AC 72 Team Oracle boats photo D Ramey Logan

Oracle Team USA is an American

yacht racing Yacht racing is a sailing sport involving sailing yachts and larger sailboats, as distinguished from dinghy racing, which involves open boats. It is composed of multiple yachts, in direct competition, racing around a course marked by buoys or ...

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 The 33rd America's Cup between Société Nautique de Genève defending with team Alinghi against Golden Gate Yacht Club, and their racing team BMW Oracle Racing was the subject of extensive court action and litigation, surpassing in acrimony even ...

regatta in 2010 – representing the

Golden Gate Yacht Club The Golden Gate Yacht Club (GGYC) is a San Francisco, California, U.S. based yacht club founded in 1939. History In 1939 the first members built a clubhouse on a barge in the San Francisco Marina. After the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake severely ...

. The team also won the 34th America's Cup in 2013. The syndicate was initially named ''Oracle'' for the 2003 campaign and backed primarily by

Larry Ellison Lawrence Joseph Ellison (born August 17, 1944) is an American business magnate and investor who is the co-founder, executive chairman, chief technology officer (CTO) and former chief executive officer (CEO) of the American computer technology ...

, the 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 by mutual agreement of both partners, BMW was bringing to a close its longstanding partnership with Oracle Racing and thereby ending its involvement in the America's Cup. Subsequently, the syndicate was renamed to ''Oracle Team USA'' to compete for the 2013 34th America's Cup.

History

31st America's Cup (2003)

The team was created by purchasing the assets of

Paul Cayard Paul Pierre Cayard (born May 19, 1959) is an American yachtsman and professional sailor. He has competed at multiple world championship level sailing events, including the America's Cup, the Whitbread Round the World Race, the Volvo Ocean Rac ...

’s AmericaOne syndicate which was the losing finalist against

Luna Rossa Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli, originally named Prada Challenge, then Luna Rossa Challenge, is an Italian sailboat racing syndicate first created to compete for the 2000 America's Cup. It won the Louis Vuitton Cup on their first attempt in 2000, but ...

in the 2000

Louis Vuitton Cup The Louis Vuitton Cup was the name of the Challenger Selection Series sailing competition from 1983, named after its sponsor, Louis Vuitton. The winner of the competition became the challenger to compete with the defender of the America's Cu ...

. 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. Bob Wylie was a key member of the 2003 team contributing mainly to the tactics. Oracle reached the finals of the

2003 Louis Vuitton Cup The 6th Louis Vuitton Cup was held in Auckland, New Zealand, in 2003. The winner, Alinghi, went on to challenge for and win the 2003 America's Cup. The teams The Yacht Club Punta Ala was the challenger of record. Alinghi Founded by Swiss busi ...

, losing to Alinghi 5–1.

32nd America's Cup (2007)

BMW Oracle Racing through the GGYC was the Challenger-of-Record for the

2007 America’s Cup The 2007 America's Cup was the thirty-second challenge for the America's Cup and was won by Alinghi in the 7th race. The Cup is the most famous and most prestigious regatta and '' Match Race'' in the sport of sailing. As per the Deed of Gift ...

which was held in Valencia,

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

. BMW Oracle Racing, lost to Luna Rossa Challenge 5 to 1 in the

2007 Louis Vuitton Cup The 2007 Louis Vuitton Cup held in Valencia, Spain, from April 16 to June 6 was the event used to select the challenger for the 2007 America's Cup. Eleven potential challengers competed in the competition which consisted of two round robins, t ...

Semi Finals.

33rd America's Cup (2010)

Larry Ellison hired

Russell Coutts Sir Russell Coutts (born 1 March 1962) is a world champion New Zealand yachtsman. Early and personal life Coutts was educated at Otago Boys' High School (1975–1979) and is a Life Member of Paremata Boating Club, where he learnt to sail in ...

to be the CEO of the

campaign. In July 2007, the

, sponsoring BMW Oracle Racing, filed a challenge with the

Société Nautique de Genève The Société Nautique de Genève is a yacht club based in Geneva (Switzerland). It was founded in 1872 with the goal of developing nautical sports and high level sailors. Currently the club has about 3000 members. The club held the America's Cup ...

for the

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,

was declared Challenger of Record and sailed against SNG's team: Alinghi, in February 2010 in Valencia,

. 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. The rigid wing sail of ''USA 17'' provided a decisive advantage and Golden Gate Yacht Club won the

2010 America's Cup The 33rd America's Cup between Société Nautique de Genève defending with team Alinghi against Golden Gate Yacht Club, and their racing team BMW Oracle Racing was the subject of extensive court action and litigation, surpassing in acrimony even ...

by a considerable margin.

2011–13 America's Cup World Series

Oracle Team USA competed in the 2011–13 America's Cup World Series. In August 2013, the competition jury received a report from Oracle Team USA that their boat and others they had loaned had unauthorized modifications. The team withdrew from the competition on 8 August 2013. Penalties imposed included expelling three team members, a $250,000 fine, and a one-point penalty for each of the first two races of the Match in which they would otherwise score a point.

