| Oracle Racing | |
| Yacht Club: | Golden Gate Yacht Club |
| Established: | 2000 |
| Nation: | United States |
| Team Principal: | Larry Ellison |
| CEO: | Russell Coutts |
| Skipper: | James Spithill |
| Notable Victories: | America's Cup; 2010 |
| Sail Numbers: | IACC: USA-71, USA -76, USA-87, USA-98 Multihull: USA-17 (trimaran) |
Oracle Racing is an American sailboat racing syndicate initially formed to compete for the 2003 America’s Cup. They competed again in the 2007 event before winning the 33rd America's Cup regatta in 2010 - representing the Golden Gate Yacht Club.
The syndicate was initially named simply Oracle for the 2003 campaign and backed primarily by Larry Ellison, the wealthy co-founder and CEO of Oracle Corporation, but was renamed in August 2004 to Oracle BMW Racing to reflect the German company's role, and subsequently revised again to BMW Oracle Racing to reflect increased involvement from BMW. At the end of December 2010, it was announced that BMW was bringing to a close its longstanding partnership with ORACLE Racing and thereby ending its involvement in the America's Cup; this was by mutual agreement of both partners.[1]
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The team was created by purchasing the assets of Paul Cayard’s AmericaOne syndicate which was the losing finalist against Luna Rossa in the 2000 Louis Vuitton Cup. The syndicate got off to a rocky start with changes in the skipper position, alternating between Cayard and Chris Dickson, to Dickson alone, to Peter Holmberg and then back to Dickson. Oracle reached the finals of the 2003 Louis Vuitton Cup, losing to Alinghi 5-1.
BMW Oracle Racing was the Challenger-of-Record for the 2007 America’s Cup which was held in Valencia, Spain. BMW Oracle Racing, lost to Luna Rossa Challenge 5 to 1 in the 2007 Louis Vuitton Cup Semi Finals.
Larry Ellison hired Russell Coutts to be the CEO of the 33rd America's Cup campaign. In July 2007, the Golden Gate Yacht Club, sponsoring BMW Oracle Racing, filed a challenge with the Société Nautique de Genève for the 33rd America's Cup stating that they did not believe that SNG's hand picked challenger, Club Náutico Español de Vela (CNEV) was a qualified club under the Deed of Gift.
After extensive court action, Golden Gate Yacht Club was declared Challenger of Record and sailed against SNG's team: Alinghi, in February 2010 in Valencia, Spain.[2] The competing boats, Alinghi 5 and USA 17 were both 90-foot multihulls.
BMW Oracle Racing won the America's Cup on February 14, 2010, off Valencia, Spain, beating Alinghi 2-0 in the best-of-three series and becoming the first American syndicate to win the cup since 1992.[3] The rigid wing sail of USA 17 provided a decisive advantage and Golden Gate Yacht Club won the 2010 America's Cup by a considerable margin.
BMW Oracle Racing owns four IACC boats. USA 71 and USA 76 were built for the 2003 America’s Cup while USA 87 and USA 98 were built for the 2007 America’s Cup.
USA 87: On March 26, 2006, BMW Oracle Racing christened “USA 87”. The hull is two 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 and was evaluated against USA 71 until transfer to Valencia, Spain for the Louis Vuitton Cup 2007 campaign.
USA 17 is a trimaran measuring 90-foot (27 m) length-on-waterline, maximum beam of 90-foot (27 m), and length overall of 113-foot (34 m). She was launched on the 22nd of August 2008 in the city of Anacortes, Washington, USA. The boat was BMW Oracle Racing's entry for a Deed of Gift match against SNG/Alinghi that took place in February 2010 in Valencia. The yacht's mainsail is a rigid wing that is 224-foot (68 m) tall and some 55 percent larger than the wing of an Airbus 380 airplane, making it the largest rigid wing ever.
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