Sailing: The rich and willing head full force for towering sea of tears

America's Cup: On the rolling waters off New Zealand money, equipment and crews will burn up in pursuit of sailing's grail

Who will be the first billionaire to blink and will it be to stifle some heart and wallet-rending sobs? For tears before bedtime there will be as the elimination trials for America's Cup XXXI – with Britain back among the contenders – kick off here a week tomorrow.

Nine syndicates are hoping to win the Louis Vuitton Cup and with it the right to go head-to-head with the defending Team New Zealand come February. The other eight teams will not be invited to the main event.

New Zealand is a long way from the United States and Europe; the outcome feels a long way off. There is much hope that the Cup will move, preferably to Europe. The structure of the Louis Vuitton Cup means that the weaker teams will be swiftly and brutally dumped along the way.

If at the end of that competition the first British team to throw down the gauntlet since Australia's calamitous defence at Fremantle in 1987 is still in the running it will be a remarkable achievement indeed. The American's Cup, a trophy from 1851 that was promptly lost by Britain in that jubilee year to a cunningly planned assault by the New York Yacht Club, could return home. Do not bet your pension fund on it, though, even at the generous odds being offered by William Hill.

Time and money have been the stumbling blocks to Britain retrieving the Cup. Not because there has not been enough money, just not enough time to spend it. Ask Eddie Jordan if he would like Ferrari's budget to play with and you have some measure of the task facing a British team crammed with talent and being funded by around £22m by Peter Harrison, who sees the America's Cup as a vehicle to realise more than mere sporting ambitions.

Harrison and his skipper Ian Walker have made it clear in the build-up that expectations should be tempered with modesty and realism this time round. Walker, however, remains upbeat. No one really knows how things will go, but he adds: "As race day approaches you eliminate uncertainty and anxiety. We are in great shape. There is a nice feeling of calm and confidence ahead of the storm."

The America's Cup Ferraris line up in the shapes of the Swiss Alinghi challenge, backed by the pharmaceuticals billionaire Ernesto Bertarelli, the San Francisco-based Oracle-BMW team, masterminded by the computer software guru Larry Ellison, the Seattle group OneWorld, funded by telecoms millionaire Craig McCaw and Paul Allen, Bill Gates' right hand man at Microsoft, and the Prada fashion house of Patrizio Bertelli.

Between them, these princes of commerce are writing cheques for about $300m (£193.5m). Prada are the Louis Vuitton Cup holders, but were made to look like frightened rabbits when the headlight glare of TNZ was turned on them in 2000. They lost 5-0 and were said by some to be lucky to score nil.

Add to these four contenders the wily experience of Team Dennis Conner, the Swedish dark horses who have had to cope with the death of their syndicate leader Jan Stenbeck and a second Italian team, Mascalzone Latino, and there are enough unknowns to trip up some of the leading lights.

In a town where the rumour mill runs in overdrive, the only consensus is that the French challenge is in disarray. They also face some protests from the local branch of Greenpeace, who have not forgotten the sinking of the Rainbow Warrior. The French, to further stoke the fires of protest, are sponsored by France's nuclear conglomerate, Areva.

Also facing some barracking is Russell Coutts, the Olympic gold medallist and twice America's Cup winner for his country, now skipper of the Swiss challenge. In any case, the French could be packing their sailing bags and heading home at the end of the month as they are one of the favourites to be knocked when the fleet is reduced to eight.

At that point, a truly dominant team could make it to the contest for the America's Cup by sailing and winning 13 races. But if a challenger were to struggle all the way – with the bests of seven and nine races and all the repêchage stages sailed – that team could have competed in some 37 races.

The Italians claimed they were burnt out by the time they had to race New Zealand, so the fewer races the better for the challenger. A bonus for making it through quickly is that more sails can be built and tested without having to register them as official race equipment. The hard route burns up equipment and crews.

The defending New Zealanders need a boat that can sail up to nine races in February, though they will have tested all their equipment thoroughly first. The challengers must race through the unpredictable spring weather, but they have set an upper limit of 22 knots and a nine-knot lower for a start to take place.

The rumours doing the rounds here in Auckland concern weird and wonderful designs, especially forward rudders and tandem keels. The Swiss, the British, Conner and Team New Zealand have all been singled out. Any benefit would be at a cost and, in big yacht racing, cost does not always lead to benefit.

The race for the right to challenge for the Cup will be won by not just the swiftest but the best-managed syndicate. It will only take a few days for a pecking order to emerge. Then it will be time for tears

AMERICA'S CUP THE SCHEDULE

The holders, Team New Zealand, will face the winner of the Louis Vuitton Cup for the America's Cup, a best-of-nine series from 15 February to 1 March. The Louis Vuitton is decided over the preceding four months. All the elimination races take place in the Hauraki Gulf. Teams face each other one-on-one over 18.5 mile courses. There are six legs of three miles each, three upwind, three downwind.

All nine challengers race against each other once in two rounds robin. The first is scheduled for 1 to 11 October, the second for 22 October to 1 November. The boat with the least points is eliminated, leaving two groups of four to contest the quarter-finals. The first group – the leading four boats – splits into two pairs, the top boat on points choosing their opponents. Both pairs race a best-of-seven series. The second group hands the choice of opponent to the fifth-placed boat overall and these four syndicates race off from 12 to 19 November.

