Racing starts off North Head on Friday. Photo / Greg Bowker
The 10 international teams assembled in Auckland for the event last night learned for the first time where they were seeded. From there a ceremonial draw took place to select the daily pairings for the racing that will start off North Head on Friday.
The pools were determined
by seedings based on past results, or in the case of the new syndicates, in order of entry.
Emirates Team New Zealand heads pool A, with BMWOracle Racing likely to be the only real threat in the group. But with Team NZ advancing straight through to the final, the round robin stages of the regatta will be purely a training run for the Kiwis.
Pool B, which features top seeds and America's Cup holders Alinghi along with Luna Rossa and Team Origin, looks to be the strongest pool.
The Oracle boats - USA 86 and USA 92 - have been assigned to pool B for the round robin stage of the regatta, with pool A drawing Team New Zealand's yachts.
A bleak weather forecast forced yesterday's practice to be called off, with organisers instead scheduling a maintenance day, originally set down for tomorrow.
The teams have just two more days to familiarise themselves with the inner workings of the two sets of boats.
* Pacific Series teams
Pool A: Team New Zealand, K-Challenge, BMWOracle Racing, Damiani Italia Challenge, China Team.
Pool B: Greek Challenge, Team Origin, Team Shosholoza, Alinghi, Luna Rossa.The battle lines have been drawn in the inaugural Louis Vuitton Pacific Series regatta.
