“We’re like the U. S. Navy – we
have a lot more captains than we have ships,” claimed Oracle
CEO Larry Ellison, speaking yesterday at the annual Oracle OpenWorld
conference at Moscone Center. “The strong No. 2, I tried
that a couple of times. I’ll never do that again. . . Sometimes
they get blinded by the limelight, and they become less effective
than they were before.”
The above quotes (lifted from today’s business
section of the San Francisco Chronicle) were from Ellison’s
keynote speech about issues at Oracle Corporation, specifically
about recent executive-level shake-ups. We hoped that Ellison
would be equally candid at his late afternoon press conference
about Oracle Racing and his quest for the America’s Cup. Specifically,
we were wondering about Paul Cayard’s current status – does he
still have a future with Oracle Racing? Or will Cayard, who is
also on the Nautor Challenge board, be allowed to leave Oracle
Racing and possibly join Amer Sports One in the Volvo
Race as a replacement for the injured Grant Dalton?
Alas, the press conference was geared toward
the non-sailing media, and we learned almost nothing new. Crewmembers
Peter Holmberg and Mike ‘Moose’ Sanderson warmed up the small
crowd with a short Power Point presentation, and eventually Ellison
– surrounded by a cadre of black-suited bodyguards with
Secret Service-like radio cords coming out of their ears – showed
up. He sat in front of a one-third scale model of an IACC boat
and a miniature replica of the America’s Cup, and cheerfully
fielded generic questions for half an hour.
Among other things, Ellison announced that
he intended to steer (“Yes, I expect to drive. Not all of
the time and certainly not at the starts – that would be
stupid!”), that his campaign would cost about $85 million
(“It’s cheap,” he deadpanned. “Why doesn’t everyone
do this?”), that BMW was about to come on as a sponsor and,
naturally, that he fully expects to win the America’s Cup. Questions
about the logistics of defending the Cup on San Francisco Bay
were deferred, and the obvious question about Cayard was glossed
over – a bit nervously we thought – with a seemingly prepared
non-statement.
Ellison did impress us with his obvious
love for sailing, which seems more than just a weekend refuge
from the business world to him. He spoke about his hugely successful Sayonara program, and how happy and proud he was to be
an active part of his team (“If you own a baseball team,
you can’t go out on the field and play first base. Well, I guess
you could, but it would be pretty embarrassing!”). He also
told the audience about the fateful ’98 Sydney-Hobart Race, an
event that seems to have made a lasting impression on him. “What
I learned from that experience,” stated Ellison. “is
that life is short, glorious and fragile.”
Good stuff, Mr. E. – now, what about Cayard?
Crewmen Peter Holmberg and Mike ‘Moose’ Sanderson warmed up the
crowd before Ellison came on.
Ellison addressed the press in
front of a scaled-down A-Cup boat
Press Conference Photos Latitude/John
Arndt
Photo Michael Ng
Photo Sally Samins
Sailing photos above are from
summer training in Ventura Sailing Photos Courtesy www.oracleracing.com
YOTREPS
December 5 – The Pacific Ocean and Cyberspace
Who is out making passages in the Pacific
and what kind of weather are they having? Check out YOTREPS –
‘yacht reports’ – at www.bitwrangler.com/yotreps/
Looking for current as well as recent wind
and sea readings from 17 buoys and stations between Pt. Arena
and the Mexican border? Here’s the place – which has further
links to weather buoys and stations all over the U.S.: www.ndbc.noaa.gov/stuff/southwest/swstmap.shtml.
Pacific Winds and Pressure
The University of Hawaii Dept. of Meteorology
page posts a daily
map of the NE Pacific Ocean barometric pressure and winds.
