General Race Format & Boats
The style of racing at the Louis Vuitton Trophy is match racing: an exciting discipline of sailing that has been used in the America's Cup for more than a century. It pits two crews against each other in a mano-a-mano battle.
Race Format
The most exciting time of a match race is during the three-minute pre-start. The pre-start period involves fascinating jostling involved as one crew tries to gain control over its opponent.
The two yachts enter the area defined by the two ends of the starting line (the start box), with one on starboard and the other on port. A starboard tack yacht always has right-of-way over a port-tack yacht, so the port-tack yacht must always keep clear. But the starboard-tack yacht is burdened because it is the windward yacht (the one closer to the wind). A windward yacht must always keep clear of a leeward yacht.
In match racing the turning marks are left to starboard (the right-hand side of the yacht). This has a subtle but profound effect on the action because of the way the racing rules are applied. Simply put, the leading yacht has a great deal more control over its opponent.
There are many rules besides those two in play and the action is adjudicated by the on-water umpires that may assess that crew a 270-degree penalty turn if they deem a rule has been infringed. The penalized crew may exonerate itself at any point prior to finishing the race unless a special circumstance occurs. In that event, the umpires may deem the crew has to perform its penalty turn immediately.
That leaves space for plenty of action on the water !
Boats
The racing will take place in America’s Cup Class yachts. First created in 1990, the yachts have been featured in the America’s Cup Match since 1992. They are between 80 and 90 feet long and weigh between 23 and 24 tons. The yachts are built of a sandwich construction with carbon-fiber over a Nomex honeycomb core.
