1 The third round-robin of the America's Cup trials bring higher stakes, particuarly for the foreign challengers.
2 'Round one and round two were very much practice rounds to sort things out,' New Zealand skipper Chris Dickson said. 'Round three is reality.'
3 Crews will have a chance to gain ground in the third round because victories are worth four points, double that of round two.
4 'If we don't do well in this round-robin, we're dead,' said Syd Fischer, navigator and syndicate head of Sydney 95.
5 Team New Zealand leads the Louis Vuitton Cup for challengers with 16 points. Dickson's NZL-39 and John Bertrand's oneAustralia are tied for second with 13 points, followed by Nippon with 10 and France3 with 7.
6 Then it gets really grim, with Sydney 95 having only four points and winless Spain none.
7 But the chase for more points may have to wait a day. The forecast for Tuesday called for 25 knots of wind and rough seas, conditions that can cause serious damage to the carbon-fiber racers.
8 If there is racing Tuesday, it'll be Sydney 95 vs. France3, Nippon vs. Team New Zealand and NZL-39 vs. Rioja de Espana. Sydney 95 will have its third different helmsman this regatta, Colin Beashel. Bertrand's new oneAustralia yacht drew a lay day.
9 In the Citizen Cup defender race, Kevin Mahaney's Young America is scheduled to race the all-female crew of America3. Dennis Conner's Stars and Stripes drew a lay day.
10 The seven challengers race each other once in each round. The three defenders sail against each other three times per round.
11 Young America and Stars and Stripes are tied for the Citizen Cup lead with nine points, while America3 is third with only three points.
12 In the fourth round, victories are worth five points for the challengers and seven for the defenders. At the end of the fourth round, three of the seven challengers will be eliminated.
13 Since all three defenders reach the semifinals, 'it's nothing life and death' in the third round, said Paul Cayard of Stars and Stripes.
14 But the syndicates will still try to sail well the next two rounds to try to get the top seeding for the semifinals.
15 All challenger and defender syndicates except America3 modified their yachts enough to require remeasuring. Those changes could include new keels or rudders, moving weight around the boat or even moving the mast.
16 Bertrand will one-up everyone with a new yacht.
17 'We put a running rail around it so nobody leaves it during the race,' joked oneAustralia chief executive Peter Morris. He was referring to a race on Feb. 2 when Bertrand, the 1983 America's Cup winner, lost his balance and fell overboard. He grabbed a spinnaker sheet and was pulled on board.
18 The new Aussie yacht is the one that was involved in a controversy last year.
19 Several syndicates contended that oneAustralia and Sydney 95 conspired to form a super syndicate in an attempt to circumvent a rule limiting syndicates to two new yachts.
20 But an international jury found that the two clubs were separate entities and neither had built more than two new boats.
21 'It was a long time coming by process of a difficult birth,' Morris said.
22 Still, Morris said there's a good chance another syndicate will protest.
23 'It's the America's Cup,' Morris said. 'There's a couple of these syndicates who don't attach too much importance to a jury's decision.'

The third round - robin of the America ' s Cup trials bring higher stakes , particuarly for the foreign challengers .
America ' s Cup
What sport is played at the America's Cup?