BMW Oracle's BOR90 relaunched

[Source: BMW Oracle] On Sunday afternoon, the BOR 90 returned to its natural habitat as it was lifted by crane from its workspace into the harbour.

It's been nearly five weeks since the trimaran was last on the water as the BMW ORACLE Racing team shifted into modification mode. The work onshore has been intense and required a full commitment from the boatbuilding team, supervised by Mark A. Turner (NZL).

"These last five weeks have seen some very long hours from these guys, as we've had a lot of things to achieve. It's really come together over the last few days so it's big credit to everybody involved," Turner said.

Much of this round of work was necessitated by the Defender issuing a change in the Rules for the 33rd America's Cup that will now allow the use of engines to assist in trimming the sails. The power provided by the engine will replace power normally provided by the human power plants on board sailboats - the grinders. The addition of the engine has thus had a repercussion on the deck plan and layout, as the grinders will no longer be on board.

The newly-modified BOR90 hits the water. San Diego, 25 October 2009. Photo copyright Gilles Martin-Raget / BMW Oracle

"There has been a major deck modification and there's the new engine installation to drive the winches with hydraulics, and a series of other changes. So it's been a long list of tasks to be completed in quite a short timeframe," he added.

The BOR 90 will now undergo a series of tests dockside before on the water testing resumes later this week.

For Turner's team, there is no rest on the horizon. Further major developments to the boat are planned in the coming weeks as the team ramps up preparations for the America’s Cup Match in February.

“Big gains are available and they require massive amounts of work from the design, build and shore teams,” Turner continued.

"But we're checking things off the list and sorting everything out one step at a time and moving forward. It's all about the completing each task at hand and moving on to the next one."