Over the next few days, Auckland's Waitematā Harbour will play host to flying foiling monohulls as the world gets its first taste of what's to come in the America's Cup through the regatta's World Series.
The series will see the four syndicates – Team New Zealand, Luna Rossa, INEOS TeamUK and American Magic – tussle through two round robin cycles, earning a point for each race win.
After the completion of the round robin on Saturday evening, the final standings will be used to determine the match-ups for the Christmas Cup knockout competition on Sunday.
However, should there be a tie in the standings at the end of the round robins, things get a touch complicated.
There are a handful of potential tiebreakers, the first being that the team with the lowest number of completed races will get the higher seed. There's every chance we see teams not able to finish races given this is the first competitive racing they will be doing in their AC75s, while there's also a chance conditions could impact a day's proceedings as racing must be completed before 6pm.
The second option is, once round robin play is completed at the end of day three, what will determine a team's outcome is their win percentage - the number of wins divided by the number of its races, irrespective of whether the numbers of races are different between competitors. From there, whichever tied team has the highest number of races completed will be the higher seed.
Things get much easier to follow beyond that; with the head-to-head record in races between the tied teams, and winner of last race between tied teams being the next two tiebreakers.
In the Christmas Cup, there should no need for a tiebreaker given it's a knockout tournament, however, in the unlikely event that one is needed – in which neither team is able to complete the race – whichever team reached the highest speed will win the tie.
Team New Zealand will be in the first race of the America's Cup World Series. Photo / Dean Purcell
Racing in the World Series gets underway this afternoon, with the first round robin beginning when Team New Zealand meet Luna Rossa just after 3pm. Each team will race twice today, Friday and Saturday, and are guaranteed two races in Sunday's Christmas Cup.
The top seed after the World Series will meet the lowest in the first knockout stage, with the middle two teams squaring off as well.
Enjoy smooth sailing to the Cup with Auckland Transport
• Avoid traffic congestion and parking niggles and download the AT Mobile app to plot your bus, train or ferry ride to race venues before you leave home.
• Make sure your AT HOP card is in your pocket. It's the best way to ride to the Cup
