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Nice Ink: Girard-Perregaux Team Watch  Aug 18, 20:26

Today the Luxist website, has a nice post on the the new Girard-Perregaux team watch for BMW ORACLE Racing....

How many logos can one watch have? This Girard-Perregaux watch created for the 32nd edition of the America's Cup has to serve three masters. It carries the Girard-Perregaux logo as well as the logos of BMW and Oracle since this is the ladies chronograph for the BMW Oracle sailing team. The 32mm watch has a sapphire crystal with anti-reflective coating and a back that bears an etching of the boat. The watch's movement is the automatic column-wheel Girard-Perregaux caliber GP030C0 beating at 28,800 bph.


GP2


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Author, Author  Aug 15, 13:20

Nice ink for Peter Isler (USA, sailing team) and his wife JJ (double Olympic medalist in the 470 class with an AC campaign to her credit as well; Peter says, "JJ's the famous sailor in the family") in a column by Bill "Off" Center in today's San Diego Union....

When J.J. and Peter Isler originally wrote “Sailing For Dummies,” San Diego's leading sailing couple had dreams of the book selling 35,000 copies and becoming something of a guide for landlubbers entering what appears to be a complicated sport.

“We had no idea it would become as popular as it did,” J.J. Isler said recently.


Full story


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Popular with both newbies and experienced
sailors, an updated edition is now available.

Nice Ink: Carl Williams, Rising Star  Aug 11, 15:21

nice_ink5This story led Wednesday's Sail-World.com (NZL) newsletter that is edited by our long-time friend Richard Gladwell....


There is a slight breather on the international scene this week. The main point of interest being the performance of Hamish Pepper and Carl Williams in the Star class Europeans being staged in Lubeck, Germany as part of the Rolex Baltic Week.

This crew have been one of the most outstanding on the international scene in the Olympic classes. In the space of six months have pulled themselves from sailing in their first ever regatta in the Star to being 13th position in the latest ISAF rankings. They have won their last two regattas.

All this is while Carl Williams sandwiches his Star sailing with commitments to BMW Oracle Racing in its America’s Cup campaign. Pepper has sailed with top Australian Star crew, David Chiles, in Williams’ absence.

Along the way they have picked up the sponsorship of Harken and now sail under the moniker of the Harken Star Team.

So far they are just out of the top ten in the Europeans, but all the rockstars of the Star world are in the fleet in a class which is renowned as being one of the hardest of the Olympic classes.



Coincidentally, on Monday after leaving Kiel we drove over to Neustadt (near Lübeck) to visit friends serving on the jury for the Baltic Week regatta, which includes the Star Europeans, and ran into Carl and Hamish at lunch. Carl is enjoying his Star stint, but is looking forward to getting back to some AC boat sailing after our team's early-August break.


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Hamish Pepper (NZL) and BMWOR's Carl Williams (NZL, sailing team) after the first race in the Star Europeans on Monday.


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Carl and Hamish shown here Wednesday winning race 4. After five races they were standing fourth overall in the star-studded fleet. Photo by Daniel "Clockmaker" Forster.


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Speaking of stars, that's BMWOR's Juan Kouyoumdjian (ARG, design team) skippering with Nicolas Rosas (ARG) crewing. After five races Juan K stood a respectable 46th in the talented 82-boat fleet. Photo also by the Clockmaker.


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An amateur photographer (the Ed.) and a real pro (the Clockmaker) on Monday at the Baltic Week regatta. With a nickname like that, obviously Herr Forster is Swiss, but for many years has made his home in the Newport, RI area. Daniel, and our own Gilles-Martin Raget are widely considered two of the very best yachting snappers in the world today. And, yes, this arm's-length photo was also taken by Daniel.

Nice Ink: Favorable Winds  Jul 18, 11:43

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Excerpt from an article by longtime sailing writer Bill O. Center in today's San Diego Union, who recently interviewed San Diego resident, at least when he is not in VLC, Peter Isler (USA, sailing team):


...Peter Isler believes the 32nd America's Cup – which will be sailed in Valencia, Spain, starting in April – could be one of the best.

“It could come down to racing and not a boat speed contest,” the San Diegan said last week from the BMW-Oracle camp.

“Very few secrets remain,” Isler continued. “The new version of the International America's Cup Class rule has made the box smaller. The boats are nearing the technological limits in hull, masts and appendages.”

Isler is particularly excited about the American hopes, which this year rest with one team.

“I really believe the United States is going to have something to cheer about,” said Isler, who will serve as the navigator on BMW Oracle. “I'm pretty optimistic where we are.”

The U.S. team bankrolled by Oracle founder Larry Ellison emerged from the previewing 12 “acts” leading up to next year's event as one of four teams to beat – joining fellow challengers Luna Rosa of Italy and Emirates Team New Zealand, and the Alinghi defenders from Switzerland.

But there are 11 challengers in Spain, including first-time entrants China, South Africa and Germany.

“The four upper echelon teams have a bit of a jump on everyone else,” Isler said. “But overall, the racing has been closer than ever. I see Spain and Sweden having the best shot at the final spot in the challenger semifinals.

“But everyone has at least one new boat to launch. And there's a ton of sailing to do. Rarely a day goes by that at least two teams don't hook up for practice races or testing.

“Everyone is based right here in Valencia. There's never been a better chance in the history of the event for teams to go to school on other teams. This is going to be a long, hard slug.”


Full story.


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"Pedro" doing a TV interview at the Base during
Act 10.

