America's Cup Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Contents
• Base Rules
  • Preparation
• Sailing Lessons
  • Boat Position and Movement
  • Using Cards on the Close-Hauled Side and the Downwind Side
  • Turn Sequence
  • Using Cards on the Downwind Side
  • Forbidden Manoeuvres
  • The Cards
  • End of the Race
• Advanced Rules
  • Advanced Preparation
  • The Crew
  • Start Procedure
  • Close-Hauled Side: The Sequence
  • Head Cover (Copertura di Prua)
  • Downwind Cover (Copertura di Poppa)
  • Into the Wind (Controvento)
• Regatta
• Tournament
• Sailing Terminology

Contents

The game contains:

• 1 large game board, divided into 6 sections to be assembled like a puzzle
• 12 metal hulls
• 12 die-cut cardboard sails (6 with the spinnaker raised and 6 without)
• 1 deck of special cards
• 2 "Crew" boards
• 2 coloured wooden buoys
• 6 transparent plastic tokens
• 1 scoring pad
• 1 rulebook

Players: 2 to 6.

Base Rules

Preparation

1. Assemble the game board, which shows the racecourse, by fitting the 6 sections together. (Figure 1 shows the direction of the wind.)
2. Each player chooses a sail colour and takes two die-cut sails of the chosen colour (the one with the spinnaker and the one without), mounting them on two hulls.
3. Place the two buoys on the red dots at the two ends of the game board.
4. Draw lots to decide who begins, and place the two boats as shown in Figure 1.
5. Deal 6 cards to each player.

Sailing Lessons

Before starting the actual game, follow these brief "lessons", which explain how the boats move. Only after learning these basic techniques can you begin the real competition.

Boat Position and Movement

The particular layout of the game board, designed to simulate as accurately as possible the real movements of an America's Cup sailing yacht, means that the boats can have two different angles relative to the game board, shown in Figure 2. From the two possible basic positions, the boats can advance in the manner shown in the figure. Each of these advances costs 1 Movement Point (we will see later that the Movement Points available depend on the cards played).

Figure 2: the red and blue boats are following different courses. To reach one of the points highlighted in their own colour, the two boats spend 1 Movement Point. The dashed lines show how the tokens will be positioned at the end of the chosen movement.

The part of the card usable on the close-hauled side (lato di bolina) is the one showing the boat without the spinnaker raised. Cards with the green symbol can be used when your boat is on starboard tack (mura a dritta), i.e. pointing towards the large green triangle printed on the game board, and cards with the red symbol when it is on port tack (mura a sinistra), i.e. pointing towards the large red triangle. The value shown on each card is the number of Movement Points available for your move. The other values shown on the card (those with the rudder symbol) are used only with the advanced rules. For now, you may ignore them.

Using Cards on the Close-Hauled Side and the Downwind Side

During a match race, the boats repeatedly sail a course delimited by two buoys. Immediately after the start, to reach the first buoy, the boats move in the direction opposite to the wind. This stretch of the course is called the "close-hauled side" (lato di bolina). Once past the buoy, the boats return to the starting point, now with the wind behind them. This stretch is called the "downwind side" (lato di poppa).

Since the boats cannot move directly into the wind, the close-hauled side is sailed in the typical "zig-zag" pattern. By contrast, the downwind side is sailed by raising the spinnaker and heading straight for the buoy, as fast as possible.

When a boat passes a buoy and goes from the close-hauled side to the downwind side, you replace the marker with the one carrying the spinnaker. Vice versa when going from the downwind side to the close-hauled side.

Turn Sequence

On your turn, you must play one of your cards in order to move your boat. The colour of the card played must match the direction of the boat. After playing the card and moving the boat, you must draw another card from the deck and pass the turn to your opponent.

In the unlikely event that you have no suitable cards (for example, you have 6 red cards while your boat points towards the green side), you must skip your turn, but you may discard all of them and draw 6 others.

Using Cards on the Downwind Side

The turn is identical, but you must turn over the cards in your possession and use the side showing the boat with the spinnaker raised. Obviously, on the downwind side it cannot happen that the cards in your possession do not allow you to move.

