In 1988 Fay backed a challenge to the San Diego Yacht Club, who had just won the America's Cup. Rather than wait three to four years and join a general international challenge as had been the custom for thirty-five years, he had his legal team review the original Deed of Gift. The Deed of Gift was the document drawn up by the owners of the 100 Guineas Cup, won by the yacht America, to offer the cup for international competition. The deed did not specify a time delay between challenges, nor were competitors limited to compete in a particular class of boat, nor did boats have to be the same size or class. Fay financed the creation of "KZ 1", a large single-hull yacht which complied with the original Deed of Gift but was much larger and hence faster than the 12-metre class boats which had been used for America's Cup competition for many years. Dennis Conner, skipper of the American defender, responded by building the multihull Stars &amp; Stripes (US-1). Court actions followed which, after initially ruling a mismatch and requiring forfeiture, decided that both boats complied with the original Deed of Gift. Fay sailed on the boat during the 1988 America's Cup. The Stars &amp; Stripes catamaran easily won. The bad press generated by Fay's heavily litigious approach to yacht racing heralded an era of better management and agreement for future challenges.