Ellison Speeds Up America’s Cup With Flying Cats in Spectacle

The doors of Larry Ellison’s waterfront hangar on San Francisco Bay slide open and more than a dozen men in hard hats roll out the billionaire’s latest technological marvel. Built to defend the America’s Cup starting here on Sept. 7, Oracle Team USA 17 is a catamaran named after the company that made Ellison the eighth-richest person on the planet.

The twin-hulled black and crimson racer measures 72 feet long, 46 feet across and 131 feet tall to the tip of its rigid carbon-fiber mainsail that resembles an airplane wing. On this sunny April morning, the crew members push the 6.5-ton boat they call “17” to the edge of a pier, where a crane hoists it into the water for its maiden voyage, Bloomberg Markets magazine will report in its August issue.