The best sailors in the world will be in Italy later this month as Sardinia
prepares to host 10 top sailing teams at the Louis Vuitton Trophy La
Maddalena from 22nd May through 6th June.
Three Italian entries, including the host Mascalzone Latino Audi Team,
Azzurra and Luna Rossa will be battling with teams such as the Defender of
the America's Cup, BMW ORACLE Racing and perennial favourite Emirates Team
New Zealand, for supremacy on the sparkling waters of the Mediterranean Sea.
An innovative regatta format has been developed that will allow all teams
the greatest opportunity to advance to the next step, while rewarding teams
who do well with second chances.
Initially, each team will sail every other team once in a single round robin.
The top eight teams will advance to the next stage and the round robin
seeding will continue to be used in later stages. Doing well in the round
robin will have its rewards.
"Having each of the teams sail each other at least once is very important,"
said Peter 'Luigi' Reggio, the Principal Race Officer for the regatta. "The
teams really want this opportunity."
In the middle elimination rounds, top-ranked teams are matched against the
lower ranked teams - that's one of the rewards for doing well early - and the
winning teams keep advancing, through to a semi final and final.
"If a top seed loses in the middle rounds, they'll get a second chance to
earn a way back in. Conversely, if a lower ranked team gets hot and starts
winning, they'll keep racing. It's an interesting and fair format."
The teams will race on four equalised America's Cup Class boats supplied by
the event - ITA 90, ITA 99, USA 87 and USA 98. The boats have now arrived on
site and will be prepared for racing.
The logistics team is also now working in La Maddalena as the event
organisers begin preparations to host the 10 teams, their friends, families,
partners and sponsors, as well as sailing fans from around the world.
La Maddalena is small town (population near 12 000) on an island with the
same name that sits just one nautical mile off the Northeast coast of
Sardinia and offers up some of the most stunning backdrops for sailing in the
Mediterranean.
The race village will be set up about one kilometre to the east of the centre
of town, near the southeast corner of the island.
The 10 teams competing in the Louis Vuitton Trophy La Maddalena represent
eight countries
* Aleph, FRA, skipper Bertrand Pacé
* All4One, FRA/GER, skipper Jochen Schümann
* Artemis, SWE, skipper Paul Cayard
* Azzurra, ITA, skipper Francesco Bruni
* BMW ORACLE Racing, USA, skipper James Spithill
* Emirates Team New Zealand, NZL, skipper Dean Barker
* Luna Rossa, ITA, skipper Ed Baird
* Mascalzone Latino Audi Team, ITA, skipper Gavin Brady
* Synergy, RUS, skipper Karol Jablonski
* TEAMORIGIN, GBR, skipper Ben Ainslie
Racing in the Round Robin is scheduled to start on the 22nd May, with teams
training on site beginning on the 18th May.
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.

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