Will Parker, played by Matthew Modine, loses the Americas Cup, the worlds biggest sailing prize, to the Australians and decides to form his own syndicate to win it back.

Will Parker, played by Matthew Modine, loses the Americas Cup, the worlds biggest sailing prize, to the Australians and decides to form his own syndicate to win it back.

The yachting sections and storyline of the movie are loosely based on the story of real life sailor and America's Cup skipper Dennis Conner, who caused national embarrassment in 1983 by losing the America's Cup to the Australians.

Jennifer Grey had her nose surgically altered after the film wrapped. When several shots needed to be re-taken, you can see an obvious change in her appearance.

The television commentator who calls the two America's Cup matches and the International 14 Championships is Peter Montgomery, famous in the yachting world as the Voice of the America's Cup. Montgomery is an actual yachting commentator for all major yachting events around the world, as well as a well known broadcaster in New Zealand who covers all the yachting events as well as a good deal of Rugby and Cricket.

The loss of the America's Cup by the USA to Australia in 1983 broke the longest ever running winning streak in world sports history.

In many shots the film skippers (Will, Morgan and Jack) can be seen driving the boats from the leeward side while beating to windward. In reality, most of the time skippers drive their boats from the windward side, mostly to help keep the weight on the windward side and also to give themselves a better view of the incoming waves so they can steer a proper course around them. The reason for putting the film skippers on the leeward side was so that the real sailors could control the boat from the windward wheel while remaining mostly out of shot (you can see their legs occasionally in some scenes.)

The film was made and released about eight years after the Australian feature film documentary Aussie Assault (1984) which documented and celebrated Australia's winning of the 1983 America's Cup.

Jennifer Grey's body double for the small boat races in the International 14 class Newport, Rhode Island sailing sequences was Lisa Blackaller who is the daughter of America's Cup yacht captain Tom Blackaller.

During a break in filming, Matthew Modine was stopped for speeding between Green River and Price in Utah. The officer who stopped Modine didn't recognize him and escorted him to jail to post bail. It was only after other officers recognized Modine that the original officer released him with a warning.

One of a number of collaborations of Carroll Ballard and Francis Ford Coppola.

According to the book 'Australian Film 1978-1992' edited by Scott Murray, Mac Gudgeon was hired to re-write, touch-up and polish the Australian dialogue sections of the movie's screenplay.

The Australian character of Jack Neville was based on real life Aussie America's Cup winning captain John Bertrand.

Names of many of the boats seen in the movie include: "Senta", "Eureka!", "Pizzazz", "Platypus", "Boomerang", "Radiance", "Geronimo", "At Least", "Safe Conduct II", "Impact III", "Amazing Grace", "Trivial Pursuit", and the "Spirit of Newport".

According to the Wikipedia website: "American Eagle (US 21), the red 12 Meter ocean endurance champion sailed to fame by Ted Turner in the mid-seventies was used as the trial horse sailed by Will Parker in preparation for the America's Cup. The boat had been a finalist in the 1964 Defender selection series, but lost the selection to Constellation. The 12 Meter yachts depicting the America's Cup races were the more modern boats from the America II Syndicate, America II (US 42) and America II (US 46). The boat repainted as Boomerang and later as Platypus was depicted by US 42, and Radiance and then later Geronimo were depicted by US 46. US 46 had been sailed by John Kolius in the 1987 Louis Vuitton Challenger Selection Cup races".

The movie's debut cinema release was originally intended to coincide with the 1992 America's Cup but production delays and problems such as inclement weather problems during the shoot and funding & financing difficulties meant the picture got released after the 1992 America's Cup.

This major motion picture's opening title card reads: "America's Cup Defender Compound Newport, Rhode Island".

According to 'American Cinematographer', this picture 'marked the feature debut of [director of photography'] John Toll, ASC" however Toll is credited in IMDb as lensing some smaller features prior to Ветер (1992).

According to show-business trade paper 'Variety, "the three-act script is credited to the distinctive writer Rudy Wurlitzer and Aussie scribe Mac Gudgeon, with three more fellows receiving story credit. But several other scenarists reportedly had a hand in this" picture.

The movie's Australian DVD sleeve notes declare that the picture was "inspired by real-life events".

Jack Thompson portrayed a character, Jack Neville, who had the same first name as his own.

The film was made and released about nine years after the USA had lost the America's Cup to Australia in 1983 and about five years after America won it back in 1987.

Director Carroll Ballard's next picture around four years later also had a title that evoked wind with it being called Летите домой (1996).