The America's Cup

Racing has begun in Auckland's Hauraki Gulf for the America's Cup! Over the next four months, contenders in the challenger series of this high profile yacht race will be battling it out to win the Louis Vuitton Cup – and the right to race against Team New Zealand for the America's Cup.

How the America's Cup works

An America's Cup series is only held if someone challenges the current Cup holder. Thankfully, the spirit of competition is alive. Immediately after Team New Zealand's successful defence of the Cup in 2000, the Yacht Club Punta Ala became the Challenger of Record for the 31st America's Cup. After the first challenge had been made, syndicates from all over the world also expressed their wish to race for the Cup.

The challengers compete against each other for the Louis Vuitton Cup – and the right to race the current America's Cup holder for the Cup.

This year, the challengers are made up of the following teams:

The Louis Vuitton Cup (Challengers' Series)

The Louis Vuitton Cup is the first stage of every America's Cup challenge.

The series consists of two round-robins involving all of the challengers, where each win is worth one point. At the end of the second round, the teams are ranked. The top eight teams go through to the quarter finals, and the rest are eliminated.

In the quarter finals, the eight are divided into two groups – the top four in one pool; the bottom four in another. The top seeds in each pool choose their opponent for a best-of-seven race-off, while the remaining two teams in the pool race each other.

The two winners in the top group go straight to the semi-finals, while the losers race the winners from the lower group in a repecharge (“second chance” final).

The semi-finals, beginning in December, operate in a similar way. The two top qualifiers race each other – the winner advancing directly to the Louis Vuitton final. The loser has a repecharge against the winner of the third versus fourth sail-off. The winner of this encounter goes through to the LVC final.

The two teams in the final of the Louis Vuitton Cup race in a best-of-nine-series. The winner goes on to race against Team New Zealand for the America's Cup.

When do I get my red socks out?

During the successful America's Cup challenge in 1995, Sir Peter Blake, who headed New Zealand's 1995 Cup campaign, demonstrated the superstitious nature of sailors by wearing the same pair of red socks throughout the entire America's Cup. Team New Zealand went through the campaign winning all but one of their races. The only race they lost was when Sir Peter had a rest day and was not on board!

Since that campaign, “lucky red socks” have been adopted by the country as a nationwide symbol of good luck, and is the way New Zealanders can demonstrate their support of the Team New Zealand.

As you can see from the description of the Louis Vuitton Cup above, it takes months to establish who the challenger will be, so keep your red socks in your drawer for a while yet!

The final of the Louis Vuitton begins in early January 2003, while the America's Cup itself begins in early February.

The challenger will compete with Team New Zealand over nine races. The team who wins the most races out of nine wins the America's Cup.

Go Team New Zealand!

You can visit the Team New Zealand website to email your message of support, as they prepare for a successful defence of the Cup:

http://xtramsn.co.nz/teamnewzealand

Who knows – there may even be an aspiring sailor, boat designer, or strategist in your classroom!

cupviews.com
Cup Views publishes the latest America's Cup news, so you can keep up-to-date with all of the on- and off-course drama as it unfolds.
http://www.americascup.co.nz

The Cup
This America's Cup site is written by an independent sports journalist and sailing enthusiast. It features daily headlines as well as more detailed information on the history of the Cup.
http://www.americascupnews.com

Louis Vuitton Cup
What's going on in the Louis Vuitton Cup? The official website of the “LVC” lists the latest headlines and rankings. You can download Virtual Spectator, a software program that enables you to watch each race in 3D graphics from your computer, and play the “Round the Mark Challenge” – an interactive game where you pick who will win each stage of the featured races.
http://www.louisvuittoncup.yahoo.com

America's Cup Museum
How have racing boats changed over the history of the America's Cup? This site features pictures of the different styles of yacht used to contest each America's Cup.
http://acmuseum.com

The syndicates

Team New Zealand
This is the official site of Team New Zealand. Email the crew with messages of support, meet the team, and subscribe to receive the regular newsletter.
http://xtramsn.co.nz/teamnewzealand

Prada - Challenge for Americas Cup 2003
The website of the Prada Italian challenge is available in Italian and English. It contains information about the boat, the team, and a 'typical day in the life' of the crew.
http://www.prada-americascup.com/uk/home.html

GBR Challenge
The site of 2003's British challenger has an interesting and fun education section which includes sailing term quizzes and sailing-based experiments, for example, displacement and buoyancy tests.
http://www.gbrchallenge.com/gbr/default.asp

Alingi Swiss Challenge
Francophiles ahoy - you are able to view the Alingi site in French and English. Other than improving your language skills, you can test your wits with a number of interactive games.
http://www.alinghi.com/lvc/consult/modules/module55/html/index_fr.html

Sailing and yacht design sites

ACC BoatSafe
This website is developed by Water Safety New Zealand and ACC. It includes information and guidelines on preparation, operation, and safety in boats, sets of questions, and links to other safety programmes.
http://www.boatsafe.org.nz

Coastguard Boating Education Service
Are you involved in running sailing and outdoor activities? This website describes courses run by the New Zealand Coastguard Federation which may be of assistance.
http://www.cbes.org.nz

Windsurfing New Zealand
The Windsurfing in New Zealand site includes a calendar of events, results of events, and places to windsurf in New Zealand.
http://www.winzurf.co.nz

Wizards of Wind and Water
Who's the next Bruce Farr then? This page contains a link to the video Wizards of Wind and Water which was shown on The Knowledge Breakfast series. The video can be viewed online. Wizards of Wind and Water shows an interview with scientists from the mechanical engineering department at Auckland University discussing the development of yacht and sail design.
http://knowledge.nzoom.com/knowledge_detail/0,2210,109930-181-182,00.html

Yachting New Zealand
The Yachting New Zealand website provides information on school programmes including "SailSafe" and "Waterwise" for primary and intermediate schools, and "Sailability" which provides physically disabled people with the opportunity to go sailing.
http://www.yachtingnz.org.nz

Please note: These links were valid when this page was posted. However the Web is very volatile, and TKI has no control over outside websites. Please let us know if you find anything inappropriate, if you find a broken link, or if you have an update for a link by emailing links@tki.org.nz. Te Kete Ipurangi recommends that teachers view all websites we link to before using them with students.

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