Thursday, February 18, 2010

Coming to America

America’s Cup Victory Tour.
Valencia, Spain (February 18, 2010) – Following Sunday’s race victory, which resulted in a 2-0 sweep of the 33rd America’s Cup Match, the BMW ORACLE Racing team is preparing to bring the Cup home to the United States.

The America’s Cup Victory Tour presented by ORACLE and BMW EfficientDynamics will begin tomorrow afternoon February 19, when the trophy touches down in San Francisco following a flight in a first-class seat to SFO from Valencia via Frankfurt. After being welcomed at the airport, the trophy and team will proceed to the Golden Gate Yacht Club – the team’s patron and the Cup’s new home – for a reception with club members and special guests.

Saturday morning, a public viewing is planned at the San Francisco City Hall Rotunda. At 11:30 am Mayor Gavin Newsom will formally welcome the Cup and team, including team owner Larry Ellison, back to the United States in a City Hall ceremony open to the public. A press conference will follow.

On Sunday afternoon, the America’s Cup will head south to San Diego, where the team operated a training base for 16 months in 2008 and 2009. At 4:00 pm the America’s Cup will be on public display at the USS Midway museum on the city’s waterfront.

Following a 5:00 pm ceremony with Mayor Jerry Sanders, the trophy and team will head to the San Diego Yacht Club on the replica of the yacht America, for which the trophy is named. A flotilla of San Diego boats will parade along with America for a sunset sail across San Diego Bay to former Cup holder San Diego Yacht Club.

The homecoming tour may be extended to the East Coast of the United States the following week – details to come.

In addition to the main team website, www.bmworacleracing.com, friends of the team can follow our blog at http://bmworacleracingblog.blogspot.com, our YouTube page at http://www.youtube.com/bmworacleracingteam, or on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/bmworacle2010. You can see great images of the team at www.bmor-photo.com.