In the first official presentation of the team since becoming the Challenger of Record for the 33rd America’s Cup, team owner Larry Ellison thanked his team for their dedication and promised to leave no stone unturned in their quest to win back the oldest trophy in sports for the United States.
To that end, the team also confirmed the trimaran it has been sailing in sea-trials, BOR 90, will undergo further testing and modifications before emerging as USA, the boat the team will use to challenge for the America’s Cup in six months time. CEO and Skipper Russell Coutts announced that helmsman James Spithill will be driving the team’s boat in the 33rd America’s Cup. The team will continue testing in San Diego until November… DetailsÂ
James Spithill, the helmsman of BMW ORACLE Racing is the man entrusted with taming the 90-foot by 90-foot behemoth the sailing cognoscenti has dubbed ‘Dogzilla’. He appears to have been made for the challenge.
Spithill was barely out of his teens when he burst onto the America’s Cup scene as the skipper of Young Australia, a youth challenge for the oldest trophy in sport, that turned heads in 1999, in Auckland.
Although the team didn’t win often, its lack of experience and old equipment were hurdles too high to climb, they conducted themselves with maturity beyond their years and won enough battles to get noticed. Many from that team have forged careers in the America’s Cup since, including their skipper.
Today, at the ripe old age of 30, Spithill, has three America’s Cup campaigns to his credit. He was hired by BMW ORACLE Racing shortly after the end of the last event in Valencia, Spain … Details
Sail-World’s recent story on the state of the proposed AC33 venue at Ras al Khaimah (America’s Cup: Images from Ground Zero in Ras al-Khaimah? ( click here to view ) provoked two very different responses from our readers:
A Dubai resident and ex-Hong Kong sailor wrote to us saying:
‘You really think it (AC33) will be held in RAK? I doubt it. The venue hasn’t been constructed yet and this place has a history of failing to build anything on time. The pictures of the venue show that it will be an island with no road access, and around here nobody would dream of walking more than two metres to get to anything… there is precious little sailing in this place, I have done some racing in Dubai, and it was rubbish.’  … Details
BMW Oracle Racing have confirmed that they do not have a second yacht under construction and that they will challenge with the trimaran, BOR90, which is again sea-trialling in San Diego after major modifications.
Challenge spokesman Tom Ehman confirmed, in a media statement, after today’s New York Supreme Court Hearing that BOR90 would be renamed ‘USA’ and her dimensions would be used to produce the Customs House Registry certificate which has to be issued by the US authorities.
‘We are very satisfied with today’s court session and the discussion around the Custom House Registry,’ Ehman said after the Hearing in front of Justice Shirley Kornreich…Â Details & PicturesÂ