The 2007 Louis Vuitton Cup held in Valencia, Spain, from April 16 to June 6 was the event used to select the challenger for the 2007 America's Cup. Eleven potential challengers competed in the competition which consisted of two round robins, two semi-finals and a final. The winner was Emirates Team New Zealand, who challenged the defender Alinghi in June 2007 for the America's Cup.

Teams Team name Yacht club Country External link Skipper/Helmsman Emirates Team New Zealand Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron Dean Barker BMW Oracle Racing Golden Gate Yacht Club Chris Dickson Luna Rossa Challenge Yacht Club Italiano Francesco de AngelisJames Spithill Desafío Español 2007 Real Federación Española de Vela Karol Jabłoński Victory Challenge Gamla Stans Yacht Sällskap Magnus Holmberg Mascalzone Latino - Capitalia Team Reale Yacht Club Canottieri Savoia Vasco Vascotto Team Shosholoza Royal Cape Yacht Club Mark SadlerIan Ainslie Areva Challenge Cercle de la Voile de Paris Thierry Peponnet +39 Challenge Circolo Vela Gargnano Iain Percy United Internet Team Germany Deutscher Challenger Yacht Club Jesper Bank China Team Qingdao International Yacht Club Pierre Mas

Team New Zealand Managed by Grant Dalton and skippered by Dean Barker, the crew included Terry Hutchinson; navigator Kevin Hall; strategist Ray Davies; Adam Beashel; Barry Mckay; Tony Rae; Don Cowie; Chris Ward; Grant Loretz; Robert Salthouse; James Dagg; Rob Waddell; Andrew Hemmings; Jono McBeth; Matt Mason; Richard Meacham and Jeremy Lomas.

Ben Ainslie and Kelvin Harrap sailed the trial boat.

BMW Oracle Racing Skippered by Chris Dickson, the crew included Gavin Brady, Phil Jameson, Paul Westlake, Scott Crawford, Alberto Barovier, Brad Webb, Brian MacInnes, Joe Spooner, Ross Halcrow, Robbie Naismith, Bertrand Pacé, Craig Monk, Carl Williams, Peter Isler and owner Larry Ellison.

Luna Rossa Challenge Luna Rossa Challenge was led by Francesco de Angelis and helmsman James Spithill. The crew included Peter Gilmour, Francesco Bruni, mid-bowman Max Sirena, Emanuele Marino, Manuel Modena, Marco Montis, Benjamin Durham, Andy Horton, Michele Cannoni, Gilberto Nobili, Joey Newton, Shannon Falcone, Christian Kamp, Romolo Ranieri, Emanuele Marino, Andrew Taylor, Matteo Plazzi, Simone de Mari, Massimo Gherarducci, Paolo Bassani, Alan Smith, and Olympians Torben Grael, Philippe Presti, Michele Ivaldi, Magnus Augustson and Charles and Jonathan McKee.

Desafío Español 2007 Skippered by Luis Doreste, the boat was helmed by Karol Jabłoński and John Cutler was the teams tactician and technical director. The team was coached by Paul Cayard.

Victory Challenge Magnus Holmberg skippered Victory Challenge. The afterguard included Stefan Rahn, Santiago Lange, Thierry Fouchier, and Morgan Larson. The crew also included six members of the former GBR Challenge; traveller/strategist Neal McDonald, Simon Fisher, David Carr, Nik Pearson, Richard Sydenham and Ian Weighell. Jeremy Scantlebury was the sailing team manager.

Mascalzone Latino Vasco Vascotto was the skipper for Mascalzone Latino, which included helmsman Flavio Favini, Cameron Dunn, Jes Gram-Hansen, Andrea Pavan, Chris Dougall, Pierluigi De Felice, Giuseppe Brizzi, Davide Scarpa, Nacho Postigo, Giulio Giovanella and funder Vincenzo Onorato.

Team Shosholoza South Africa's first challenge, Team Shosholoza was skippered by Mark Sadler and Ian Ainslie. The crew included Italians Paolo Cian and Tommaso Chieffi.

Areva Challenge Managed by Dawn Riley, Areva Challenge was led by Thierry Peponnet and included Sebastien Col, Tanguy Cariou, Frederic Guilmin, Jean François Cuzon, Jim Turner, and Wade Morgan.

+39 Challenge From Italy, +39 Challenge included non-sailing skipper Luca Devoti, helmsman Iain Percy, and other Olympic competitors such as Rafael Trujillo and Ian Walker.

