BMW ORACLE Racing competes in first regatta of the RC44 2008 season

[Source: BMW Oracle] Cagliari, Italy, 22 April 2008 – BMW ORACLE Racing competes in the team’s first competition of the 2008 season starting tomorrow at the RC 44 Cagliari Cup in Italy. Skipper Russell Coutts and team owner Larry Ellison are sharing afterguard duties in their first regatta together.

“This is Larry’s first time sailing the RC 44s and he is really enjoying it,” said BMW ORACLE Racing skipper Russell Coutts. “On our first day of training yesterday, we saw 25 knots of fresh sea breeze off the Sardinia coast. We had a great time shaking down the boat and tuning up with some practice starts and drop set maneuvers. Larry is looking forward to helming this week in both the match racing against the pro skippers and in the fleet racing events against the other owner/drivers. It’s a competitive fleet here and promises to be great racing.”

The first ever BMW Oracle RC44 boat. Cagliari, 22 April 2008. Photo copyright Gilles Martin-Raget / BMW Oracle

The RC 44 circuit is part of the team’s overall 2008 sailing program. Other team members on board for this regatta include Dirk de Ridder, Ross Halcrow and Brad Webb.

Six other BMW ORACLE Racing crew members are competing here this week on two other entries. James Spithill has Michele Ivaldi and Joey Newton racing with him on board Igor Lah’s RC 44. Max Sirena, Noel Drennan and Daniel Fong are sailing with Ben Ainslie with owner Patrick de Barros. BMW ORACLE Racing sailing coordinator Julien di Biase joins his teammates on board the de Barros entry.

The regatta starts Wednesday 23 April with two days of match racing followed by three days of fleet racing, concluding on Sunday 27 April.

Larry Ellison will helm the first ever RC44 boat of BMW Oracle while Russell Coutts will be calling tactics. Cagliari, 22 April 2008. Photo copyright Gilles Martin-Raget / BMW Oracle