A Tour of the Oracle Boat Shed

When most people invite you out to ‘the shed’ to show off their boat project, you could be excused a little ‘eye-rolling’. Not so when Team Oracle invites you out to see what they’re cooking up in their 120,000-sq-ft ‘shed’ on Pier 80. In the months since our last visit, the building has been transformed from a dilapidated shipping pier to a massive Team Oracle America’s Cup dreamland. And they quite literally are now ‘cooking up’ the first hulls of the 72 footers planned for the America’s Cup, with the first to be launched sometime in July. We were allowed a ‘sneak peak’ at the first hulls just coming out of the oven, but cameras were strictly verboten.

The massive shed is testament to the scale of the entire America’s Cup endeavor, and the opportunity it presents to San Francisco. Next to the pier an ancient dry dock rusts away, waiting for the scrap heap. It provided an apt contrast to the hustle of new technology and creative energy on display the inside where the building of the new generation of AC cats is well underway.

But there are still a couple of hurdles to clear, mainly the approval of the Board of Supes. The next meeting is today at 1:30 p.m. in Room 250 at City Hall, so make it if you can, but the one no AC supporter should miss — the one that will give the supes a chance to approve allowing the whole spectacle to move forward — is on Tuesday, February 28 at 2:45 p.m. in Room 245 of City Hall. Any sailor who wants to see the America’s Cup come alive on San Francisco Bay would be wise to set aside some time next Tuesday to support the event. The activity at Pier 80 is just a taste of what’s to come and it’s impossible to imagine a more exciting way to rejuvenate a crumbling waterfront infrastructure.

In other news, the proposed course for America’s Cup 34 was announced last night and shoreside spectating for the big event will never be the same. "Tucked between Alcatraz and the City shoreline, the race course offers up-close viewing from any number of locations along the Cityfront, with the Marina Green and Crissy Field among the prime locations," said the press release. It was quick to point out that the exact course would change depending on weather conditions, and that a transit channel would be open along the shoreline to allow small boats and ferries access to the Bay during the 3-4 hours per race day the restricted zone would be enforced.