As its sparkling 72-foot catamaran was christened on a sun-kissed day on the San Francisco waterfront, the mood among the Oracle Team USA couldn’t have been more buoyant.
Nobody was flat out predicting a victory in the America’s Cup finals, which will be held Sept. 7-21 on the bay, but the people who will sail this sleek red and black beauty seemed thrilled before launching the boat Tuesday at Pier 80.
When a reporter suggested to tactician John Kostecki that the team’s first AC72 was like a Ferrari, he said, “Now we’re going to be riding a Ferrari that’s tuned up — and turbocharged.”
Originally, the Oracle organizers had intended to build and launch the two 72s — each one costs more than $8 million – at roughly the same time. Then they decided to delay the construction of the second one in New Zealand until the first had been run through its paces for a few months.
Click here for the full report by the San Francisco Chronicle.
