Oracle Team USA is an Americanyacht racing syndicate initially formed to compete for the 2003 America's Cup. They competed again in the 2007 event before winning the 33rd America's Cup regatta in 2010 – representing the Golden Gate Yacht Club. The team also won the 34th America's Cup in 2013. The syndicate was initially named Oracle for the 2003 campaign and backed primarily by Larry Ellison, the co-founder and CEO of Oracle Corporation, but was renamed in August 2004 to Oracle BMW Racing to reflect the German company's role, and subsequently revised again to BMW Oracle Racing to reflect increased involvement from BMW. At the end of December 2010 it was announced that by mutual agreement of both partners, BMW was bringing to a close its longstanding partnership with Oracle Racing and thereby ending its involvement in the America's Cup. Subsequently, the syndicate was renamed to Oracle Team USA to compete for the 2013 34th America's Cup.
History
31st America's Cup (2003)
The team was created by purchasing the assets of Paul Cayard’s AmericaOne syndicate which was the losing finalist against Luna Rossa in the 2000 Louis Vuitton Cup. The syndicate got off to a rocky start with changes in the skipper position, alternating between Cayard and Chris Dickson, to Dickson alone, to Peter Holmberg, and then back to Dickson. Oracle reached the finals of the 2003 Louis Vuitton Cup, losing to Alinghi 5–1.
Larry Ellison hired Russell Coutts to be the CEO of the 33rd America's Cup campaign. In July 2007, the Golden GateYacht Club, sponsoring BMW Oracle Racing, filed a challenge with the Société Nautique de Genève for the 33rd America's Cup stating that they did not believe that SNG's hand picked challenger, Club Náutico Español de Vela was a qualified club under the Deed of Gift. After extensive court action, Golden Gate Yacht Club was declared Challenger of Record and sailed against SNG's team: Alinghi, in February 2010 in Valencia, Spain. The competing boats, Alinghi 5 and USA 17 were both 90-foot multihulls. BMW Oracle Racing won the America's Cup on February 14, 2010, off Valencia, Spain, beating Alinghi 2–0 in the best-of-three series and becoming the first American syndicate to win the cup since 1992. The rigid wing sail of USA 17 provided a decisive advantage and Golden Gate Yacht Club won the 2010 America's Cup by a considerable margin.
Oracle Team USA competed in the 2011–13 America's Cup World Series. In August 2013, the competition jury received a report from Oracle Team USA that their boat and others they had loaned had unauthorized modifications. The team withdrew from the competition on 8 August 2013. Penalties imposed included expelling three team members, a $250,000 fine, and a one-point penalty for each of the first two races of the Match in which they would otherwise score a point.
34th America's Cup (2013)
Oracle Team USA's Larry Ellison declared that the 34th America's Cup would be sailed on AC72 class wing-sailcatamarans. Oracle Team USA experienced the first major accident involving the new AC72 class, when the boat capsized during training off San Francisco on October 16, 2012. Oracle Team USA successfully defended the trophy and won the 2013 America's Cup on September 25, 2013. They accomplished this achievement by coming back from 7 points down and one point away from defeat in the series, and completing the largest in-series comeback in America's Cup history. The Wall Street Journal later called it "one of the greatest comebacks in sports history".
Oracle Team USA was the defender of the 35th America's Cup. The event took place in the Great Sound of Bermuda in 2017, with challenger selection through the 2017 Louis Vuitton Cup on June 5–25. The finals against Emirates Team New Zealand were June 17–26. The new AC50 class rule governed the races; Oracle Team USA launched their yacht in February 2017. Oracle Team USA ultimately lost the challenge 7–1 to Emirates Team New Zealand.
Oracle Team USA did not issue a challenge within the initial challenging deadline for the 36th America’s Cup presented by Prada, June 30 2018, ending Oracle's fifteen year presence in the Cup races. Oracle Team USA skipper James Spithill previously indicated he was returning to challenging team Luna Rossa for that competition.
Boats
The BMW Oracle/Oracle USA team has owned a number of boats, including:
