Paul
Cayard
new skipper for Assa Abloy ? (11/06/01) (source
: sport.telegraph.co.uk)
Paul Cayard's removal from Oracle
Racing's America's Cup plans could be the Assa Aboy
campaign in the Volvo Ocean Race's gain.
Cayard won the previous race, when it was the Whitbread,
aboard EF Language, teamed with the same navigator,
Mark Rudiger, and managers, Johan Salen and Richard
Brisius, who have replaced Roy Heiner with Neal
McDonald as Assa Abloy's skipper. McDonald's appointment
is confirmed only for the next leg of the race.
Sources confirm that Cayard will not be going to
Auckland with the Oracle team for winter training
and that he has been tied up with a golden-handcuffs
contract. The sidelining of such a major talent,
who has been involved in the America's Cup since
1983 and steered in the cup match twice, is a surprise.
With Chris Dickson, Peter Holmberg and John Cutler
also on the Oracle Racing staff, Larry Ellison has
plenty of options for a skipper/helmsman/tactician
axis. "It has not been finalised," Cayard said,
"and I think Larry Ellison will have something to
say about it." Until Ellison clears the picture,
suggestions that he wants to steer his own entry,
as fellow American Bill Koch did against Cayard
in 1992, will continue.
Now, taking a non-America's Cup job could be an
option for Cayard. McDonald knows his own promotion
is only for the second leg in the Volvo Race and
after that, and the fourth-leg Southern Ocean stage,
there will be a high premium on the boat-to-boat
tactical sailing which is Cayard's forte.
In speaking to Cayard, Assa Abloy's team managers
will be aware that he is a director of boatbuilders
Nautor Swan, whose affiliate, Nautor Challenges,
have fielded the entries of Grant Dalton's Amer
Sports One and Lisa McDonald's Amer Sports Too.
In a move that will likely confuse
his own Oracle Racing Team as well as any of his
opponents, billionaire Larry Ellison has demoted
Paul Cayard from Sailing Manager of his team. Cayard
curiously remains on the Oracle Racing payroll,
but will not accompany the team to Auckland for
this winter’s trials.
Earlier this year, Ellison saw fit to depose his
skipper, Chris Dickson, but that was seen as a popular
move among the rest of the crew. Dickson was accused
of being an irritating skipper by other members
of the crew, and Cayard, whose experience in the
America’s Cup is second only to that of Dennis Conner,
while not being appointed to the post, was in the
skipper’s position by default, as a result of his
being the Sailing Manager.
John Cutler takes over as Sailing Manager and it
seems ever more likely that Peter Holmberg, who
sailed with Conner last time round, will be the
helmsman of the Oracle Racing challenger. Holmberg
recently won the Colorcraft Bermuda Gold Cup with
Cayard sailing as tactician/bowman.
PTC
Joins Oracle to recapture the Cup
(06/19/01) (source
: sailsail.com)
PTC, the product development company
recently announced a new performance team partnership
with Oracle Racing. The San Francisco based challenger
for America’s Cup 2003 uses PTC’s MCAD solutions,
including Pro/ENGINEER and Pro/MECHANICA, to design
their two new America’s Cup Class (IACC) yachts.
Oracle Racing has been successfully using Pro/ENGINEER
software for design evaluation during the last six
months, and is extending its commitment as a PTC
performance team partner.
One of the technologies Oracle Racing is leveraging
to gain a competitive edge is the unique behavioral
modeling functionality in Pro/ENGINEER. Behavioral
modeling enables engineers to describe the design
parameters surrounding a desired goal, which the
software then uses to generate the optimized solutions.
This technology has allowed Oracle Racing to evaluate
dozens of virtual prototypes and evolve its designs.
For some, the chance to skipper
a 78-foot America's Cup Class (ACC) sailboat is
just a dream. But now, you can do better than that
and own your very own piece of America's Cup history
and a superbly crafted ACC sailboat.
Abracadabra 2000 (USA-50) Louis Vuitton Cup Contender
from Hawaii, is for sale. The boat was designed
by Australian yacht design firm, Murray Burns &
Dovell and hand painted by world renowned marine
life artist Wyland.
The highest bidder wins on e-bay
(Opening bid : $125,000.00).
TAG
Heuer Returns to the Cup with Oracle
(06/15/01) (source
: oracleracing.com)
Involved since the 1970's at the
pinnacle of yacht racing, TAG Heuer announced its
official sponsorship of the 2003 America's Cup Challenger,
Oracle Racing. The sponsorship will feature the
"Link Searacer" watch developed by TAG Heuer to
allow racing helmsmen to accurately judge their
approach to the start line, something that the Oracle
Racing boats will do countless times in training
and more than fifty times in competition.
In 1995 TAG Heuer supported New Zealand-born Chris
Dickson in the America's Cup with his boat NZL-39,
the TAG Heuer Challenge. Dickson was a Semi-Finalist
in the Louis Vuitton Cup in San Diego, CA that year,
narrowly missing the Finals against syndicates with
significantly larger resources.
Chris Dickson commented: "Superior design, accuracy
and precision are all required to win the America's
Cup and Oracle Racing believes these are the same
qualities offered by TAG Heuer's "Link Searacer"
watch. When the results of a race can be determined
by the final seconds, all the equipment on an America's
Cup Class Yacht must offer the highest performance
and this includes what the team wear on their wrists."
News
from Ventura, California (06/11/01)
(Source: latimes.com)
Battling choppy seas, fatigue and homesickness,
a well-financed group of sailors, their families
and a support crew have been in Ventura for more
than two months preparing for the first grueling
step in the quest for victory during the America's
Cup yacht race two years from now. Since early
April, Oracle Racing--owned by billionaire software
developer Larry Ellison--has operated a sophisticated
$80-million sailing empire from a boat dock off
Spinnaker Drive in Ventura Harbor.
Amid the dry-docked fishing trawlers and moored
pleasure craft at the boat basin, the Oracle operation,
with rows of gray portable office buildings and
a massive, tarp-covered work area, is hard to
miss.
Five days a week, two 16-sailor teams with members
from around the globe take a pair of massive training
boats, the USA 49 and the USA 61, to the churning
waters off Ventura County.
In September, Cayard, Cutler and the other Oracle
team members intend to pack up the entire training
operation and ship it to New Zealand for the Southern
Hemisphere's summer racing season. The 123-member
team expects to return to Ventura next spring
for another half year of practice before the preliminary
competition starts in October 2002.
The team's two racing boats for the Louis Vuitton
Cup are under construction at an undisclosed location.
Oracle
Challenge for America's Cup accepted (05/09/01)
(Source: RNZYC)
A challenge from the Golden Gate Yacht Club
for the 31st America's Cup regatta in Auckland,
New Zealand in 2002/2003 has been formally accepted
by the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron. This
third American syndicate brings the current number
of challengers to ten.
Peter Taylor, the Commodore of the Royal New Zealand
Yacht Squadron, confirmed the acceptance of the
challenge from the San Francisco-based Golden
Gate Yacht Club which is partnered with the Oracle
Racing Team.
The Golden Gate Yacht Club paid an entry fee of
$US300,000; having entered after the first deadline
of March 1, 2001. The other nine yacht clubs submitted
challenges accompanied by an entry fee of $US150,000
before that first deadline. The final date for
entries is March 1, 2002.
Dickson
handed new role with Oracle Racing (05/08/01)
(Source: latitude38.com)
Chris Dickson has been handed a new role with
the United States-based Oracle Racing's America's
Cup syndicate. The New Zealander will now be the
key liaison point between the sailing and Bruce
Farr-led design teams for Oracle, which will challenge
for the cup next year.
Dickson is the syndicate's skipper and a member
of Oracle's afterguard, although a spokeswoman
today said it was not known if he would drive
their boat during the Louis Vuitton Cup. Joanna
Ingley (Oracle) told a helmsman would only be
appointed just before the challenger races.
Dickson is joined in the afterguard by Paul Cayard,
former America True helmsman John Cutler, Italian
Tommaso Chieffi and Peter Holmberg, who sailed
in the last cup with Dennis Conner.
