The 32nd America’s Cup Regatta Format and Scoring System for the Louis Vuitton Acts and Louis Vuitton Cup.
A detailed explanation of the historic Valencia Plan.
Background
The America’s Cup is a challenge-based competition between yacht clubs, where the defending yacht club must prepare for the following America’s Cup Match as soon as it receives a challenge from a foreign yacht club. The Deed of Gift of 1887 drives this principal.
In more modern times, since 1970, a system has been devised that allows multiple challenges from different yacht clubs received during a certain time frame to be considered as simultaneous challenges and hence legal. But the Deed of Gift still talks about one challenger in a Match against the Defender. The system introduced back in 1970 was a Challenger Selection Series, a series of races designed to determine the best challenger.
Since 1983 the winning Challenger has been awarded the Louis Vuitton Cup. Commissioned by Louis Vuitton and designed by the Parisian silversmith Puiforcat, the silver trophy has, for the challengers, become the passport to the America’s Cup Match.
The objective of the Louis Vuitton Cup Challenger Selection Series has always been twofold: to find the best of the challengers and to ensure that Challenger is adequately prepared to meet, and defeat, the Defender.
Format of the 32nd America’s Cup
For the 32nd America’s Cup this structure is the same with the Louis Vuitton Cup racing determining the identity of the Challenger which will face the Defender during the America’s Cup Match. There are, however, several significant evolutions to the 32nd running of the most important event in yachting. The first is the introduction of the Louis Vuitton Acts, 13 regattas sailed in four different European venues from 2004 through early April 2007. From 2005, all Challengers and the Defender for the 32nd America’s Cup are required to compete. The second major evolution is the use of fleet racing -- six of the 13 Acts are entirely fleet racing regattas where all boats will take the start together, six Acts consist entirely of match racing where a one on one format is used, and one, the first one, the Marseille Louis Vuitton Act 1, was a combination of both.
In recent times most America’s Cup cycles have occurred every three or four years. The racing however has always only taken place at the end of the cycle, usually the last four or five months. Sometimes during the two and a half years leading up to the start of the Challenger Selection Series (and Defender Selection Series when there were multiple defense candidates) there was a “World Championship” or some exhibition regattas in equalized boats, but never anything that counted for points towards the main event. With the advent of the Louis Vuitton Acts and their associated points system now known as the Valencia Plan, history is being made as a new Cup era commences.
The scoring system for the Louis Vuitton Acts
From the beginning of the 2005 season the Louis Vuitton Acts count. For each successive year of the 32nd America’s Cup (2004, 2005, and 2006) there is an annual Louis Vuitton America’s Cup Class Championship with the winning team is crowned champion as a result of collecting more points from the Louis Vuitton Acts in each particular year than its opponents. In 2004, the championship was won by Emirates Team New Zealand.
These annual points are then used for a second purpose. The creation of a second ranking system called the Louis Vuitton Ranking. In brief, the Challengers (excluding Alinghi) are awarded Ranking Points based on their results in each Act 2005-2007. While the Defender Alinghi also participates in the Acts, its results are omitted for the purposes of awarding Challenger Ranking Points. At the end of Louis Vuitton Act 14 (the ‘Fleet Race Regatta’ in early April 2007), the challengers will be ‘ranked’ 1st through 11th based on their Challenger Ranking Points. Bonus Points are then awarded in order team rank and these are carried into the Louis Vuitton Cup challenger selection series that begins on the 18th April 2007.
As to the details, beginning with Louis Vuitton Act 4 in 2005, Challengers collect Ranking Points according to their finish in each Act (after the influence of the Defender, Team Alinghi, has been removed) – 11 points for finishing first, 10 for second, 9 for third, and so on. The Louis Vuitton Acts in a given year are weighted more heavily with each passing year: in 2005 x 1, 2006 x 2 and the 2007 Fleet Race Regatta x 3. So the Louis Vuitton Ranking points a challenger collects for each Act is the finishing points (minus the influence of the Defender) multiplied by the weighting factor. For example, winning Act 4 scores 11 points (11 x 1), winning Act 10 in 2006 scores 22 points (11 x 2), and winning the final Louis Vuitton Act, the Fleet Race Regatta in 2007, scores 33 points (11 x 3).
(The Acts sailed in 2004, which were sailed before the final Challenger entry deadline of 29th April 2005, are multiplied by zero and hence do not count towards the Louis Vuitton Ranking.)
Each challenger’s overall ‘Louis Vuitton Rank’ (1st through 11th) is based on total Ranking Points. The final ranking list at the end of the Valencia Louis Vuitton Act 14 will determine the number of bonus points awarded to challengers at the start of the Louis Vuitton Cup Rounds Robins.
The Louis Vuitton Cup
The Louis Vuitton Cup consists solely of Match Racing, with two Round Robins (each Challenger racing each of the others twice) from which four teams advance to the Semi-Finals starting 14th May, with the winners then advancing to a two-team Final beginning on June 1st. The winner of the Louis Vuitton Cup then meets the Defender in the America’s Cup Match beginning on the 23 June 2007.
The bonus points will be awarded as follows:
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Louis Vuitton Rank
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Bonus Points
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1
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4
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2
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3
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3
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3
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4
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3
|
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5
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2
|
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6
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2
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7
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2
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8
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1
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9
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1
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10
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1
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11
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1
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Significantly, the Louis Vuitton Rank will also determine the pairings order and starting line entry side for each of the challengers for the two Round Robins, and will be used for tie-breaking in non-elimination cases.
The competition to select the ultimate Challenger continues with the first part of the Louis Vuitton Cup, a double Round Robin, where each Challenger meets each of the others once per round. A win during the Rounds Robin earns a team two points. Each team races 20 matches. Therefore, during the Round Robin stage the maximum number of points possible is 40 (20 races times 2 points per win) plus a maximum four bonus points carried forward from the Acts. At the end of the two Round Robins the four challengers with the most points proceed to the Semi Finals.
Heading into the Semi Finals, the Challenger with the most points gets to choose which of the other three challengers it will race in its Semi Final series of match races. The winner of each Semi Final is the first team to win five matches.
In turn the winners of the Semi Finals advance to the Louis Vuitton Cup Finals, another first-to-win-five-race series. The winner will then meet Team Alinghi, the Defender, in the 32nd America’s Cup Match beginning on the 23rd of June.
Powerful influence
Winning races during the Louis Vuitton Acts and winning the Acts themselves will help give a Challenger an advantageous position in the Louis Vuitton Cup. Being the top-ranked Challenger after the last Act in 2007 gives a clear advantage of one point over the chasing pack, two points (or one race win) over the middle group, and three points over the last four teams, the equivalent to one and a half wins in the Round Robins. Having a high Louis Vuitton Rank is also all-important when it comes to breaking any ties at the end of the Rounds Robin.
Not only are the Louis Vuitton Acts new, and a powerful influence on the outcome of the Challenger Selection Series, but they become more important with each passing year: in 2005 each of the six Louis Vuitton Acts counts for 6.7% of the points making up a challenger’s Louis Vuitton Rank, each of the three 2006 Louis Vuitton Acts counts for 13.3%, and 2007’s sole Act (the Fleet Race) counts for a solid 20%. The ability of the Defender to measure up against the challengers who are fighting their own battles will be more than interesting -- especially during the final Valencia Louis Vuitton Act 14 in 2007.
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