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Factbox: Cup challenger Oracle Posted: Thursday January 09, 2003 7:05 PMAUCKLAND (Reuters) -- Factbox on United States syndicate Oracle BMW Racing, who will sail against Swiss syndicate Alinghi in the America's Cup challengers' series final starting on Saturday: BACKGROUND: Software billionaire Larry Ellison has put together the most expensive team in the regatta, a $95-million syndicate the San Francisco-based entrepreneur funded mainly out of his own pocket. Ellison built a strong new America's Cup challenger with some of the best boat designers and a sailing crew which included America's Cup veterans Paul Cayard and John Cutler, multiple world maxi and world match-racing champion Chris Dickson and current match-racing champion Peter Holmberg. Ellison is a successful sailor in his own right and raced his maxi yacht Sayonara around the world for many years. In 1998, he won the disastrous Sydney-Hobart race in which six yachtsmen died in appalling conditions. TEAM: While Oracle hired some of the best sailors in the world, their start to the Cup was turbulent and Cayard was sidelined even before the challengers' series began. After an indifferent start, the turning point came for Oracle early in the second round robin when Ellison replaced skipper Holmberg with long-time sailing partner Chris Dickson, who had been sidelined to shore duties. Dickson's first move was to force Ellison off the boat and recall Holmberg to the helm. Oracle have looked a different team ever since. Oracle's design team are led by Bruce Farr, who designed the two Young America boats which were widely recognised as the fastest boats in the 1999/2000 Louis Vuitton Cup. Oracle represent the Golden Gate Yacht Club. Their two boats are USA-71 and USA-76 and they will use USA-76 for the final. The team's two main sponsors are Compaq and BMW. PROGRESS: Oracle started slowly but went on to win 12 of their 16 round-robin races to finish second after the qualifying stages. Oracle then beat bitter U.S. rivals OneWorld 4-0 in the Challengers' quarter-finals but were then thrashed by Alinghi by the same score in the "double chance" semi-final group. That defeat forced them into the semi-finals repechage, where they again won four straight races to eliminate OneWorld. FINALS: The best-of-nine Louis Vuitton Cup challengers' final will begin on January 11. The winners of that series will sail against holders Team New Zealand in the America's Cup in February 2003.
Copyright 2003 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. |
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