BMW Oracle Racing
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
BMW Oracle is a sailboat racing syndicate, initially formed to compete in the 2003 America's Cup (as Oracle BMW Racing). The syndicate is backed primarily by Larry Ellison, who made his billions from Oracle's database software. The team name was revised in August 2004 to BMW Oracle, a reflection of the German company's increased role within the team.
The team was created out of the ashes of Paul Cayard's AmericaOne syndicate (which lost the 2000 Louis Vuitton Cup to Prada in an epic battle) when Cayard sold the lion's share of his assets to Ellison's new Oracle syndicate. The syndicate got off to a rocky start with changes in the skipper position, going through Cayard, Chris Dickson and Peter Holmberg. Also, the St. Francis Yacht Club was unwilling to give Ellison the free hand he wanted in running the challenge for the 2003 America's Cup, so Ellison took his money down the road to the Golden Gate Yacht Club. This is a very well funded syndicate. It made it to the finals of the 2003 Louis Vuitton Cup, losing to Alinghi 5-1. Now BMW Oracle is the Challenger-of-Record for the next America's Cup which is to be held in Valencia, Spain in 2007. BMW Oracle and Alinghi are doing a lot to remake the America's Cup into a more exciting, more profitable event, including fleet racing in San Francisco Bay using a large handful of powerful International America's Cup Class boats.
[edit] Boats
With the launching of their newest boat in January 2007, BMW Oracle owns 4 IACC boats. USA 71 and USA 76 were built for the 2003 America's Cup while USA 87 and USA 98 are built for the 2007 America's Cup.
USA 87: On March 26th, 2006, BMW Oracle christened their new hull "USA 87." There are many differences to the hull that has created speculation in the yachting world. The hull is 2 feet shorter than the older boat "USA 76" and features a bow sprit. While this boat was initially believed to have a tandem keel, it is now accepted that the boat uses a conventional single strut keel.
USA 98: USA 98 was delivered in January 2007 to BMW Oracle's base in New Zealand. They will be test sailing against USA 71 until they move to Valencia.
