America's Cup: Teams take to water in first official day of practice

Emirates Team New Zealand's Te Rehutai trainng in light winds on the Waitemata Harbour with Code Zero sail. Photosport / Chris Newey

Four America's Cup teams will spend the first official day of practice on Course E today.

Team New Zealand and challengers Ineos Team UK, Luna Rossa and American Magic will engage in an official capacity for the first time.

Regatta director Iain Murray says it's effectively a troubleshooting warm-up day today and on Thursday before proper practice racing starts on Friday.

"We're not scheduling races. But the teams have the ability to line up on the race course area with other teams. As you would expect there will be people wanting to make the most out of the day and part of that is seeing how they're going," Murray said.

The course has best land viewing from Maraetai with practice set to take place between 3-6pm.

The first three days of the World Series will see four races per day of round-robin competition when all of the four teams will race each other twice.

The fourth day (Christmas Cup race) will be comprised of two knockout stages, the first consisting of two head-to-head matchups, with the winners of each progressing to the final and the losers to a third/fourth match which will help decide the final rankings.

The pairing for the Christmas race semifinals will be decided by the results of the World Series double round-robin.

The Prada Cup, contested between the three challengers, starts on January 15 with the winner advancing to the America's Cup match - and the chance to dethrone Team NZ from March 6.

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

• For more ways to enjoy race day, visit at.govt.nz/americascup