BMW Oracle to begin America’s Cup victory tour with first stop in new home, San Francisco
By Bernie Wilson, APThursday, February 18, 2010
America’s Cup due in San Francisco on Friday
The America’s Cup is scheduled to arrive at its new home, San Francisco’s Golden Gate Yacht Club, on Friday afternoon on the first leg of a victory tour.
The oldest trophy in international sports, won by software tycoon Larry Ellison’s BMW Oracle Racing, will occupy a first-class seat on the trip from Valencia, Spain, to San Francisco, via Frankfurt, Germany. The America’s Cup is back in American hands for the first time since 1995.
After being welcomed at the airport, the trophy and team will head to the Golden Gate Yacht Club, which sponsors BMW Oracle Racing, for a reception with members and guests.
A public viewing is scheduled for Saturday morning at the San Francisco City Hall Rotunda. Mayor Gavin Newsom is scheduled to formally welcome the Cup and team, including Ellison, back to the United States in a ceremony at 11:30 a.m.
BMW Oracle Racing’s space-age trimaran easily beat two-time defending champion Alinghi of Switzerland to clinch a sweep on Sunday in Valencia.
The 159-year-old trophy will then head to one of its former homes, San Diego, where BMW Oracle Racing tested the trimaran for 16 months before relocating to Valencia late last year.
The trophy will be on public display at the USS Midway museum on Sunday afternoon. Following a ceremony with Mayor Jerry Sanders, the trophy and team will head to the San Diego Yacht Club aboard the replica of the schooner America, for which the trophy is named.
The San Diego Yacht Club held the trophy from 1987, when Dennis Conner won it back from Australia, until 1995, when he lost it to Team New Zealand.
Coincidentally, BMW Oracle Racing CEO Russell Coutts skippered Team New Zealand’s Black Magic to a five-race sweep of Conner off San Diego.
Jimmy Spithill, BMW Oracle Racing’s skipper and helmsman, recently bought a house in San Diego. At 30, the Australian is the youngest skipper in America’s Cup history.
Besides Ellison, the only other American aboard BMW Oracle for the clinching victory was tactician John Kostecki of Reno, Nev. Kostecki completed the rare triple of winning the America’s Cup, an around-the-world race and an Olympic medal.
The homecoming tour might be extended to the East Coast next week. The New York Yacht Club held the trophy for 132 years.
