Sometimes it seems the America's Cup is fought in the courtroom, not on the water. Rules are bent, broken, contested, protested.
But the first sign of foul play is usually an irate sailor furiously waving a protest flag.
The rules of the game have been developed over 30 highly charged Cups.
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START
When the five-minute gun sounds, the boats enter from opposite ends of the startline, using every skill their crews possess to reach the start at the exact second the race begins.
The yellow boat enters from the committee-boat end, and the blue boat from the pin end.
Usually the boats fly a yellow or blue flag from their sterns, but sometimes the onboard umpires positioned on the back of the boats wear a yellow or blue bib to show which is the blue boat and which is the yellow.
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UPWIND LEGS
The leading boat will try to position itself between the rival and the wind to interrupt the competitor's air flow.
The boat behind will attack by tacking (changing direction), trying to gain clear wind. Often the pair will engage in a tacking duel: the trailing boat tacks out and the leading boat tacks to cover.
The first upwind leg is often crucial, as once a boat gains control and the lead it is extremely difficult to get past.
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DOWNWIND LEGS
On the downwind run, the trailing boat has the advantage because it may block the wind from the leader's sails.
To escape, the leading boat may gybe (change direction).
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RIGHT OF WAY
There are three basic right-of-way rules in America's Cup racing:
* When the wind comes across the sides of the boats in the opposite direction, the boat with the wind on the left (port) side has to give way to the boat with the wind on the right (starboard) side.
* When the wind comes across the same side of the boats and there is no overlapping, the boat behind (astern) must keep clear.
* When the wind comes across the same side of the boats and there is overlapping, the boat on the leeward (downwind) side of the other has the right of way.
If you break these rules, you will be forced to complete a penalty turn immediately, or before the end of the race.
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PENALTIES
If a team feels that an infringement has occurred, they will fly a yellow and red/orange flag (Y flag).
The umpires then make a decision on the incident as they saw it. Each sailing boat is identified as either yellow or blue.
If one of the boats has fouled, the umpires will fly the flag that represents the colour of the boat in the wrong (either blue or green).
However, in the America's Cup the umpires have lights on the back of the umpires' boat that flash the colour of the boat penalised (either blue or green).
That penalty turn must therefore be taken before the end of the race.
If the umpires fly a red flag as well, then the penalty must be taken immediately.
If there is no penalty deemed, a green and white flag is flown.
If a rule is deliberately or seriously violated the umpires may fly a black flag, which disqualifies one of the teams from the race.
The umpires may also fly a purple flag, meaning there has been a huge windshift and both teams are allowed to use spinnakers on the upwind legs (normally disallowed).
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DEED OF GIFT
The founding document of America's Cup competition is the
Deed of Gift
under which George L. Schuyler, sole surviving owner of the schooner America, donated the cup to the New York Yacht Club as "a perpetual Challenge Cup for friendly competition between foreign countries" in 1887.
Schuyler and a group of New Yorkers led by NYYC commodore John Cox Stevens had won the cup after racing against British yachts at Cowes in 1851.
2002 Louis Vuitton regatta format
Poster: 1851 Royal Yacht Squadron regatta at Cowes
America's Cup Deed of Gift - 1887
Protocol governing the thirty-first America's Cup
(28 pages)
(51 pages)