York this October.

“Thanks to Glenn Ashby for teaching everyone how to sail multihulls, to Peter Isler for teaching us all what a stadimeter is, to Lowell North for countless innovations to the aero packages, and to the Beken family for recording it with an amazing eye for detail and timing,” said Hall of Fame President Bill Lynn.

They will be honoured on 16 October at the New York Yacht Club, joining the 100-plus individuals who have been inducted since the Hall of Fame's founding in 1992.

Glenn Ashby's path from a young sailmaker in Bendigo, Victoria, to three America's Cup victories spans perhaps the most technologically wild period in the event's history. He left school at 16 to become a sailmaker's apprentice, a decision that would prove unexpectedly valuable as the Cup transformed from 12-Metres to multihulls to foiling monohulls.

Across five campaigns with three different teams, Ashby became the rare figure who could bridge the gap between design team and sailing team – part aerodynamicist, part sailor, part coach. His first Cup win came as a multihull coach with BMW Oracle Racing in the 2010 Deed of Gift match in Valencia. He then joined Emirates Team New Zealand as their multihull expert, enduring the brutal disappointment of San Francisco in 2013 before skippered the cyclor-powered catamaran to victory in Bermuda in 2017. A third win followed in Auckland in 2021 as mainsail trimmer aboard Te Rehutai.

"We have been the 'Lone Wolf' from day one," Ashby reflected on that 2017 campaign. "We have had to adopt that as our stance, as we were away from everyone. But we also had to be the Lone Wolf in our design philosophy."

Beyond the Cup, Ashby has won 17 World Championships across the A-Class catamaran, Tornado and Formula 18 classes, plus an Olympic silver in the Tornado at Beijing 2008. In 2022 he piloted Emirates Team New Zealand's land yacht Horonuku to a wind-powered land speed world record of 222.4 km/h.

For the 2024 Cup in Barcelona, Ashby consulted for the French Orient Express team before moving into the host broadcast commentary box. His current project is the Ferrari Hypersail programme, working alongside North Sails on a D-section mast and double-skin mainsail system – the same technology he helped develop for the AC75 – now adapted for ocean racing.

But is this the last we've seen of Ashby in a Cup boat? At the start of SailGP Season 6, he jumped into an F50 as wing trimmer for the Flying Roos and promptly helped them to second in Perth and victory in Auckland. One of very few sailors in the world who could parachute into that role at the last minute and perform at that level. Let's see if he can stay away from the America's Cup for long…

Over three generations and nearly 150 years, the Beken family has photographed at least 19 America's Cup challenges – an extraordinary body of work that chronicles the event's evolution from gaff-rigged schooners to foiling machines.

Frank Beken (1880-1970) started it all in 1888, shooting yachts from a small rowing boat in Cowes harbour. His images were so sharp that yacht designers used them to scrutinise rigging and sail shapes for the following day's improvements. King George V was among his regular visitors at the Beken studio.

His son Keith (1914-2007) took over in the post-war years and introduced motion picture work, slowing down the film to show crews grinding so they could analyse their technique – and agree they could be faster! He had joined his father in the 1930s to photograph both Endeavours, went on to cover the Sovereign challenge in 1964, and kept shooting until retiring at 82 in 1996.

Kenneth (b. 1951), Frank’s grandson, has continued the family tradition and remains active today. He was instrumental in organising the 2001 America's Cup Jubilee in Cowes – a massive celebration of the Cup's 150th anniversary that featured over 200 yachts, including 12-Metres and J-Class boats, and a re-enactment of the original around-the-island race won by the yacht America.

Peter Isler has two America's Cup victories to his name – as navigator aboard Dennis Conner's Stars & Stripes in 1987 and again in 1988 – and played a key role in the defence of the Cup in San Diego in 1992.

But Isler's contribution to sailing extends well beyond the racecourse. He became one of ESPN's primary commentators for America's Cup coverage and has authored multiple books on sailing tactics and navigation, including the widely read Sailing for Dummies. He co-founded the American Sailing Association in 1991, an organisation dedicated to sailing instruction and safety that remains active today.

Now based in San Diego, Isler continues offshore racing as a navigator, with victories in the Maxi-class World Championship, the Newport to Bermuda Race (twice), and the Transpacific Race. When not on the water, he plays keyboards and guitar in various bands.

That surname might ring a bell. Lowell North (1929-2019) founded North Sails in 1957, and today his company supplies sails to virtually every top racing programme in the world – including every team at the last America's Cup.

North was an engineer who believed sails should be designed with scientific precision, not guesswork. Under his leadership, North Sails introduced computational fluid dynamics to sail design, pioneered Mylar-laminated fabrics, and developed the 3Di moulded construction that now dominates grand-prix sailing. Every winning America's Cup yacht since 1980 has used North sails.

He was also a formidable competitor in his own right: Olympic gold in the Star class at Mexico City 1968, bronze in the Dragon at Tokyo 1964, and five Star World Championship titles. He skippered the 12-Metre Enterprise in the 1977 defender trials, outfitting her with radical Mylar sails that caught the attention of the sailing world.

Perhaps equally significant was North's approach to mentorship. He fostered a culture of "Tigers" – young designers, sailors and engineers whom he encouraged to compete at the highest level. Five of his protégés – John Bertrand, John Marshall, Tom Schnackenburg, Grant Simmer and Tom Whidden – have themselves been inducted into the America's Cup Hall of Fame. North died in 2019, having fundamentally changed the technology of competitive sailing.

“This year's class is a quintessential group of America's Cup participants,” said Selection Committee Chair Steven Tsuchiya. “It features a superb skipper with a deep understanding of the sport's technical side; a talented family of photographers whose work has documented over a hundred years of the Cup; an expert navigator who's also great at sharing his knowledge; and a sailmaking genius and mentor to many.”

That Class of 2026 joins distinguished company, many of whom have shaped the current landscape of professional sailing.

Having won the Cup five times, Russell Coutts (1996) went on to co-found SailGP with head of Oracle Racing and one of the world’s richest men Larry Ellison (2022). Fellow Cup bosses include Patrizio Bertelli (2012), who leads Luna Rossa into AC38 while two-time Cup winner Ernesto Bertarelli (2016) continues to back Alinghi.

More recent inductees include Jimmy Spithill (2025), now CEO and co-owner of the Red Bull Italy SailGP Team, and Kevin Shoebridge (2024), Emirates Team New Zealand's long-serving COO, who has been instrumental in the Kiwis' sustained dominance across multiple cycles. Iain Murray (2023) holds the regatta director role for both SailGP and the America's Cup. And Paul Cayard (2025) keeps adding to his trophy cabinet – the 2025 Star Worlds, Rolex Yachtsman of the Year, and the Bacardi Cup all came his way the same year.

The 2026 induction ceremony takes place on 16 October at the New York Yacht Club. By then, all the AC75s for this cycle should be on the water, and the next chapter of America's Cup history will already be writing itself.