bmw oracle – stephenlirakis.com

TWO BOATS FOR SALE

Featured Brokerage
27′ Goetz 1/3 Scale IACC Yachts (2). US$ 60,000. Located In Newport, Rhode Island, USA.

When preparing for the 2000 America’s cup in New Zealand, the BMW/Oracle syndicate was having trouble getting enough time in the wind tunnel to test sail shapes and the costs were escalating. They hit upon the idea of designing a building to 1/3 scale models for on the water testing. Set up to be sailed by two people, they have all the sophisticated sail and mast controls of the full size boats and the mast placement in the boat can be varied for and aft.

Carbon fiber laminated hull and deck. Lead keel bulb with steel shank. Carbon fiber rudder and tiller. Exterior of hull and keel painted black.

Brokerage through Sparkman & Stephens, Inc.:
www.yachtworld.com/sparkmanandstephens/

Complete listing details and seller contact information at
uk.yachtworld.com

the latest AC dope? a moving target

This is from sailing anarchy, I still believe that Newport should be careful what they wish for. Valencia has a purpose built venue, empty. It seems that the AC community wants their cake and eat it as well.

ac dope

a change we can live with?

The absolute shitstorm of meetings, public statements, news reports and lobbying over the location for the 34th America’s Cup is massively it is impacting the goals so loftily sought out by Messrs. Ellison and Coutts.

We’ve gone from an event that will revolutionize the public perception of sailing, that will grab the ‘Facebook Generation’s’ interest and introduce the sport to millions of new people to something that is only going to work if it can be hosted cheaply and easily.

That’s BMW/Oracle’s stated reason for the world’s third richest man ditching San Francisco: The deal left him on the hook for far too much cash if the event didn’t make any money or if the sponsorship dollars didn’t materialize.

We’ve said from the very, very beginning that Ellison could succeed at his goal of changing the face of the Cup and sailing in the US only through a very careful and expensive process that guaranteed maximum eyeballs watching a completely new presentation of the kind of racing that few have ever seen. His success would depend absolutely on a well-prepared and promoted venue, on participation of a half dozen solid teams, and on him paying whatever it costs to bring in network television and fully integrate it with the web and the dozens of new distribution channels.

But something has changed – something big – and it looks as though the team may have given up on the vision, working instead on getting something ironed out in much less desirable and accessible Newport and proceeding with the plans for a traveling circus.

So what happened? Is this the final step of Tom Ehman’s decades-old plan to get the Cup back to Newport where he first worked with the NYYC? Is the team finally getting enoughpressure from Grant Dalton and the other CEOs to get it sorted or they are out? Are Larry and Russell sick and tired of trying to do something special for an ungrateful sailing public, or sick of trying to make San Francisco work for a government that didn’t appreciate the opportunity?

One thing is for sure: Considering the volume of cash that Larry Ellison has spent on not only previous Cups but numerous projects throughout his lifetime, it ain’t about the money. But considering the glee with which the ‘yachting establishment’ up in the Northeast is tossing lifelines to Ehman & Co, perhaps it is about something far simpler, far older, and far more in keeping with the AC being unable to escape being an ancient and obsolete competition for the super rich…and not the public. After all, San Fran is like the nouveau riche guy ostracized by the real old money folks that built America…and had their summer homes in Newport.

But hell, who knows? Galway is almost as isolated as Newport, and they had hundreds of thousands of visitors to that small Irish town for the Volvo stopover. Larry can still accomplish his TV-based goals if he gets some good competitors and they sail in the confined waters of Narragansett Bay with innovative coverage tachniques. It could work. Ok, It probably won’t, but it could. So maybe there won’t be billions for a region, but there would be lots of good yachting jobs coming up in Rhode Island, a great time to be the skipper of a rich NYers powerboat or a canvas guy…

Check the Newport thread here for some light reading and the SF thread here. Pack a lunch.

THE AMERICA’S CUP COMING TO NEWPORT ?

The latest scuttlebutt is that San Francisco is in jeopardy of losing the America’s cup races. Tom Ehman is coming back east to speak with Keith Stokes in Newport, RI.

My reaction to this : “Be careful what you wish for”. Newport, nor Rhode Island does not have the resources to host an America’s Cup as is expected in today’s world. Newport might be able to handle an “Act” ( an event leading up to the AC). Like so many things in life; we shall see. I still believe it will end up in Italy.

