America's Cup World Series 2011-2012 - Format and Scoring

America's Cup World Series Format and Scoring

Also See:
Cascais Race Results Page | America's Cup World Series Cascais Race Schedule

The America's Cup World Series (ACWS) for 2011-2012 consists of several regattas in multiple countries.

In general the format will feature an opening weekend of fleet races followed by an ACWS Match Race Championship over four days, and finishing up with an ACWS Fleet Racing Championship on the final day of the regatta.

ACWS Phases:
Scroll down for more details on Match Race

The first three days of the Match Racing Championship consists of daily fleet races followed by daily match races. The top six competitors based on these results qualify to compete in single elimination Quarter-finals and Semi-finals, followed by a three-race Match Race Final. The top 1 and 2 qualifiers advance directly to the Semi-Finals, while qualifiers 3,4,5, and 6 must win in the Quarters to advance. See diagrams below. When time does not permit, as in the case of a late start to the day's racing, the lower seeded match races will be dropped from the day's schedule. For August 10, only the 1-2 Seed Match Race will be sailed.

Basic Format:

First Saturday and Sunday:

AC Open: Fleets races will be sailed on the Opening Weekend, along with the AC 500 Speed Trial following the Fleet Racing.

Monday and Tuesday:
Rest Days, no Racing.

Wednesday, Thursday, Friday:

AC Match Race Championship: Seeding via Fleet and Match Racing

Six Races per day as follows:

Three Daily Fleet Races:

Fleet Races are planned to be 20 minutes in length, with 10-minute breaks between races.

Each 1st place finish in the fleet races is worth 10 points for seeding, 2nd place is worth 9 points, and so on. The top three pairs of teams after fleet racing face each other in single daily match races to earn qualifying points, hoping to advance to the Quarter-finals or beyond. When time does not permit, as in the case of a late start to the day's racing, the lower seeded match races will be dropped from the day's schedule. For August 10, only the 1-2 Seed Match Race will be sailed.

Three Daily Match Races:

All Qualifying Match Races are planned to be 20 minutes in length, with 5-minute breaks between races.

Saturday:

Match Racing Bracket

After three days of combined racing, the top six teams in the overall standings qualify to advance to the Match Racing Bracket. The #1 and #2 qualifier do not race until the Semi-Final, when they face the Quarter-Final winners. Quarter-Finals and Semi-Finals are single-elimination. The Semi-Final winners meet in a best-of-three Final.

Top Six Teams Advance:

All Match Races are planned to be 20-minutes in length.
Quarter-Final and Semi-Final: 5-minute breaks between races.
Final: 10-minute breaks between Final races, and before start of Final Race 1.

Sunday:

Fleet Race: AC World Series Championship Cascais

One 40-minute fleet race will be held.

Overall Results:

Finishing position in the Match Race and Fleet Race divisions count toward season Championship. Initial schedule of points awarded by placement in the standings is as follows:

This is the latest version of the regatta format, released by ACRM/ACEA on July 8, 2011. An initial format and scoring plan was issued by America's Cup Race Management (ACRM), on May 31, 2011. The main difference is that the final Sunday now consists of a single 40-minute fleet race. Earlier communications described multiple short races, with scoring based on cumulative finishes for the day, and as an added incentive, later races would have received increasing weight in the day's standings. In addition, our previous description of some of the seeding and qualifying was inaccurate regarding some details of the process. We apologize for any confusion.

Additional Links and Info:

Visit Official America's Cup website