In Bermuda, Sweden's Artemis Racing, Emirates Team New Zealand, Groupama Team France, Britain's Land Rover BAR and SoftBank Team Japan are hoping to win the right to challenge the defender Oracle Team USA.
Six crews are racing in Bermuda in May and June for the coveted America's Cup, the oldest trophy in international sport, which is as much a design as a sailing race.
Oracle Team USA is the holder of the cup, which is known as the "Auld Mug", after claiming a stunning comeback victory over Emirates Team New Zealand in San Francisco in 2013.
In Bermuda, Sweden's Artemis Racing, Emirates Team New Zealand, Groupama Team France, Britain's Land Rover BAR and SoftBank Team Japan are hoping to win the right to challenge the defender Oracle Team USA.
The crews are competing in state-of-the-art "foiling" 50-foot catamarans. These are powered by a towering "wing" sail and lift out of the water on hydrofoils, even in light winds. This allows them to reach speeds of around 50 knots, which is approaching 100 kilometres per hour.
Here is a run-through of the stages of racing:
LOUIS VUITTON AMERICA'S CUP QUALIFIERS (May 27-June 3)
* All the crews, including Oracle Team USA, race each other twice in a series of one-on-one 'match' races. A point is awarded for a win and the overall winner gets a bonus point that they take into the America's Cup itself, while the crew with the lowest score is eliminated from the competition. Land Rover BAR goes into the qualifiers with two bonus points for having won the 2015-2016 America's Cup World Series, while runner-up Oracle Team USA has one bonus point.LOUIS VUITTON AMERICA'S CUP CHALLENGER PLAY-OFFS (June 4-8)
* Oracle Team USA as defender will have to sit on the sidelines of Bermuda's Great Sound until a challenger is selected. The play-offs are effectively the semi-finals, with the four surviving crews split into two pairs for eight head-to-head "match races". The crew which gets to five wins first in each semi-final will go through into a final.
AMERICA'S CUP CHALLENGER PLAY-OFFS (June 10-12)
* The final of the play-offs decides who will be the challenger for the 35th America's Cup. There are nine races scheduled and the first to win five goes through.
AMERICA'S CUP MATCH (June 17-18 and June 24-27)
* Only four countries, the United States, Australia, New Zealand and Switzerland, have won the cup since the schooner "America" first claimed it off the south coast of England in 1851. If one of the finalists was also the winner the Louis Vuitton America's Cup Qualifiers, they will start with a one point bonus. There are 13 races scheduled and the crew which notches up seven wins first will get to lift the America's Cup. In the last America's Cup, Oracle Team USA came from 8-1 down against Emirates Team New Zealand to win, showing that crews can make significant improvements as the racing progresses.
(This article has not been edited by DNA's editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)
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