The winners of the top two pairs go through to the semi-finals. The losers meet the winners of the top two pairs in the second group in a best-of-seven repêchage, from 23 to 30 November. The winners of the two top groups of four meet in one best-of-seven semi-final and the two repêchage winners in the other, from 9 to 16 December. The losers from the top group meet the winners of the third and fourth parings in a repêchage, from 20 to 28 December. The best-of-nine final runs from 11 to 21 January, 2003.

AMERICA'S CUP TEAM BY TEAM GUIDE

Le Defi Areva
Country: France
Heads: Pascal Herold, Luc Gelluseau and Pierre Mas
Skipper: Luc Pillot
Sail Nos: FRA 69, FRA 79
Budget: £20m.
Website: www.ledefi.com

The French arrived late with one and a half new boats – the first boat is a cannibalised version of their 2000 yacht – and are playing catch-up. Aside from the distraction of protests against their sponsors, their skipper Luc Pillot and helmsman Phillipe Presti have only just settled their differences. Yet hopes are high on the team who reached the semi-finals in 1999.

Mascalzone Latino
Country: Italy
Head: Vincenzo Onorato
Skipper: Paolo Ciann
Sail No: ITA 72
Budget: £15m
Website: www.mascalzonelatino.com

Not here to win but feeling confident enough to extend options on their accommodation into the second month. Vincenzo Onorato says he could not take part without being a member of the crew, but will leave the helming to Paolo Ciann. Time – the syndicate has only been established for around 20 months – is his main concern. They would like to beat fellow Italians Prada.

Prada Challenge
Country: Italy
Head: Patrizio Bertelli
Skipper: Francesco de Angelis
Sail Nos: ITA 74, ITA 80
Budget: £40m.
Website: www.pradalunarossa.com

The Louis Vuitton Cup winners of 2000 have just kept going, matching their expenditure on the last campaign but without having to meet any of the infrastructure costs. Francesco de Angelis is expected to team up again with the tactician Torben Grael, but the syndicate leader Patrizio Bertelli wields a powerful influence on the team, not always constructively so.

Victory Challenge
Country: Sweden
Founder: Jan Stenbeck
Skipper: Mats Johansson
Sail Nos: SWE 63,SWE 73
Budget: £20m.
Website: www.victorychallenge.com

The Swedish entry has continued to make progress despite the death of Jan Stenbeck this summer. Mats Johansson leads a Scandinavian squad which includes the double Olympic gold medallist Jesper Bank and the Swede Magnus Holmberg, the world's top-ranked match racer. The developing designs of Mani Frers will create a few headaches for the opposition.

Alinghi Challenge
Country: Switzerland
Head: Ernesto Bertarelli
Skipper: Russell Coutts
Sail Nos: SUI 64, SUI 75
Budget: £45m
Website: www.alinghi.com

Having enticed not just the Kiwi Russell Coutts but Brad Butterworth, Simon Daubney, Warwick Fleury, Murray Jones, Dean Phipps and Richard Bouzaid from the winning Team New Zealand they have also built the biggest compound in America's Cup alley. The triple Olympic gold medallist Jochen Scheumann is almost lost in the cloud of talent. Probably favourites to win the Louis Vuitton Cup.

GBR Challenge
Country: Great Britain
Head: Peter Harrison
Skipper: Ian Walker
Sail Nos: GBR 70, GBR 78
Budget: £22m
Website: www.gbrchallenge.com

Britain's first America's Cup bid for 15 years comprises a young team skippered by Ian Walker and drawn from a pool of impressive Olympic talent. The learning process has been hard, but GBR will not lack for enthusiasm nor aggression. Much depends on the speed which a design team lead by Derek Clark and Jo Richards has been able to build into two new boats. Semi-finalists?

Oracle-BMW Racing
Country: US
Head: Larry Ellison
Skipper: Peter Holmberg
Sail Nos: USA 71, USA 76
Budget: £60m
Website: www.oracleracing.com

Larry Ellison still makes the list of the 10 richest Americans and he has said that he wants to steer his own boat in the America's Cup. With designer Bruce Farr, responsible for most of the Volvo Ocean Race yachts, equally driven to win the one major title in big boat sailing that has eluded him, this is a powerfully motivated group. But internal friction has seen Cup giants Paul Cayard and Chris Dickson sidelined.

Stars & Stripes
Country: US
Head: Dennis Conner
Skipper: Kenny Read
Sail Nos: USA 66 USA 77
Budget: £35m
Website: www.stars-stripes.com

Mr America's Cup is back and representing the New York Yacht Club, for whom he lost the Cup for the first time in its history in 1983. Conner himself now leaves the running of the boat to Kenny Read, though alongside him is the tactician Tom Whidden. A seasoned team, but recovering from having their second Stars & Stripes boat sink. They may be outgunned by their US rivals.

OneWorld
County: US
Head: Gary Wright
Skipper: Peter Gilmour
Sail Nos: USA 65, USA 66
Budget: £50m
Website: www.oneworldchallenge.com

Having come through two rough legal battles, the team from Seattle can now look forward to proving how good they are on the water. With New Zealand's Cup-winning designer Laurie Davidson to provide the speed and many seasoned TNZ campaigners on board, they can give Alinghi a run for their money, although they start the competition with a one-point penalty.