Ingley said Dickson's additional role was seen
as a key for the syndicate, as he would be responsible
for ensuring the sailor's on-water findings were
clearly relayed back to the design team.
Golden
Gate YC submitted Oracle entry (04/29/01)
(Source: Oracleracing.com)
Today the Golden Gate Yacht Club submitted
the required entry to the RNZYS, as the 10th Challenger
in the race for the 2003 America's Cup Challenge,
naming Oracle Racing as their team.
"We are honored to have the opportunity to partner
with the Oracle Racing Team," said Norbert Bajurin
Golden Gate Yacht Club Commodore. "The America's
Cup is undoubtedly sailing's most prestigious
trophy - a competition rich in nautical history
and we intend to give our team our full support,
to do our part, to help bring the Cup back to
America."
For The Golden Gate YC, having the opportunity
to secure yachting's most coveted trophy represents
a milestone in the clubs 62-year-old history.
The Club has come a long way since its founding
in 1939, when its members built a club house on
a barge in San Francisco marina. After the 1989
Earthquake severely damaged the club, members
pulled together and rebuilt it into the showcase
facility that now exists.
Oracle Racing recently concluded six month's of
intensive training on New Zealand's Hauraki Gulf
and is currently conducting their on the water
training at their summer sailing facility in Ventura,
CA. The Ventura base is home to the two Oracle
Racing training boats as well as to the team of
100 individuals.
Chris
Dickson is still with Oracle
(04/25/01) (source
: madforsailing)
A spokesman
for Oracle racing declared today: "Chris is still
with the syndicate and we are looking forward to
working with him - he is still very much with us."
This message was reinforced by syndicate CEO, Bill
Erkelens who was adamant in confirming that what
he called the "afterguard" - Cayard and Dickson
- were still firmly in place.
Erkelens went on, "We have over 100 people working
in our company and four people have left. That is
just normal operating of a business." Suggesting
that the rumours had been fuelled by unsubstantiated
reports on a number of web sites, Erkelens confessed,
"I have been a little frustrated by other people's
comments that comment on speculation from somebody
else".
The rumours appear to have started following the
recent departure of Bob Billingham. Billingham was
a key member of Paul Cayard's One America shore
team in the last America's Cup and was to have taken
on a similar role in Oracle Racing.
The Oracle Racing spokesman suggested that Billingham's
departure was as the result of "a review of operations
within the Oracle Racing team which established
a need to refocus our activities." In addition to
Billingham, three other shore crew members, Brad
Fitzgerald, Marc Cosby & Don Anderson have departed
the team.
At this stage Oracle were unable to confirm if there
would be new hirings to replace those who had left
commenting only that for the time being "a number
of people are taking on extra responsibilities to
cover some areas".
Rumours
about Oracle Racing
(04/20/01) (source
: scuttlebutt)
As Oracle Racing is beginning
its second training session in Ventura, America's
Cup rumors are flying about personnel changes at
Larry Ellison's syndicate.
Apparently the syndicate's Operations Manager, Bob
'Budha' Billingham and plus Donny Anderson and a
number of members of the OR shore team are no longer
with the syndicate. But most of the rumors center
around the alleged departure of OR's helmsman, Chris
Dickson.
When asked for a comment, Oracle Racing syndicate
head Bill Erkelens said, "Chris Dickson is still
on the team. He was here at work today (Thursday)
and all of the rumors are just rumors. I look forward
to continuing my working relationship with Chris."
New
Practice for Oracle Racing
(04/18/01) (source
: oracleracing.com)
As Oracle
Racing is beginning its second training session
in Ventura, America's Cup rumors are flying about
personnel changes at Larry Ellison's syndicate.
Apparently the syndicate's Operations Manager, Bob
'Budha' Billingham and plus Donny Anderson and a
number of members of the OR shore team are no longer
with the syndicate. But most of the rumors center
around the alleged departure of OR's helmsman, Chris
Dickson.
When asked for a comment, Oracle Racing syndicate
head Bill Erkelens said, "Chris Dickson is still
on the team. He was here at work today (Thursday)
and all of the rumors are just rumors. I look forward
to continuing my working relationship with Chris."
