Louis Vuitton has announced plans to inaugurate a new World Series of sailing, beginning with a regatta in Nice in November.

The Louis Vuitton World Series has been created while the America’s Cup is locked in the protracted court battle between Oracle and Alinghi.

The event will be undertaken in association with a new professional sailing group called the World Sailing Team Association (WSTA).

Billed as ‘dynamic and ambitious’, the race programme will be a development of the highly successful Louis Vuitton Pacific Series held in Auckland earlier this year.

The format will have 10 teams racing one-on-one in a round-robin series before the top two go head-to-head in a final.

The circuit begins in Nice in November, and moves to Auckland in March before heading to La Maddalena in Italy in May.

Eight entries have so far been confirmed for the Nice regatta including Team New Zealand, Oracle, the K-Challenge and Mascalzone Latino from the last America’s Cup.

Source: newstalkzb – Photos: Sail-world.com