34th America's Cup (2013)

Oracle Team USA's Larry Ellison declared that the 34th America's Cup would be sailed on AC72 class wing-sail

catamarans A Formula 16 beachable catamaran Powered catamaran passenger ferry at Salem, Massachusetts, United States A catamaran () (informally, a "cat") is a multi-hulled watercraft featuring two parallel hulls of equal size. It is a geometry-stab ...

. Oracle Team USA experienced the first major accident involving the new AC72 class, when the boat capsized during training off

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

on October 16, 2012. Oracle Team USA successfully defended the trophy and won the 2013 America's Cup on September 25, 2013. They accomplished this achievement by coming back from 7 points down and one point away from defeat in the series, and completing the largest in-series comeback in America's Cup history. ''

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...

'' later called it "one of the greatest comebacks in sports history".

2015–16 America's Cup World Series

Oracle Team USA was runner up in 2015–16 America's Cup World Series.

35th America's Cup (2017)

Oracle Team USA was the defender of the 35th America's Cup. The event took place in the Great Sound of Bermuda in 2017, with challenger selection through the

2017 Louis Vuitton Cup The 2017 Louis Vuitton Challenger's Trophy (officially, the Trophy was given to the winner of the 2017 Louis Vuitton America's Cup Challenger Playoffs) was a sailing competition held to determine the challenger in the 2017 America's Cup. The tourn ...

on June 5–25. The finals against Emirates Team New Zealand were June 17–26. The new

AC50 The AC50 (defined in the America's Cup rules as AC Class yacht, or ACC) was a wingsail catamaran A Formula 16 beachable catamaran Powered catamaran passenger ferry at Salem, Massachusetts, United States A catamaran () (informally, a "ca ...

class rule governed the races; Oracle Team USA launched their yacht in February 2017. Oracle Team USA ultimately lost the challenge 7–1 to Emirates Team New Zealand.

36th America's Cup (2021)

Oracle Team USA did not issue a challenge within the initial challenging deadline for the 36th America’s Cup presented by Prada, June 30, 2018, ending Oracle's fifteen year presence in the Cup races. Oracle Team USA skipper James Spithill previously indicated he was returning to challenging team Luna Rossa for that competition.

Boats

The BMW Oracle/Oracle USA team has owned a number of boats, including: * '' USA 71'', trial boat for the 2003 America’s Cup. * '' USA 76'', race boat for the 2003 America’s Cup. * '' USA 87'', used in preparations for the 2007 Louis Vuitton Cup. * '' USA 98'', raced in the Louis Vuitton Cup 2007 campaign. * '' USA 17'', trimaran. Sailing with a rigid wing sail, she won the

, in a Deed of Gift match against SNG/Alinghi Valencia. * ''17'', an AC72 catamaran for the 2013 America's Cup defence. Extensively damaged in a 16 October 2012 capsize. * '' Oracle Team USA 17'', an AC72 catamaran. Successfully defended in the

2013 America's Cup The 34th America's Cup was a series of yacht races held in San Francisco Bay on September 2013. The series was contested between the defender Oracle Team USA representing the Golden Gate Yacht Club, and the challenger Emirates Team New Zealand ...

. * ''17'',

wing sail catamaran. Unsuccessfully defended the

2017 America's Cup The 2017 America's Cup was the 35th staging of the America's Cup yacht race. The challenger, Emirates Team New Zealand, won by a score of 7 to 1 over the defender, Oracle Team USA. It was held on the Great Sound in Bermuda from June 17 to June 2 ...

Miscellaneous

The team also appeared on the Series 20 premiere of ''

Top Gear Top Gear may refer to: * "Top gear", the highest gear available in a vehicle's manual transmission Television * ''Top Gear'' (1977 TV series), a British motoring magazine programme * ''Top Gear'' (2002 TV series), a relaunched version of the or ...

'', emerging victorious in what was called by some a ''Cat Vs. Car'' race. Set in New Zealand, it matched Oracle in its AC45 with

James May James Daniel May (born 16 January 1963) is an English television presenter and journalist. He is best known as a co-presenter of the motoring programme '' Top Gear'' alongside Jeremy Clarkson and Richard Hammond from 2003 until 2015. He also ...

as a passenger against

Jeremy Clarkson Jeremy Charles Robert Clarkson (born 11 April 1960) is an English broadcaster, journalist, game show host and writer who specialises in motoring. He is best known for the motoring programmes '' Top Gear'' and '' The Grand Tour'' alongside R ...

in a rented Toyota Corolla or

Toyota Auris The is a compact car derived from the Corolla, manufactured and sold by Toyota. Introduced in 2006, the first generation three/five-door hatchback shared the platform with the E150 series Corolla, while the second generation five-door hatchba ...

from the northern tip of the

Coromandel Peninsula The Coromandel Peninsula ( mi, Te Tara-O-Te-Ika-A-Māui) on the North Island of New Zealand extends north from the western end of the Bay of Plenty, forming a natural barrier protecting the Hauraki Gulf and the Firth of Thames in the ...

to the northern tip of New Zealand's North Island.

References

External links

Oracle RacingGolden Gate Yacht Club
{{Authority control 2000 establishments in the United States Oracle Team USA Larry Ellison