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America’s Cup World Series Preview

Four of the six teams racing in Fukuoka, left to right: Artemis Racing (SWE), BAR Land Rover (GBR), SoftBank Team Japan and Groupama Team France, sailing on Friday.

© 2016 Phil Uhl

The first America’s Cup racing ever to be held in Asia begins today and concludes tomorrow in the final Louis Vuitton America’s Cup World Series event, hosted by Fukuoka on Kyushu Island, Japan.

"The six teams went out for a practice race today," reports our contributing photographer, Phil Uhl. "Conditions were better than expected rainwise, but not much wind and it was overcast for most of the racing. Tomorrow’s forecast is for 100% chance of rain or thunderstorms."

Ideally, three races will be run each day. For those of us who can’t make it to Japan, here’s the lowdown on following the racing:

Live race coverage is available on Facebook (to be streamed today and Saturday, 8 p.m.-9:30 p.m. PST and on mobile devices via the America’s Cup app in most countries, including the USA. NBC Sports will show highlights on Sunday night at 9:30 p.m. PST.

SoftBank Team Japan, skippered by Kiwi Dean Barker, is the ‘home team’.

© Phil Uhl

Six teams will compete in foiling AC45 catamarans. Sir Ben Ainslie’s British team, Land Rover BAR leads by 14 points going into the Fukuoka event. Points earned on Sunday are doubled. The overall winner of the America’s Cup World Series will carry forward two points — basically equivalent to two wins in the round-robins — into the Louis Vuitton America’s Cup Qualifiers, the opening round of the 2017 America’s Cup in Bermuda.

We look forward to recapping the event next week in ‘Lectronic Latitude and in the December issue of Latitude 38.

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Having made the 4,000-mile crossing from Panama several weeks previously, a cruising cat arrives at the entrance to Cook’s Bay, Moorea, site of the annual Tahiti-Moorea Sailing Rendez-vous.