The rest of the crew was navigator Bruno Zirilli; afterguard Andrew Simpson; traveller Gabriele Bruni; runner Anthony Nossiter; trimmers Stefano Rizzi and Christian Scherrer; grinders Michele Gnutti, Chris Brittle and Pawel Bielecki; mast Alejandro Colla; mast/pitman Massimo Galli; sewerman Piero Romeo; mid-bowman Corrado Rossignoli; Andy Fethers; and bowman Jacek Wisoski.

Team Germany United Internet Team Germany was skippered by Jesper Bank and included America's Cup veteran David Dellenbaugh.

China Team Pierre Mas was the skipper of China Team which had an alliance with Le Défi. Only two of the crew were Chinese.

Round robin Round robin 2 was completed on May 9, 2007. Teams had accrued bonus points based on their results in the Louis Vuitton Acts which took place in the preceding years. For the round-robin races, two points were awarded for a win and zero for a defeat. The first four boats then progressed to the semi-finals stage of the Louis Vuitton Cup and the remainder were eliminated. As winner of the round-robin events Emirates Team New Zealand won the right to choose their opponent.

Team name Races Won Bonus pts. RR1 pts. RR2 pts. Total pts. Ranking Emirates Team New Zealand 20 17 4 14 20 38 1 BMW Oracle Racing 20 17 3 18 16 37 2 Luna Rossa Challenge 20 16 3 16 16 35 3 Desafío Español 2007 20 13 3 14 12 29 4 Victory Challenge 20 12 2 12 12 26 5 Mascalzone Latino - Capitalia Team 20 10 2 12 8 22 6 Team Shosholoza 20 9 2 10 8 20 7 Areva Challenge 20 8 1 8 8 17 8 +39 Challenge 20 5 2 4 6 12 9 United Internet Team Germany 20 2 1 2 2 5 10 China Team 20 1 1 0 2 3 11

Round robin 1

The 2007 Louis Vuitton Cup started slowly with all races postponed for the first four days of competition due to light and variable winds. There were rumors that BMW Oracle was planning on rotating the crew off the boat because they were running out of stories to tell as they sat in the boat waiting for wind. To entertain fans, some teams came up with interesting stunts. For instance, United Internet Germany came up with a way to wakeboard, by having their largest sail trimmers pull on the wakeboarder using the jib trimming system. +39, an Italian challenger, used the windless days off to continue making repairs to their mast, which shattered in a starboard-port situation with Internet Team Germany two weeks earlier, and completed mast repairs by the time racing had commenced.

The highlights for the week were not on the water, but rather off it. The Measurement Committee released the final rule interpretations. The rules state that any cup team can request an interpretation and remain anonymous. Additionally, any interpretation by the committee stays private for 6 months. Every cup team and all the media was trying to find out more about two of the final interpretations. It seems that one boat may have found a significant advantage, but everyone would have to wait until the end of the Cup to find out who and exactly what had happened.

Racing was scheduled to start on April 16, 2007, but did not get underway until April 20, 2007.

Date Team 1 Team 2 Winner Delta Timings April 20, 2007 Mascalzone Latino - Capitalia Team Emirates Team New Zealand Mascalzone Latino - Capitalia Team 0:15 +39 Challenge Areva Challenge Areva Challenge 1:09 United Internet Team Germany BMW Oracle Racing BMW Oracle Racing 2:00 Team Shosholoza Victory Challenge Victory Challenge 0:46 China Team Luna Rossa Challenge Luna Rossa Challenge 2:07 Desafío Español +39 Challenge Desafío Español 2:45 Mascalzone Latino - Capitalia Team Areva Challenge Mascalzone Latino - Capitalia Team 1:41 United Internet Team Germany Team Shosholoza Team Shosholoza 1:10 China Team BMW Oracle Racing BMW Oracle Racing 4:36 Victory Challenge Luna Rossa Challenge Luna Rossa Challenge 1:07

All the scheduled races for April 21, 2007, were postponed by the race committee to April 22, 2007, due to light winds.

Date Team 1 Team 2 Winner Delta Timings April 22, 2007 Luna Rossa Challenge United Internet Team Germany Luna Rossa Challenge 0:50 Victory Challenge China Team Victory Challenge 3:50 BMW Oracle Racing Team Shosholoza BMW Oracle Racing 0:47 Areva Challenge Desafío Español 2007 Areva Challenge 2:06 Emirates Team New Zealand +39 Challenge Emirates Team New Zealand 2:41

Some of the scheduled races for April 22, 2007, and all of the races on April 23, 2007, were postponed by the race committee until April 24, 2007, due to poor wind conditions.

