BMW ORACLE Racing flies new yacht to Valencia

by BMW Oracle Racing on 1 Mar 2006 An Antonov cargo plane landed today in Valencia carrying unusual precious cargo -- the new America’s Cup Class yacht of BMW ORACLE Racing.

Thirteen hours and 8,900 kilometres after departing from Seattle, WA in the USA, the 24-metre carbon fiber hull was delivered safely today to the Challenger in Valencia, site of the 32nd America’s Cup in 2007.

The plane took off at 5pm local Seattle time on a 13-hour flight to Spain. By flying the boat, thanks to logistics support from DHL Global Forwarding, the logistics business unit of Deutsche Post World Net, the team shaved almost three weeks off the traditional method of transporting the boat via truck and container ship. The plane, one of the largest ever to land at the Valencia airport, touched down at 3pm local time today.

The international team is hoping the precisely built high-tech yacht will provide the performance needed to win the America’s Cup. The hull is the end result of 30,000 man hours from the 20-person team of boat-building experts and an innovative technology transfer from the automotive industry incorporating engineering expertise from German premium car manufacturer BMW.

‘Thanks to the early commitment from our partner BMW and team owner Larry Ellison, BMW ORACLE Racing benefited from an intensive research and development program that has produced this finely built hull,’ said team CEO and Skipper Chris Dickson today upon receiving the yacht in Valencia. ‘The delivery of our first new generation America’s Cup boat marks an important milestone in our campaign. Now we are faced with the challenge of developing this boat to its full potential. We look forward to taking our new yacht through its paces.’

The hull design and construction is the result of more than two years of intensive research and development. BMW engineers are integrated into the 30-person international design team, bringing expertise in structural engineering and load analysis to the project. US-based technology leaders Oracle and NetApp also contributed to the R&D process by increasing the speed at which the research data could be processed and stored.

‘The initial series of sailing trials is really the moment of truth for the design team,’ said Ian Burns, BMW ORACLE Racing Design Coordinator. ‘Although countless hours of research have come together in this boat there is no way of modeling the complete package – except by building and sailing the yacht. With the help of our partner BMW and our technical supporters, including Oracle, NetApp, CD-adapco, PTC/NetIDEAS, and ANSYS we have had the tools to do the job. Combined with our strong design team, we are hopeful that we have achieved what our sailing team has requested – a fast strong boat that they can match race at the highest level. The build team has done a great job in delivering a precisely built boat. The delivery of the hull today is the first step toward developing the new yacht to its full potential. Now we begin the next arduous task of extracting the maximum performance from the new platform. Every trick we had for getting the best from our old boats now has to be confirmed or modified for the new boats. Now the hard work is in front of the sailing and performance teams.’

Constructed over the past six months at a purpose-built facility in Anacortes, WA, the hull rolled out of the boat shed Monday on a flatbed truck enroute to the Seattle airport, the first leg of its voyage to Valencia, Spain, where the US team is now based for the training and competition that leads up leads up to the racing next spring.

The hull was painted in the team’s livery before being shrink-wrapped in plastic and strapped onto a flatbed truck. The new yacht departed the Anacortes facility at 8 am local time on Monday February 27, starting the journey to Valencia. The truck transported the hull the 150 kilometres south to Seattle airport. The BMW ORACLE Racing boatbuilding team carefully loaded the 4-metre wide racing yacht through the 6.5-metre wide nose of the Russian cargo plane. Three of the team’s boat technicians, Pete Balash, Scott Bennett and Andrew Rhodes, accompanied the boat on the flight.

Team members awaited the boat on the tarmac of the Valencia airport where they carefully unloaded the new boat. The boat was craned onto a flatbed truck for the 20-kilometre ride to the team’s base in the Port America’s Cup. The plane also carried two 35-metre long masts.

The team will now add the remaining components including keel, hardware, and mast before the new boat can touch water for the first time.

The team will take the boat through a commissioning process where the engineers will test loads and ensure it is structurally sound before starting a training and testing program with the boat’s trial horse and tuning partner, USA 76. The new generation racing yacht will be launched at a christening ceremony March 27 at the team’s new training operations base at the Port America’s Cup in Valencia.