News Release

19 April 2012

ORACLE Racing an honour for Whangarei

“Next summer promises to bring a spectacle like no other to Whangarei - the enormous sails of America’s Cup yachts slicing through the waves off our coast,” says Whangarei Mayor Morris Cutforth.

“America’s Cup defender ORACLE Racing has selected Northport, the country’s newest deepwater port, as the base for its training programme. This is an enormous honour for us.

“I have been following the America’s Cup events from the early eighties. I never for a moment thought that we would have a team basing itself here, on our own turf one day.

“ORACLE won the cup last time. It is the team everyone is watching. It really doesn’t get much better than this. Everyone with an interest in the next America’s Cup will be looking our way,” Mr Cutforth said.

“The shore operations team will arrive in November and the sailing team will be in action from January to April. I predict many people will become far more familiar with the hillsides of Whangarei Heads in the months to come as they head out to view racing – it will be a summer to remember.”

“It’s an enormous honour to have the ORACLE Racing team here, and I know that our community will welcome them with the warm smiles and natural generosity that our community is known for.

“This decision, by ORACLE Racing, helps to reinforce Whangarei’s growing reputation as a marine industrial/manufacturing hub, and I am sure there will be positive benefits for the sector as all those with a fascination for yachting activities around the America’s Cup are drawn here.

“We are also anticipating other economic bonuses for the District. All the people associated with ORACLE Racing, the crew, support team, families, will be needing places to live, explore, enjoy and socialise. It is inevitable that they will make a contribution to the community over and above the spectacle of the racing itself.

“It really is a very exciting time for Bream Bay. Development is growing, we’ve had the recent decision about Marsden City, Refining NZ is about to embark on a major project that will draw more people, skills and income to the area. Things are moving at a fast pace.”

ORACLE Racing will defend the America’s Cup in September 2013 and will stage its 2013 training program out of Northport.

Northport is the northernmost multi-purpose port in New Zealand. The team chose Northport because of its close proximity to Core Builders Composites in Warkworth, about an hour’s drive to the south. CBC is building many of the key components for ORACLE Racing’s two AC72 wingsail catamarans while the hulls are being built at the team base in San Francisco, per the rules for the Cup.

Northport also has ample shore space and easy access to open waters, where the team can test its two AC72’s. ORACLE Racing’s training is scheduled to begin mid-January 2013 and run through the end of April.

The full sailing team will be on site as well as the full support/shore team. The team plans to erect a tent on site measuring 70m by 40m that will be the main onshore facility to support the trialing of the AC72.

ORACLE Racing expects to launch its first AC72 this summer from its base at Pier 80 in San Francisco. Under the cost containment rules of the America’s Cup the team can sail that boat for only 30 days from its launch date through Jan. 31, 2013. On Feb. 1 teams are permitted to launch a second AC72 and may sail each yacht 45 days through Apr. 31, 2013.

ORACLE Racing’s first AC72 will undergo tests on San Francisco Bay after its launching. Later this year it’ll be shipped to Northport where it’ll join the second AC72 for two-boat testing beginning in February.

ORACLE Racing Fact Sheet
WHAT: ORACLE Racing 2013 Training Session
WHERE: Northport, Marsden Point, New Zealand
WHEN:
• Sailing Team: mid-January 2013-April 2013
• Shore/Operations Team: November 2012-April 2013
WHO:
• Members of ORACLE Racing will join together in New Zealand beginning in January 2013 for an intense training session with the team’s two AC72 wingsail catamarans in preparation for the 2013 America’s Cup
• The Shore and Boatbuilding teams will begin arriving by the end of October, 2012, to commence set-up of the team base at Northport, which will include a tent measuring 70m x 40m
• The Sailing Team will arrive in full by mid-January, 2013, to begin the testing program that is scheduled to run through the end of April
• After the training session the team will disband the remote operation and reassemble at the team base, Pier 80, in San Francisco, USA
WHY: Marsden Point was selected for a number of reasons:
• Close proximity to Core Builders Composites in Warkworth, about an hour’s drive to the south. CBC is building many of the key components for ORACLE Racing’s two AC72 wingsail catamarans
• Ample shore space to erect an operations tent
• Easy access to open waters, where the team can test its two AC72 catamarans which will be used in the defense of the 2013 America’s Cup in San Francisco
ABOUT:
• ORACLE Racing was founded on Aug. 11, 2000, by team owner Larry Ellison
• On Feb. 14, 2010, ORACLE Racing won the 33rd America’s Cup with a 2-0 triumph over Swiss defender Alinghi
• Age 30 at the time of victory, skipper James Spithill (AUS) is the youngest skipper to ever win the America’s Cup (b. June 28, 1979)
• CEO/Afterguard Russell Coutts (NZL) is an Olympic Gold medalist and the most successful skipper in the history of the America’s Cup. He is undefeated, 14-0, in races for the America’s Cup and has won the Cup four times for three different countries (New Zealand (twice), Switzerland and the U.S.)

ENDS

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