It took place in Newport and consisted of a series of races between the defender Enterprise, entered by a syndicate of New York Yacht Club members headed by Winthrop Aldrich, and Shamrock V, the fifth in Sir Thomas Lipton's line of Cup challengers.

[1][2] On May 5, 1929, Sir Thomas Lipton issued a new challenge for the America's Cup, including details of his challenging yacht, Shamrock V.[3] Like its predecessors, Shamrock V had been built by Charles Nicholson, with Lipton telling him that this time "the Americans ... would be just as pleased as anyone else to see me win.

The two syndicates formed directly by the NYYC were to be led by Vice-Commodore Winthrop Aldrich and Rear-Commodore Junius Morgan.

[8] Changes to the terms of the competition since the previous challenge of 1920 included:[8] The implications of this final point were that the challenger would not be disadvantaged by having a hull built strong enough to meet the current safety standards for a trans-Atlantic crossing (and therefore heavier than the previous generation of racing yachts),[8][4][6] and that it would also preclude the yachts Resolute and Vanitie from defending the Cup.

However, neither Resolute nor Vanitie were built sturdily enough to meet the new regulations, therefore requiring the construction of new yachts for the defense.

[9] Aldrich's syndicate named Harold S. Vanderbilt as their captain and engaged Starling Burgess to design their yacht and Herreshoff Manufacturing Company to build it.

Morgan's syndicate also commissioned Herreshoff to build their yacht, and gave it the name Weetamoe.

[12] Prior to the formal selection trials, the four yachts competing to become the Cup defender raced numerous times between June and August 1930.

On June 9, the contenders, together with Resolute and Vanitie, met at Glen Cove for a series of races planned in Long Island Sound by the local clubs.

[13] A huge flotilla of spectator craft attended the first of these races, including some 200 small motorboats, and two large steamers chartered by the New York Yacht Club.

[14] About a dozen Coast Guard motorboats were stationed to keep the course clear,[13] however wakes from some of the spectator boats caused a minor disruption to the race as the yachts crossed them.

Therefore, at the end of this series, the points collected were:[17] The following week, the J-class boats traveled to Newport for three races organized by the Eastern Yacht Club.

[18] Once again, a large spectator fleet attended the first race, including a steamer that the sponsoring club had brought from Boston.

[18] Although Weetamoe finished the race first, her skipper acknowledged the foul and withdrew, leaving Enterprise the winner.

[20] However, since all competitors had made the same mistake, and acknowledging the similarity of the buoys, the committee decided to let the race stand.

[32] Therefore, on this day, the first division race was voided for this reason: Weetamoe crossed the line only after 5 hours 44 minutes, leading Yankee, which was awarded a "did not finish".

[34] Enterprise's mainsail tore, forcing her to withdraw from the race, and giving Weetamoe a technical victory.

[34] Something similar happened in the second division where both yachts were running under full sail: the headboard tore out of Whirlwind's mainsail, forcing her withdrawal and granting technical victory to Yankee.

[26] The results of the races were:[40] The points won by the contestants for America's Cup defender during these races were:[26] From August 2–9, the 1930 annual cruise of the New York Yacht Club offered a final opportunity for the contenders for the defense of the America's Cup to compete with each other prior to the selection trials.

[46] The final port-to-port leg of the cruise was raced the next day, August 7, 37 miles from Vineyard Haven to Newport.

[50] Weetamoe, in the lead, did just this, but the crew of Enterprise reasoned that the only way to satisfy the course instructions was to round the lightship and cross the finish line from the other direction, which they did and signalled a protest.

[51] Whirlwind completely missed one of the marks and continued sailing past it, and Enterprise turned at a buoy that had been set for a different race and lost considerable time getting back on course.

[63] Trial races on August 25 and 26 were both abandoned when the contenders lay becalmed at the start line for hours.

[76] However, trusting that Enterprise was the faster yacht anyway under the prevailing conditions, her crew chose simply to remain clear of Shamrock V and not risk a protest.

[80] Although Shamrock V was able to close that lead to only five minutes by the end of the race,[79] she still finished around half a mile behind Enterprise.