We Get Letters  Jul 18, 07:30

This one is typical of the emails our team gets from team hospitality guests following each Act (we had over 2000 guests for Act 12 alone):

I just wanted to say a really huge thank you for my amazing day out on the BMW ORACLE spectator boat. It was so cool! I have bragged to all my friends and anyone else that will listen about how I lived a life of luxury in Spain... drinking champagne on super yachts... getting closer to the AC action than any other spectator boat... I have even started calling my tiny little sinking dinghy a super yacht now because I really think it sounds better. And I occasionally serve Cava to my guests. But a day out on my dinghy isn't, of course, a patch on my day out with you! I even made friends with a lovely girl who lives near me back here in England. The yacht was amazing and it was so much fun to see the action commentated, which really helped my understanding of the goings on! The staff were all really friendly and I just simply had a really lovely day and felt very special...thank you so much again for the opportunity!

Not only the Marketing Department, but most everyone on the team contributes to the success of our guest program. Congrats to all for another job well done in 2006. No doubt we are well prepared for the longer-haul grand finale next year.


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The last "Morning Show" of Act 12, in front of a capacity crowd in the
Oracle Cinema at the Base. 87 could not race that day due to Luna Rossa
crashing into us, so for the first time four sailors were able to join in the
presentation to our VIP guests: (from left) Rodney Daniel (AUS), Tony Kolb
(GER), Julien Cressant (FRA) and David "Brookie" Brooke (NZL).



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87 does a "fly by" MY Alcor, of one of our four VIP guest boats during
Act 12. On this day, while waiting for enough wind to race Luna Rossa,
"sail by" may be a bit more appropriate. Regardless, most guests report
a terrific day before, during and after being on the water. Most are
newcomers to AC racing, and it is our pleasure to help expose so many
new people to our sport.



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The catamaran SY Mundo Marino was also one of our VIP spectator
boats during 2006. The cat is popular as a spectator boat, especially
with our families and friends, for the more relaxed "kid-friendly"
atmosphere and outgoing staff.

Posted in Washington  Jul 3, 09:41

angus
Not since 1851, when the schooner America faced down a fleet of 16 British boats to win the first America's Cup, has the United States faced as daunting a task in the world's premier yacht race as it does here.

That's the opening line in an excellent article in yesterday's Washinton Post, written by Veteran Cup journalist Angus Phillips who has covered every AC since 1980. Nice to finally have Angus back in the saddle and here in VLC for Act 12.

Below, the photo and caption that accompanied the article....


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BMW Oracle Racing, the only U.S. challenger for next year's America's
Cup, at recent preliminaries finished competitively behind '03 defender
Emirates Team New Zealand.

Annuit Coeptis  Jul 3, 08:14

From a letter in Scuttlebutt (North American edition) this morning:

* From Bill Menninger (Regarding Craig Fletchers observation): Patriotism is in the eye of the beholder. I think it is great the US has a participant in the Americas Cup and a solid contender to boot. I commend the corporations that contribute to our spaort, as this is also the "American way". If we relied on government sponsorship we would either be living in a communist state or we would be paying even higher taxes. Thank God for corporations, free enterprise and Larry Ellison.

Amen.


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Annuit Coeptis: “Jupiter omnipotent, favour my daring undertakings.”

Sail.tv  Jun 18, 21:15

There is a good bit of video about BMW ORACLE Racing playing these days on the sail.tv website. Have a look.


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Nice ink, or in this case, airtime for BMWOR.

BMW Sauber F1 Team On Target  Jun 13, 20:28

It's been one year since BMW announced they were buying the Sauber F1 team. Congrats to our BMW F1 colleagues for their progress, and this nice ink on today's Motorsport.com:


It's never an easy job to set up a Formula One team, even when you're a manufacturer such as BMW and taking over an outfit that already exists. It was June last year when the announcement came that BMW had acquired a majority interest in Sauber and would enter the 2006 championship as a team in its own right.

After eight races this season BMW Sauber is fifth in the constructors' standings with 17 points, only three shy of Sauber's total for the whole of last year. Speaking exclusively to Motorsport.com in Munich, BMW motorsport director Mario Theissen confirmed that the development is going according to plan.

"Yes, it is," he says. "We are in a two year ramp -up phase which covers this year and next year and by then we will have expanded the factory in Hinwil and taken on more than 150 additional people."

He adds that the integration between BMW HQ in Munich and the team base in Hinwil, Switzerland, is also an ongoing project. "It takes at least one winter period to get the engineers together and a race season to get the track people together, so I think by the end of the year we should be there."


Full story


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Mario Theissen (GER), BMW F1 driver Nick Heidfeld (GER) with Dicko at our
team base during Valencia LV Act 10 in May.



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Prof Dr Theissen in our marketing chase boat Henri Lloyd before racing as
18th crew during Act 10.

What, No Bunnies?  Jun 3, 06:33

You can imagine some of the ribald comments at Thursday morning's Daily Ops meeting when Jane "Bubbles" Eagleson announced that a photog from the German edition of Playboy magazine was in town to get some shots of our team for an upcoming feature -- thanks to BMW's media maven Nicole Stempinski. But, come on, Nicole, next time can't you get them to come here and shoot the swimsuit edition? ;)

And speaking of Bubbles, best wishes today to Jane for a very Happy Birthday. One hears she turned 29 again this year, and no doubt the Moet will be flowing tonight somewhere in VLC.


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You can tell who's the photog because he's dressed in black? Klaus Polap
(GER, design team) is the focus of attention on the bow of Chase 1. And
there's no truth to the rumour that ran through the Base on Thursday
that it was really Playgirl magazine doing a story, and that David "Duffy"
Duff (NZL, sailmaker) was going to pose in the sail loft on a pile of sails
wearing a speedo.