Nine syndicates challenge holders of America’s Cup

NINE syndicates from six countries will fight for the right to challenge the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron, the present holders of the America’s Cup, for the 31st edition of the sailing competition off Auckland.

The challengers will first compete in the Louis Vuitton Cup, on October 1, before the winner, the Challenger, meets the Defender in the best-of-nine America's Cup match.

The structure of the Louis Vuitton Cup has been greatly changed since the last race, largely in order to give the winning challenger enough time to get ready for the America’s Cup itself, which starts on February 15 2003.

The challengers series begins next Tuesday with two round robins involving all nine challengers, where each win is one point. At the end of the rounds, the top eight teams are seeded and the ninth is eliminated.

In the seven-race quarter-finals, the eight are divided into two groups the top four in the double chance pool, the bottom four in the single chance.

The two winners in the 1-4 seeded double-chance group go straight to the semi-finals, while the losers race the winners from the 5-8 ranked single-chance pool in a repechage. The semi-finals, beginning in December, pit the top two qualifiers against each other the winner advancing to the Louis Vuitton Cup final.

The final will be a best-of-nine series from January 11 2003 and the winner will then have a break of almost a month to prepare for the America's Cup match against Team New Zealand.