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As
seen by Chris Dickson (03/30/02)
(source
: Oracle
BMW Racing) |
Chris Dickson, Oracle BMW Racing’s new CEO, announced
that one of his most urgent tasks was "to complete
the wind up and debrief analysis of the 2003 campaign”.
This is some excerpt of his review.
Larry Ellison brought me into the programme on October
23rd. As it was put to me, statistically the team
had won only 57% of its races. They had lost to Alinghi,
OneWorld, Prada and GBR. The team was in real danger
of not making the top four.
Larry and the team weren't happy that the afterguard
was working as well as it could, they weren't happy
with the communications and decision-making process
on and off the boat.
They felt the liaison between design team and sailing
team and the process by which these boats get modified
and improved technically needed looking at.
I was given a list that others identified what they
saw as being needed, and I had to get in and form
my own opinions. I worked hard on keeping all the
team working together, and getting people to work
out what their strengths were.
I concentrated on getting people to communicate and
work together in one direction – making the boat go
faster and faster – improving the decision making
processes.
It took me two weeks and that number of races to have
a better handle where people were best suited, how
we could have the team working better together, how
the information flow could be better, how the decision
making process could be improved, how we could have
that same group of talented people be in a champion
team rather than a team of champions.
My understanding is that even those who were against
the change finally accepted that the leadership, decision
making, and performance of the team was improved when
I was brought back, and supported me in my role.
Don’t forget that the core of the Alinghi team have
been together for many years and have won the last
two America's Cup’s. The Oracle BMW Racing team is
only 2 years old, and our finals team only had 2 months
together. A pretty good effort for a brand new team.
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BMW
takes positive stock from Cup involvement (03/13/03)
(source
: BMW)
|
The performance of the Oracle BMW Racing team
is put in a favourable light when the clear victory
of the Alinghi Challenge in the America’s Cup final
is taken into account.
"It is nice to be able to claim that we were
defeated by the ultimate champion", said Karl-Heinz
Kalbfell, Senior Vice President BMW Group Marketing.
"I would like to congratulate Alinghi, the Swiss
team were worthy winners."
Oracle BMW Racing came second to the Swiss Alinghi
team in the series of qualifying races for the America’s
Cup and really demanded everything of their opponents
in an exciting final.
"We started as a cup debutant and left seven
top class opponents in our wake", Kalbfell added.
"Team Oracle BMW Racing has more than fulfilled
the expectations placed upon it."
BMW regards its sailing commitment as a complete success.
According to Kalbfell the exceptional cooperation
of the German-American partners in particular had
a very positive influence.
"In just the same way as Formula 1 and golf,
this sport combines emotion and challenge with a competitive
event, as has been demonstrated by the impressive
television images", he continued. "High
performance sailing is vigourous, dynamic, technology-oriented
and searches for new challenges – just like the BMW
brand".
"The investment in professional sailing has paid
off and will subsequently strengthen our brand. At
the moment we are reviewing the national and international
options for additional sailing activities."
A good news for Mickaël Illbrück and John
Kostecki ? |
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Chris
Dickson at the helm (03/10/03)
(source
: Scuttlebutt)
|
Larry Ellison has stepped down as CEO of the
Oracle BMW Racing Team and has appointed Chris Dickson
to assume that role.
Dickson's first task is to plan the strategy, budget,
management structure and program for the next challenge.
Planning will be the main emphasis for the next six
months, and there are no plans yet for hiring, any
major developments, or commitments.
Dickson will complete the debriefing and planning
process before answering questions about specific
members of the team.
The team's short term priorities will be to race a
yacht in San Francisco this summer, fulfill the obligations
as Challenger of Record, and to complete the wind
up and debrief analysis of the 2003 campaign. |
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Oracle
Racing is the new Challenger of record (03/02/03)
(source
: Alinghi)
|
As the Swiss challenger Alinghi crossed the finish
line today to win the America's Cup for the Société
Nautique de Genève (SNG), Commodore Pierre-Yves Firmenich
received a formal challenge for the next Cup from
the Golden Gate Yacht Club (GGYC) of San Francisco.
GGYC, the club which backed Larry Ellison's Oracle
BMW Racing Team in the 2003 competition, becomes the
"Challenger of Record" for the 32nd America's Cup.
The Challenger of Record negotiates the rules for
the next event with the Defender, representing the
interests of all eventual challengers.
Commodore Pierre Yves Firmenich said, "Société Nautique
de Genève is proud to be taking the Cup event back
to Europe for the first time since 1851. It is a great
honor to have Golden Gate Yacht Club, and Mr. Ellison's
Oracle BMW Racing Team, as partners with our club,
Ernesto Bertarelli and team Alinghi as we go forward
with planning for the next event."
Bill Erkelens, ORACLE BMW Racing's General Manager,
said that the negotiations between SNG and GGYC representatives
had gone smoothly.
"Ernesto Bertarelli and Larry Ellison share the same
vision and values for modernizing the Cup. Everyone
connected with our Club and Oracle BMW are excited
to be working with Societe Nautique de Geneve and
Alinghi as their Challenger of Record."
A press conference will be held on Tuesday, March
4 at the Alinghi Base in Auckland, New Zealand to
announce details of the "Protocol" which describes
the challenge details and other ground rules for the
next America's Cup event. |
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Alinghi
could reward Oracle with CoR role (03/01/03)
(source
: Sailing
Anarchy)
|
In one of the most crucial off-the-water
decisions of the five-month America's Cup regatta,
Alinghi decides which syndicate becomes Challenger
of Record. Swiss syndicate could reward Oracle with
this powerful America's Cup role.
