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Oracle Team USA

Oracle Team USA is an American yacht 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.

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. Bob Wylie was a key member of the 2003 team contributing mainly to the tactics.[citation needed] Oracle reached the finals of the 2003 Louis Vuitton Cup, losing to Alinghi 5–1.

BMW Oracle Racing through the GGYC was the Challenger-of-Record for the 2007 America’s Cup which was held in Valencia, Spain. BMW Oracle Racing, lost to Luna Rossa Challenge 5 to 1 in the 2007 Louis Vuitton Cup Semi Finals.

Larry Ellison hired Russell Coutts to be the CEO of the 33rd America's Cup campaign. In July 2007, the Golden Gate Yacht 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 (CNEV) 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.

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American sailboat racing syndicate
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