September 26, 2013

Oracle Team USA, under the leadership of skipper Jimmy Spithill, captured the America’s Cup yesterday in what is described as one of the most dramatic comebacks in yachting and sports history. Trailing by 8-1 to challenger Emirates Team New Zealand, Oracle turned itself around on September 14 to win the first of seven consecutive races, tying the score 8-8. The tie set up the first winner-take-all America’s Cup race since 1983. Flying across San Francisco Bay, the 72-foot (21.9-meter) Oracle catamaran zigzagged toward the Golden Gate Bridge at more than 30 knots (35 miles per hour) to beat New Zealand by 44 seconds. “These are the fastest boats ever built,” San Francisco sailor Kimball Livingston told CBS News. “We’ve never seen anything like this in any kind of sailing boat, much less the America’s Cup.”

The 2013 America's Cup regatta took place in San Francisco Bay, between the Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz Island (below). (c) Uniphoto).

(© Alamy)

The owner of Oracle Team USA is the American software billionaire Larry Ellison. In the 1970′s, Ellison built his Oracle Corporation around the then-revolutionary concept of relational databases. Forbes magazine recently estimated that Ellison is worth $41 billion. He spent some $300 million on this year’s America’s Cup regatta. The $300 million paid for the construction of two 72-foot catamarans, one of which capsized and was badly damaged during training. Ellison’s Oracle Team also won the America’s Cup in 2010.

Additional World Book articles:

• Boating
• Boating 2010 (a Back in Time article)