Ellison and Williams enter Allianz Cup

by Sean McNeill on 19 Oct 2006 Past match racing world champions Chris Dickson and Peter Gilmour, along with BMW ORACLE Racing team founder and owner Larry Ellison, are among the entrants for the first Allianz Cup Presented by Oracle, Stage 5 of the 2006-’07 World Match Racing Tour.

Sixteen teams are entered in the $100,000 Allianz Cup, scheduled Oct. 25-29 at the St. Francis Yacht Club in San Francisco. The winner earns $25,000. The teams represent a mix of America’s Cup syndicates and the next generation of match-race sailors.

'We think we’ve assembled an outstanding field for our first event in the USA,' said World Tour President Scott MacLeod. 'There are eight teams representing Cup syndicates and it’ll be fun to see whether the younger sailors can upset the Cup veterans.'

The Cup sailors include Ellison and Dickson. Ellison, CEO of Oracle, the world’s largest enterprise software company, is a member of the BMW ORACLE Racing afterguard and is competing in his first World Tour event as a skipper. In the past three years he’s won the Owner/Driver series at the Moët Cup and UBS Trophy, both America’s Cup Class regattas. He’s also a five-time maxi yacht world champion.

Dickson is the skipper and CEO of BMW ORACLE Racing. Dickson won the season-opening Portugal Match Cup in July for his first career Tour victory. He’s a three-time winner of the Match Racing World Championship (1988, ’89 and ’91) and is in his fifth America’s Cup syndicate.

'The World Match Racing Tour events provide a superb tuning ground for the hand-to-hand combat we face in the America’s Cup boats,' said Dickson. 'Sailed in smaller boats, the often aggressive sailing at these events fine-tunes not only our starts, crew maneuvers and boat-handling, but we also learn more about rules and on-the-water umpire calls.'

The defense syndicate for the America’s Cup, Alinghi, also has two teams entered, represented by Ed Baird and Peter Holmberg. Baird, a three-time match racing world champion, is the only skipper who has finished in the Championship 8 of every World Tour season, and Holmberg is a past champion (2001-’02).

Gilmour is the reigning ISAF Match Racing World Champion. He won his fourth world title this year when he won his third consecutive World Match Racing Tour championship. Gilmour holds the record for most Tour victories with 11.

Other America’s Cup skippers include Ben Ainslie of Emirates Team New Zealand, Jesper Bank of United Internet Team Germany, Cameron Dunn of Mascalzone Latino – Capitalia, and Paolo Cian, of Team Shosholoza and Team Viano Mercedes Benz.

The young guns are represented by Ian Williams and Mathieu Richard, finalists in last week’s Stage 4, the Bermuda Gold Cup. Williams, 29, defeated Richard, 30, 3-1 to win his first World Tour event. The win thrust Williams into the lead for the World Championship with the high score of 35 points, 5 points ahead of Richard.

'The Allianz Cup’s going to be a fantastic event,' said Williams. 'It’s a great lineup that’s been put together. It’ll be pretty tough for sure, but we go in as Tour leader and hopefully we can come out as Tour leader.'

The World Match Racing Tour is the world’s leading professional sailing series. The events of the World Tour determine the ISAF Match Racing World Champion, who will be crowned in December 2007. A total of 15 events comprise the 2006-’07 World Tour schedule.

The event Web site was launched this week and can be viewed at www.AllianzCup.com.

During Thursday and Friday of the regatta catch aerobatic champion and Team Oracle pilot Sean D. Tucker as he fly’s the Oracle Challenger over San Francisco Bay with the Golden Gate Bridge in the background. Tucker was named as one of the 25 'Living Legends of Flight' by the Smithsonian Institute.

The Allianz Cup is sponsored by Allianz. The Presenting Sponsor is Oracle and the Main Partners are BMW, Fireman’s Fund, Allianz Global Corporate and Speciality, Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America, NetApp, Pindar Graphics and Alphagraphics.

The World Tour is sanctioned by ISAF, sailing’s world governing body. The World Tour Partner and Official Car is BMW (Munich, Germany). World Tour sponsors include Sebago (Rockford, Mich.), the Official Footwear Supplier, Travel Places (West Sussex, England), the Official Travel Partner, and Wedgwood (Stoke-on-Trent, England), the Official Trophy Sponsor.

For more information on the World Match Racing Tour, its competitors and events, please visit the official World Tour Web site, www.WorldMatchRacingTour.com. World Match Racing Tour television programs may be viewed on demand by clicking on the television icon on the home page of the Web site.