America's Cup: Race conditions confirmed for challengers series
The syndicate that eventually takes on Team New Zealand for the Americas Cup will be well prepared, after the race conditions for an exhausting challenger series were confirmed. The Prada Cup challenger series will consist of four round robins of three races each, starting on January 15. They then have a seven-race semifinal starting on January 29 and a 13-race final between the two leading teams, starting on February 13. Challenger of record Luna Rossa of Italy confirmed that each win will score one point. READ MORE: * America's Cup: Team New Zealand proving Te Aihe's reliability in Auckland's winter * America's Cup: Race to get broadcast system tested * America's Cup: Team NZ may leave posh base early in council deal * America's Cup dates won't change * Youth America's Cup boat passes first test The challenger with the highest score at the end of the round robins will go straight through to the Prada Cup final. The remaining two teams will race again in the semifinal, which will essentially be a repechage. The first team to win four races in that will qualify for the final. The first team to score seven points in the challengers final will win the Prada Cup and will challenge the defender, Emirates Team New Zealand for the Americas Cup. The Americas Cup match is set to start on March 6, 2021. At present there are just three confirmed challengers: Luna Rossa, INEOS Team UK and American Magic. American Magic are already well into the build of their Auckland base and are expected to be sailing on the Waitemata Harbour soon. A fourth syndicate, Stars + Stripes, from California, continues to be in the mix with little evidence of their ability to reach Auckland in time for racing. The race conditions also confirmed that teams must declare their boats measurement configurations before the start of each bracket of racing and they wont be allowed to change them. That will particularly impact the choice of foils, which at the last Americas Cup in Bermuda 2017, were allowed to be changed regularly, needing only to be confirmed the night before racing. The new rule means teams will need to gamble on foils for lights winds or heavier conditions, though it seems likely they will try to develop a set of foils comfortable across a range of conditions for Aucklands varied summer weather. Team New Zealand will have just one opportunity to gauge their boat against their opposition when they contest the Christmas Cup world series regatta, to be sailed in mid-December. The defenders will then sit things out for three months, training and testing, until their opponent is confirmed.