Date Team 1 Team 2 Winner Delta Timings April 24, 2007 United Internet Team Germany China Team United Internet Team Germany 4:01 Team Shosholoza Luna Rossa Challenge Team Shosholoza 0:36 Victory Challenge BMW Oracle Racing BMW Oracle Racing 1:18 Areva Challenge Emirates Team New Zealand Emirates Team New Zealand 1:55 Desafío Español 2007 Mascalzone Latino - Capitalia Team Desafío Español 2007 0:39 China Team Team Shosholoza Team Shosholoza 2:05 Emirates Team New Zealand Desafío Español 2007 Emirates Team New Zealand 1:12 Victory Challenge United Internet Team Germany Victory Challenge 0:56 Luna Rossa Challenge BMW Oracle Racing BMW Oracle Racing 0:06 +39 Challenge Mascalzone Latino - Capitalia Team Mascalzone Latino - Capitalia Team 1:12 April 25, 2007 China Team Desafío Español 2007 Desafío Español 2007 2:01 Team Shosholoza Emirates Team New Zealand Emirates Team New Zealand 1:23 Areva Challenge Luna Rossa Challenge Luna Rossa Challenge 0:33 United Internet Team Germany Mascalzone Latino - Capitalia Team Mascalzone Latino - Capitalia Team 0:24 +39 Challenge Victory Challenge Victory Challenge 0:55 BMW Oracle Racing Areva Challenge BMW Oracle Racing 2:54 Luna Rossa Challenge +39 Challenge Luna Rossa Challenge 1:22 United Internet Team Germany Emirates Team New Zealand Emirates Team New Zealand 1:03 Mascalzone Latino - Capitalia Team China Team Mascalzone Latino - Capitalia Team Withdrew - Desafío Español 2007 Team Shosholoza Desafío Español 2007 0:57 April 26, 2007 Victory Challenge Areva Challenge Victory Challenge 0:05 BMW Oracle Racing +39 Challenge BMW Oracle Racing 2:14 Desafío Español 2007 United Internet Team Germany Desafío Español 2007 0:35 Mascalzone Latino - Capitalia Team Team Shosholoza Mascalzone Latino - Capitalia Team 1:56 China Team Emirates Team New Zealand Emirates Team New Zealand Withdrew - Desafío Español 2007 Victory Challenge Desafío Español 2007 0:35 Emirates Team New Zealand Luna Rossa Challenge Luna Rossa Challenge 0:48 Areva Challenge China Team Areva Challenge Withdrew - Team Shosholoza +39 Challenge Team Shosholoza 0:26 BMW Oracle Racing Mascalzone Latino - Capitalia Team BMW Oracle Racing 1:38 April 27, 2007 Areva Challenge United Internet Team Germany Areva Challenge 1:09 +39 Challenge China Team +39 Challenge Withdrew - +39 Challenge United Internet Team Germany +39 Challenge 0:57 Team Shosholoza Areva Challenge Team Shosholoza DNF

Some of the scheduled races for April 27, 2007, were postponed by the race committee until April 28, 2007, due to very light and variable winds.

Date Team 1 Team 2 Winner Delta Timings April 28, 2007 Luna Rossa Challenge Mascalzone Latino - Capitalia Team Luna Rossa Challenge 0:49 Emirates Team New Zealand Victory Challenge Emirates Team New Zealand 1:42 BMW Oracle Racing Desafío Español 2007 Desafío Español 2007 1:00 Mascalzone Latino - Capitalia Team Victory Challenge Victory Challenge 0:28 Luna Rossa Challenge Desafío Español 2007 Luna Rossa Challenge 0:37 Emirates Team New Zealand BMW Oracle Racing BMW Oracle Racing 0:38

Round robin 2

The following week brought a little wind, and although most days the race committee postponed races for wind, they were able to race most days. Although many of the results were easy to predict, a few upsets occurred in the first round robin. In the first race of the first flight, the powerhouse from New Zealand lost to the Mascalzone Latino, an Italian challenger. In the fourth flight, Shosholoza, the underdog from South Africa, beat Luna Rossa from Italy, a three time cup veteran.