Forbidden Manoeuvres

It is forbidden to position your boat so that your opponent has no possibility of moving. Conversely, you may position yourself so as to force your opponent to change course.

It is also forbidden to move in a direction directly opposite to that of the wind, as shown in Figure 3, and it is forbidden to end a movement with the bow of the boat pointing into the wind.

Figure 3: the blue boat has its bow pointing exactly into the wind. Its movement is limited to the two points indicated. (Labels in the figure: wind direction; downwind.)

The Cards

Now that you have learned the basic concepts of boat movement on the game board, we can describe the cards. First, note that all cards are divided into two parts: one is used when sailing the close-hauled side, the other when sailing the downwind side. In practice, once you pass a buoy, going from one side of the course to the other, you must turn over the cards in your possession.

End of the Race

Each race consists of three close-hauled sides and three downwind sides. The winner is the first to cross the finish line at the end of the last downwind side. (Of course, you may decide to play a shorter or longer race by decreasing or increasing the number of laps to be completed.)

Advanced Rules

The advanced rules let you simulate in great detail most of the manoeuvres actually performed by the boats during a match race. You may decide to use all the advanced rules or only some of them, as you choose.

Advanced Preparation

1. Assemble the game board, with the buoys in the correct position.
2. Each player chooses a sail colour and takes two die-cut sails (the one with the spinnaker and the one without) of the chosen colour, mounting them on two hulls.
3. Each player takes a Crew board (the one showing the boat with all the crew members) and three transparent tokens.
4. Each player chooses the 3 key positions of his boat (see "The Crew").
5. Shuffle the cards and prepare for the start procedure.
6. Carry out the start procedure.
7. At the end of the start procedure, deal 6 cards to each player.

The Crew

An America's Cup yacht is sailed by a crew of 16 men plus a possible guest, each of whom is assigned a specific task. For the game, we have selected 8 "positions", each marked with a number. These positions, with the role of the respective crew members, are shown on the "Crew boards".

At the start of the race, each player must decide which 3 key positions of his boat are to be used, and mark them with as many tokens. On the cards, three numbers are shown, identified by the rudder symbol. These three numbers correspond to the eight crew positions.

When a player plays a card on which a number corresponds to one of the three chosen positions, he gains ONE CREW POINT, which he may use, but only in the same turn, to perform particularly tight tacks and special manoeuvres that give him an advantage over his opponent. For each CREW POINT, the player may make a tack keeping the bow of the boat still and moving its stern, as shown in Figure 5.

The player may decide to use CREW POINTS at any moment of the turn, but only once per turn. The player may also use only part of the CREW POINTS available to him; unused points are lost and cannot be accumulated for later turns.

Figure 5: the blue boat can change its course using up to a maximum of 3 CREW POINTS. Note that, unlike the tacks made using MOVEMENT POINTS, those made using CREW POINTS are much tighter. In practice, the bow of the boat is kept still and only the stern moves. At the end of these tacks, the boat can be moved using the MOVEMENT POINTS shown on the card, even though it has now completely changed direction.

Start Procedure

In reality, the initial phase of every match race involves the boats manoeuvring for a period of time without ever crossing the start line, with the aim of getting into the best possible position at the moment the cannon sounds to mark the beginning of the competition. To simulate this start procedure, you must place the two boats as shown in Figure 4.

Figure 4: start line, wind direction, buoy, jury boat.

Then each player draws a card from the deck and turns it face up in front of him. In this phase, you use the values shown on the half of the card intended for the close-hauled side, without considering in any way the position of the boat, even in relation to the direction of the wind. In practice, on each turn you will have from 2 to 5 Movement Points to use.

The player must use all the Movement Points available, moving his boat freely, without regard to the direction of the wind. The only rules to follow are the following:

1. The player may never manoeuvre so as to place the opponent's boat in a position where it cannot move.
2. The player must absolutely not cross the start line. This operation is repeated until both players have manoeuvred 5 times. At that point, the position of the two boats determines which player will be first to begin the actual race. The boat closest to the start line begins, or, in case of a tie, the boat closest to the starting buoy.
   • If a player crosses the start line on his last manoeuvre (the fifth), but without fully passing it with his hull, he suffers a penalty consisting of staying still for one turn.
   • If a player crosses the start line before the last manoeuvre, or crosses it completely with his hull, he is disqualified and loses the race.

