How the America's Cup Works

The America's Cup is a match race — a one-on-one duel between two boats, the defender and a challenger — but getting to that final showdown is a competition in itself. Understanding the structure is the key to following it: first the challengers fight among themselves, then the survivor takes on the holder. Here is how it works.

A match race, not a fleet race

Unlike most sailing, where a fleet of boats races together, the America's Cup final is a match race: just two boats, one against the other, in a series of duels. On one side is the defender, representing the club that currently holds the Cup. On the other is a single challenger. Match racing is its own art — starts, tactics and covering your opponent matter as much as raw speed.

Step 1: the challenger selection series

Usually several clubs want to challenge, and they can't all race the defender. So they first compete against each other in a challenger selection series — currently branded the Louis Vuitton Cup. The teams race through a round-robin and knockout, and the overall winner becomes the sole official challenger. Meanwhile the defender trains and watches, waiting to see who emerges.

Step 2: the Match

The winner of the challenger series then faces the defender in the America's Cup Match — a best-of series of one-on-one races. The first boat to win the required number of races wins the Cup (affectionately called the "Auld Mug"). The victorious club takes the trophy and, with it, the right to host and defend the next edition.

Who makes the rules

The whole contest sits under a nineteenth-century legal document, the Deed of Gift, which has governed the Cup since 1857. Within that framework, the detailed rules — crucially, the type of boat — are agreed for each edition between the defender and the first accepted challenger, the Challenger of Record. This gives the current holder real influence over the terms of the next fight, which has made the negotiations between editions almost as fierce as the racing.

The boats: the AC75

Today the Cup is sailed in the AC75 — a 75-foot foiling monohull that lifts clear of the water on canting hydrofoils and sails at breathtaking speed, well beyond the speed of the wind. It is the cutting edge of the technology explained in foiling and hydrofoils, and it makes the modern Cup one of the fastest, most spectacular events in sailing.

For the history and significance behind all this — including Australia's famous 1983 win — see what is the America's Cup. And to see where it sits relative to the racing this campaign does, our guide to grand-prix yacht racing covers the wider high-performance scene, with the sailing terms glossary for the vocabulary.