If it wins the cup, Alinghi has to announce the Challenger
of Record when it wins the deciding race.
The recent rumours suggested that Oracle and Alinghi
have done a back room deal ensuring that Oracle will
be the Challenger of Record for the XXXII America's
Cup.
The Challenger of Record is a pivotal position because
it negotiates with the defender over the organisation
of the next cup regatta, including consideration of
possible widespread changes.
This deal has numerous implications, and will present
some very interesting potential scenarios for the
next go around. It would appear that the AC is about
to head in a new direction. |
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As
seen by John Cutler (02/07/02)
(source
: Oracle
BMW Racing) |
(The following quotes are excerpts from an interview
with Sailing Team Operations Manager John Cutler posted
on the Oracle BMW Racing website).
Q: How do you think the campaign went from your
perspective?
Cutler: It’s been quite an interesting ride. It’s
been a long two and a half years, and we’ve had some
challenges along the way. As a team we overcame some
difficulties and setbacks and came out with a pretty
competitive boat. With a couple of minor changes and
improvements we could have been the Challenger of
the America’s Cup. Once you make it to that point,
you get another month to speed up some more. We felt
pretty comfortable that we still had more left on
the table. You hadn’t seen the best out of Oracle
BMW Racing. It was good to get as far we did; yet
frustrating to think we didn’t go quite far as we
wanted to.
Q: So, what’s the plan for you now?
Cutler: We are in our pack-up mode. We’re not sure
where the America’s Cup is going or what the future
plan for this team is. We’re packing up and doing
a series of debriefs. Everyone in the team gets debriefed
as an individual, then in a group to figure out what
we did right and what we did wrong, and what would
you do next time. Everybody is included – the young
guy who works in the yard, the weather team, the sailors,
right through to Bruce Farr and the design team. It
will take a couple of weeks to do the debriefs and
to get the best information.
Q: Are you interested in doing another America’s
Cup whether for Oracle BMW Racing or another team?
Or is your time up?
Cutler: I think I’ve got many years of life in me
yet, and I don’t think my time is up at all. I think
I’ve still got plenty to contribute. I think it’s
worth doing. If it was easy to win, I wouldn’t bother
doing it, but it is so difficult to win. I think that
this team has some unfinished business to be dealt
with. We’re very hopeful that whoever wins the Cup
makes clear rules and quick decisions on what’s going
to happen so that Larry Ellison gets excited again
to get it all going and put the program back together
again.
Q: Did anything surprise you in the Challenger
Series?
Cutler: The wind limits surprised me. I think the
Challengers have seriously weakened their chances
of beating Team NZ with these wind limits that we
all agreed to. They are way too low and significantly
lower than what we raced in last time. I think if
it does become windy, which it is likely to in February/March,
then the Challengers might be found wanting. We were
always keen to race in what we thought were perfectly
acceptable sailing conditions that were perhaps just
0.1 of a knot over the limit.
Q: So, in actual fact the wind limits that you’ve
set might even work against you.
Cutler: I think the wind limits we set have definitely
worked against us. I think the wind limits we set
– everyone knew what it was, but I don’t think everyone
appreciated quite how low that was. As teams get better
and stronger, we can sail in more breeze. I think
everyone was more prepared for that this time. Last
time, if it dropped below 18 at any point within 5
minutes, we still started. That means we still started
in 25 knots of breeze. This time, it was an average
of 19, so it may have blown 22 knots for a short burst,
and we couldn’t race. That was a bit of a problem.
I think the format from a race standpoint was good
for the Challengers. But now we have the best weather,
and nearly everyone has been eliminated. It’s disappointing
that everyone has suddenly gone, and it’s not a spectacle
anymore. I’m not quite sure what we can do about that.
Q: Well, Peter Montgomery was saying it would be
good if you could start it really late, like November
or December, then have the match later.
Cutler: We spent a lot of money, and we did a lot
of racing, but there are teams who spent 30 million
dollars who were gone in 3 weeks. That’s not very
good value for them. More teams are better for the
event, so we need to think about that a little more.
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"We
will be back," Larry Ellison said (01/19/03)
(source : Oracle
BMW Racing)
|
After the concluding Match Race Oracle BMW Racing
CEO Larry Ellison announced that the syndicate will
again take on the challenge in the next America's
Cup.
Ellison, who spent US$90 million on his Oracle campaign,
was not discouraged by the end of his Cup venture
Sunday. Asked in the aftermath of his team's defeat
whether he would challenge again he replied "absolutely."
His comment drew loud applause.
"I have such a long list of regrets," Ellison said.
"Looking back on it there were a lot of things we
could have done better but we did what we did".
"We are disappointed but I think sailing is alive
and well in the U.S.A. and we'll be back." he said.
"We're just waiting to see where the Cup is going.
Either way, we'll make a run for it."
Reflecting on the racing, Ellison said the Oracle
team had sailed well, it was just that Alinghi had
sailed better. "I think that is the best sailing team
(Alinghi) and the best sailing I've ever seen in my
life".
Now, Larry Ellison wants the America's Cup, and he's
willing to lay out his own money to get it.
Though the economic downturn has cut Ellison's fortune
to $15 billion or so, he made headlines even before
the race began when he said of America's Cup racing,
"It's so cheap, I'm surprised more people don't do
this."
His interest in the America's Cup grew after his participation
in the 1998 Sydney to Hobart race in which six sailors
died.
"I never heard of anyone ever being killed in
an America's Cup," Ellison said Sunday. "I was sure
I was going to die on the Hobart." |
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