San Francisco in danger of losing America’s Cup

(AP) – 1 day ago

San Francisco has been told it will lose the right to host the next America’s Cup unless a deal is signed by Friday.

The warning came in a letter the Golden Gate Yacht Club sent to Mayor Gavin Newsom and other officials on Saturday.

America’s Cup official Stephen Barclay said he considered San Francisco to have come up with the winning bid in early November, when city officials and the yacht club negotiated an agreement that was then sent to the Board of Supervisors to begin the approval process.

But he said the Port Commission recently changed key points in the agreement that would put too much of a financial risk on the America’s Cup Event Authority, which has been contracted by the GGYC to run the regatta.

The Board of Supervisors’ Budget and Finance Committee will hold a final hearing Monday, and the full board is expected to vote on the agreement Tuesday.

“They’re holding on by their fingernails at the moment,” Barclay told The Associated Press on Saturday from his home in Auckland, New Zealand. “It was theirs to lose and they were told that.”

Barclay said the GGYC — which sponsors America’s Cup champion BMW Oracle Racing — set the deadline because the America’s Cup Event Authority is committed to informing participating teams of the venue choice by Dec. 31.

BMW Oracle Racing swept Alinghi of Switzerland in two races off Valencia, Spain, in February to return the oldest trophy in international sports to the United States for the first time since 1995.

San Francisco officials have estimated that hosting the America’s Cup would be worth $1.4 billion in economic benefits and create 8,000 jobs.

Barclay said the GGYC has reopened talks with Italy to hold the America’s Cup in 2013. He added that Tom Ehman, a member of the GGYC’s board of directors, was en route to Newport, R.I., to reopen talks with officials there. Ehman also is a member of the New York Yacht Club, which defended the America’s Cup in Newport from 1930 until 1983, when Dennis Conner was beaten by Australia.

Barclay is chief operating officer of BMW Oracle Racing and a member of the GGYC’s America’s Cup Committee. BMW Oracle Racing is owned by software billionaire Larry Ellison, whose Oracle Corp. is based in Redwood City, south of San Francisco. Ellison also owns a mansion in Newport.

Italy is in the mix because Club Nautico di Roma is the Challenger of Record, which represents the interests of all challengers.

There might even be a third option. BMW Oracle Racing officials are said to have remained in the United Arab Emirates following the recent Louis Vuitton Trophy regatta, perhaps to initiate talks about the America’s Cup being sailed in the Middle East.

Newsom’s spokesman, Tony Winnicker, confirmed receipt of the letter from Barclay.

“We’re confident we’ll put forward the best possible bid for the team to consider well in advance of the date it has set,” Winnicker said.

Winnicker said the city will consider the GGYC’s recommendations in the letter. The original agreement included a pledge by the city for a local America’s Cup Organizing Committee to help raise $270 million in corporate sponsorship money to help defray the estimated $300 million cost of the regatta, and a commitment by the America’s Cup Event Authority to spend $150 million to refurbish certain piers south of the Bay Bridge in exchange for future development rights.

Barclay said the Port changed the agreement to include piers north of the Bay Bridge and changed the terms of the long-term leases. He added that the pledge of help in raising the $270 million in sponsorship is just that — “a promise, not a guarantee.” He said that pledge was in lieu of San Francisco paying a fee to earn the hosting rights. Valencia, he said, paid $85 million for the 2007 America’s Cup and guaranteed approximately $50 million in sponsorships.

“All of us recognize that having the event on the bay, which really is a natural amphitheater, would just be a fantastic place to hold the America’s Cup,” Barclay said. “That said, the arrangements can’t put at risk the event itself.”

City officials responded Saturday with a letter to Barclay, saying they believe the northern proposal has a greater net development value than the original agreement and will dramatically lower the event authority’s upfront investment costs.

“We believe that the city’s bid, subject to any final changes imposed by the Board of Supervisors during its deliberations, offers remarkable opportunities for the America’s Cup,” the letter said in part. It was signed by Jennifer Matz, director of the Office of Economic and Workforce Development, and Monique Moyer, the port director.

While aware of the city’s financial woes, Barclay said Cup officials were “exasperated” with the changes.

Winnicker said he understands that San Francisco’s process for doing business can be frustrating to some.

“We have always believed that this is a serious competition,” Winnicker said. “We believe this would be an unmatched opportunity for the America’s Cup right here in San Francisco. We’re going through this because we want to win. We want to bring it here.”