The 35th America's Cup format explained

Team New Zealand sailing against Artemis at the America's Cup. Photo / ACEA

Oracle Team USA taking part in the challenger series? Points carried over from another regatta? One team eliminated after just a week?

Yep, the format for this year's America's Cup in Bermuda has more quirks than a Comic-Con. If you're struggling to get your head around how this thing all works, you're not alone.

Here we attempt to break it down for you.

Part 1: Louis Vuitton America's Cup qualifiers

Team New Zealand have booked a spot in the semi-finals after key race wins this week. Photo / www.photosport.co.nz

We're now into the second round robin of the qualifying series, which features the five challengers and, for the first time in Cup history, the defender.

Oracle will be feeling pretty good about their chance of qualifying for the Cup match, because they actually did that about four years ago with their successful defence in San Francisco.

Nevertheless, they have inserted themselves in the challenger series. Russell Coutts, head of the America's Cup Events Authority and Oracle Team USA, has disingenuously suggested this was done to "create more value for the all-important US market". But it is in reality nothing more than a chance to Oracle to size up their opposition.

The biggest danger for any defender is to take on an unknown challenger that is battled-hardened from the challenger series.

After the round robin phase wraps up this weekend, Oracle will excuse themselves from the competition and the top four challengers will advance through to the Louis Vuitton America's Cup play-offs.

That means one challenger will be eliminated after a week of competition.

Part 2: Louis Vuitton America's Cup play-offs

Oracle Team USA in their Round Robin two race of the America's Cup Qualifiers against Groupama Team France. Photo / www.photosport.co.nz

What was used to be the Louis Vuitton challenger finals has been renamed the America's Cup play-offs, because play-offs sound more sportsy and exciting.

The play-offs (see you're hooked already aren't you) begin with a first-to-five win semifinal series, in which the top challenger gets to pick their opponent, while the two remaining teams also duke it out.

This is quite a fun rule, because it forces the top challenger to single out the weakest link.

Remember, the scoreboard after the qualifiers could be deceiving as British team Ben Ainslie Racing went into the regatta with a two point advantage by virtue of taking out the (entirely separate and mostly irrelevant) America's Cup World Series last year. So it's only fair the leading challenger gets to pick their own opponent.

The winner of each semifinal advances through to the challenger final, which is also a first-to-five wins series.

Part 3: The 35th America's Cup match

The 'Auld Mug' on display as the skippers look on. Photo / www.photosport.co.nz

This is the big one, where the Auld Mug goes the line. Oracle Team USA, the defender, will take on the winner of the challenger final in a winner-takes-all showdown on the Great Sound. Remember, there is no second. Actually, you don't have to remember that, you'll be reminded ad nauseam throughout the Cup match.

It is a first-to-seven series, but, and you'll need to bear with me here, that doesn't necessarily mean the first to seven wins.

You see, along with deciding that they will race in this week's qualifiers, Oracle also decided that the winner of the qualifiers will get to take a point into the Cup match. So if Oracle win this stage of the regatta, as they are poised to do, they will take a point through. If a challenger wins the qualifiers, that point only comes into play if they make it through the play-offs and advance to the Cup match.

But rather than add that point to the winner's tally, instead their opposition will start the match on minus one. This is because organisers wanted to ensure that the Cup match would go to at least seven races.

The America's Cup final will be rapid fire races, with two races a day, but after race four, the regatta will break for five days so we can all have a cup of tea and take stock.