At the end of the start procedure, the two boats must move across the start line. If you have drawn two cards with the same value, draw again until you obtain two different numbers. The player who obtained the higher value moves his boat first.

Close-Hauled Side: The Sequence

On the close-hauled side, cards must be played according to a precise sequence. When a tack (bordo) is begun, a card of value 2 must be played. This card must be placed in front of the player, to indicate that a "sequence" is starting, which allows the boat to exploit the wind and accelerate up to its maximum possible speed.

The rule is that the player may always play a card of equal value to, or immediately higher or lower than, the last card played. If a player is unable to respect this rule, he interrupts the sequence. Once interrupted, a sequence can be started again only by playing a 2.

If a player is unable to start a sequence, he must discard a card of his choice, of any colour. This gives him the right to 2 MOVEMENT POINTS with which to manoeuvre his boat. These points CANNOT be used to start a sequence, so on the next turn the player CANNOT play a 3. CREW POINTS on the discarded card CANNOT be used.

When a player makes a tack that changes the direction of his boat, passing from starboard tack (mura a dritta) to port tack (mura a sinistra) or vice versa, he must begin a new sequence.

As in the Base rules, if a player does not have cards of the right colour, he may show them and exchange them all, but he loses the turn.

Head Cover (Copertura di Prua)

When a boat is downwind of the other, it suffers a penalty of 1 MOVEMENT POINT. A boat is downwind when it touches one of the points indicated in Figure 6.

Figure 6: the points downwind of the red and blue boats, which are sailing on different courses. A boat that began its turn in contact with one of these points would lose 1 MOVEMENT POINT.

Downwind Cover (Copertura di Poppa)

On the downwind side, a boat gains cover over its opponent when the stern of the latter is in contact with one of the points indicated in Figure 7.

Figure 7: the sails of the blue boat produce a series of turbulences that adversely affect whoever is downwind. In the game, the points shown in blue are those where this effect occurs. If the stern of the opposing boat is on one of these points, its speed is reduced by 1 MOVEMENT POINT.

Into the Wind (Controvento)

When a boat, moving using MOVEMENT POINTS, finds itself into the wind, that is, with its bow pointing in the direction opposite to the wind, the movement stops IMMEDIATELY and any Movement Points still available are lost. If the player makes a tack using CREW POINTS, he may ignore the into-the-wind rule.

When a boat begins its turn into the wind, the player may play a red or green 2 of his choice, thereby starting a sequence, or discard a card and use 2 Movement Points. In every case, the move must begin with a tack, because a boat cannot move into the wind.

Regatta

The game kit allows a regatta to be played with up to 6 crews (each represented by 2 boats, one for the close-hauled side and one for the downwind side). We recommend playing this type of race using the Base rules rather than the advanced rules.

Tournament

If you wish, you can organise a real tournament, using the scoring pad to keep track of the challenges, results and standings. In a tournament, each player must face all the others once, earning 1 point for each victory and 0 points for each defeat. At the end, the two crews with the highest scores face each other to decide the award of the America's Cup.

Sailing Terminology

• ANDATURA (point of sail): the direction of progress relative to the wind. If the wind strikes the boat at an angle greater than 90°, the point of sail is defined as "running" (portante).
• BOLINA (close-hauled): the point of sail of a boat sailing towards the wind.
• BORDO (tack / leg): a stretch of sea sailed on the same heading.
• DRITTA (right / starboard): the right-hand side.
• FIOCCO (jib): triangular foresail.
• GENOA: large headsail.
• GRINDER: large winches whose crank handle is separate from the body of the winch itself.
• LASCO (reach): a point of sail on a course of 100-130 degrees relative to the wind direction.
• MURA (tack side): the side of the hull struck by the wind.
• ORZARE (to head up): to bring the bow closer to the direction from which the wind blows.
• POPPA (stern): the rear part of the boat.
• PRODIERE (bowman): a crew member who handles operations at the bow.
• PRUA (bow): the front part of the boat.