The following is written by James Boyd<\/p>\n
At the end of the year BMW will bring to a close its longstanding partnership with Oracle Racing and thereby end its involvement in the America\u2019s Cup. This is by mutual agreement of both partners. Both parties set ambitious goals and achieved the ultimate objective: winning the America\u2019s Cup.<\/p>\n
BMW has partnered BMW Oracle Racing since 2002. Technology and skills have transferred freely between the automaker and sailing team, most notably in the fields of structural engineering and high-modulus composite construction. The result was celebrated in the February when the team’s wing sail trimaran USA 17<\/em>, the fastest yacht in the history of the America\u2019s Cup, won the 33rd Match with a 2:0 victory off Valencia, Spain.<\/p>\n \u201cOn the design and engineering front, BMW engineers set new benchmarks in terms of intelligent lightweight design,\u201d said Ralf Hussmann, General Manager BMW Sports Marketing and Brand Cooperation. \u201cIn winning the 33rd America\u2019s Cup, we achieved all of our ambitious goals. We will continue to be involved in the sport on a national level.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe America\u2019s Cup combines a technological challenge with a sporting one and success is measured by the result on the race course,\u201d added Russell Coutts CEO of BMW Oracle Racing \u201cIn that sense, both the team and BMW are proud that our collaboration resulted in victory.\u201d<\/p>\n “WE ARE IN THE RED ZONE”<\/p>\n San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom is working around the clock in a last-ditch<\/p>\n effort to keep the city’s bid for the America’s Cup alive – even as Larry<\/p>\n Ellison openly courts Newport, R.I. “We are in the red zone,” Newsom said<\/p>\n Tuesday evening. San Francisco’s bid for the 2012 race took a sudden dive<\/p>\n last week when Team Ellison began talking very publicly with Newport about<\/p>\n holding the race there.<\/p>\n “I would like to believe that our deal was not used as a negotiating<\/p>\n strategy to leverage a deal in Rhode Island,” said Supervisor Ross<\/p>\n Mirkarimi, a key backer of San Francisco’s bid. That’s exactly what is<\/p>\n happening, however. Although everyone is trying to keep on the high road,<\/p>\n the folks at City Hall are anything but smiles as they try to deal with<\/p>\n Ellison’s group.<\/p>\n According to Newsom, the negotiations are not over what piers to use or how<\/p>\n much public money to spend, but rather about tax increment financing and<\/p>\n other financial details. “This is a billion-dollar economics package, with<\/p>\n thousands of jobs and a big investment by their organization. I can<\/p>\n understand their need for certainty,” Newsom said.<\/p>\n “I’ve been on the phone steadily for the past five days,” the mayor said.<\/p>\n “The one thing we can’t afford to do is get petulant and throw up our hands<\/p>\n or start pointing fingers.” Besides, there will be plenty of time for that<\/p>\n if Ellison raises the anchor and heads east. — SF Chronicle,<\/p>\n http:\/\/tinyurl.com\/SFC-122210<\/a><\/p>\n METAPHORS: San Francisco supporters should be concerned about Newsom\u2019s<\/p>\n comment of being \u201cin the red zone.\u201d This phrase, which references a football<\/p>\n team\u2019s ability to score inside the 20 yard line, has not been a strength of<\/p>\n his town\u2019s team. As of December 23rd, the San Francisco 49ers ranked 23rd<\/p>\n out of 32 NFL teams in red zone scoring percentage. As for Newport, which<\/p>\n typically cheers for the New England Patriots, their team is ranked third<\/p>\n overall.<\/p>\n MORE NEWSOM: \u201cThey (GGYC) seemed dissatisfied with some key components of<\/p>\n our bid,\u201d said Newsom. \u201cWe\u2019ve been working aggressively behind the scenes to<\/p>\n address those concerns.\u201d Newsom would not say what specifically changed, but<\/p>\n the Board of Supervisors has given the Mayor\u2019s Office the power to make<\/p>\n amendments as long as the major components of the agreement remain intact.<\/p>\n — SF Examiner: http:\/\/tinyurl.com\/SFE-122210<\/a><\/p>\n RHODE ISLAND RALLY: Supporter came out for a Rally to Host the 2013<\/p>\n America’s Cup on Wednesday morning at the Marriott in Newport, RI, where<\/p>\n Sail Newport Executive Director Brad Read encouraged the crowd to embrace<\/p>\n this opportunity. \u201cWe believe in Narragansett Bay as the premier tourist<\/p>\n attraction that Rhode Island has,\u201d said Read. \u201cWe want to make sure that we<\/p>\n run the best events, the most worldwide recognizable events that we can. I<\/p>\n think Narragansett Bay is the perfect backdrop for the America\u2019s Cup.\u201d Watch<\/p>\n video from the event here: http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=gF2drHLbkSQ<\/a><\/p>\n MORE READ: Sailing World magazine\u2019s Stuart Streuli caught up with Brad after<\/p>\n the rally to grill him on the details. Here is the interview:<\/p>\n http:\/\/tinyurl.com\/SW-122210<\/a><\/p>\n TICK TOCK: The America\u2019s Cup defender Golden Gate Yacht Club is required by<\/p>\n the Protocol for the 34th America\u2019s Cup to declare the venue location by<\/p>\n December 31st. While there are provisions to amend the Protocol so as to<\/p>\n extend this deadline, it would not be a popular move. GGYC is already<\/p>\n considered to have a technical advantage, thus challenging teams are eager<\/p>\n to focus their design strategy on the selected venue. Additionally, the<\/p>\n selected venue will determine whether prospective challengers can seek<\/p>\n suitable sponsorship for them to enter the event. —<\/p>\n http:\/\/tinyurl.com\/AC-122210<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The following is written by James Boyd At the end of the year BMW will bring to a close its longstanding partnership with Oracle Racing and thereby end its involvement in the America\u2019s Cup. This is by mutual agreement of both partners. Both parties set ambitious goals and achieved the ultimate objective: winning the America\u2019s … Continue reading BMW PULLS OUT OF THE AMERICA’S CUP\/ SAN FRANCISCO STILL WANTS THE RACES<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[2397,2454,2391],"class_list":["post-1001","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-americas-cup","tag-americas-cup","tag-newport","tag-san-francisco"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stephenlirakis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1001","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stephenlirakis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stephenlirakis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stephenlirakis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stephenlirakis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1001"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stephenlirakis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1001\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1002,"href":"https:\/\/stephenlirakis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1001\/revisions\/1002"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stephenlirakis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1001"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stephenlirakis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1001"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stephenlirakis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1001"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}