 First edition (2013) | |
| Author | Julian Guthrie |
|---|---|
| Country |  USA |
| Language | English |
| Subject |
|
| Genre | Non-fiction |
| Publisher | Grove |
The Billionaire and the Mechanic is a non-fiction book by Julian Guthrie about Oracle Team USA's quest to win the America's Cup, the oldest trophy in sport. The billionaire in question is Larry Ellison, founder and chairman of Oracle Corporation, and the car mechanic in question is Norbert Bajurin, the Commodore of the Golden Gate Yacht Club.
The book covers the quest of Larry Ellison to win the America's Cup yachting trophy, his establishment of Oracle Team USA under the banner of the Golden Gate Yacht Club, and his various Cup campaigns, at the 2003, 2007 and 2010 Cups. And at the 2013 Cup in the second edition. The book opens with Ellison's experiences at the catastrophic 1998 Sydney to Hobart yacht race, where a freak storm with hurricane-force winds sunk several yachts, killing several sailors. Ellison vowed to transition from open water racing to inshore racing, and in that, go after the oldest trophy in international sport, the America's Cup. Basing out of San Francisco, it covers his troubles with the high brow St. Francis Yacht Club, leading to a search for an alternate sponsoring squadron. In conjunction with this search, the election of a new commodore at the Golden Gate Yacht Club, a club with middle class blue collar membership, lead to Norbert Bajurin, a car radiator shop owner and mechanic, winning. Bajurin discovered the financial difficulties of the Golden Gate Yacht Club, and sought Ellison to be their sponsoring yacht club in a Cup campaign, solving the pending insolvency of his beloved squadron. Then, covering the partnership between the billionaire and the mechanic, and the establishment of Oracle Team USA at the Golden Gate Yacht Club. The book then follows the unsuccessful cup campaigns at the 2003 and 2007 America's Cups, which resulted in their failure to become the US entry into the Cup. Then their rogue challenge, under the Deed of Gift, in the 2010 Cup, becoming the challenger against the Cup defender, and winning the Cup. In the expanded second edition, it follows on the successful Cup defense in the 2013 Cup, and their comeback from the brink of losing the Cup in 2013. [1] [2] [3] [4]
The first edition, "The Billionaire and the Mechanic: How Larry Ellison and a Car Mechanic Teamed Up to Win Sailing's Greatest Race, the America's Cup", was published in 2013. [1] The book appeared in the Northern California bestsellers list. [5] The work was optioned for a movie deal. [6] An updated edition, "The Billionaire and the Mechanic: How Larry Ellison and a Car Mechanic Teamed Up to Win Sailing's Greatest Race, the America's Cup, Twice", was published in 2014 to cover the successful defense of the America's Cup in 2013. [4] The book appeared on the New York Times best sellers list. [7]
Guthrie collaborated with David Ellison, son of Larry Ellison, and head of Skydance Productions, on the 2011-2013 film The Wind Gods , a documentary on the 33rd America's Cup of 2010, where Oracle Team USA won the Cup. The film share details with the book The Billionaire and the Mechanic. [8]
Angus Phillip's review in The Wall Street Journal said of the book that "She (the author) clearly had exceptional access to the generally media-shy billionaire and provides detailed descriptions of Mr. Ellison's living spaces, work habits, tennis pals like Rafael Nadal and Jimmy Connors, best friend and neighbor Steve Jobs, his many airplanes, cars, boats and houses, his clothing tastes, even his food preferences. She paints a picture of a modern contrarian who delights in bucking convention, which is how he wound up at Golden Gate." [9]
Dennis Walter Conner is an American yachtsman. He is noted for winning a bronze medal at the 1976 Olympics, two Star World Championships, and three wins in the America's Cup.
The America's Cup is a sailing competition and the oldest international competition still operating in any sport. America's Cup match races are held between two sailing yachts: one from the yacht club that currently holds the trophy and the other from the yacht club that is challenging for the cup. The winner is awarded the America's Cup trophy, informally known as the Auld Mug. Matches are held several years apart on dates agreed between the defender and the challenger. There is no fixed schedule, but the races have generally been held every three to four years. The most recent America's Cup match took place in March 2021.
Lawrence Joseph Ellison is an American businessman and entrepreneur who cofounded software company Oracle Corporation. He was Oracle's chief executive officer from 1977 to 2014 and is now its chief technology officer and executive chairman.
A match race is a race between two competitors, going head-to-head.
Alinghi, or Alinghi Red Bull Racing because of the sports marketing branding by Red Bull, is the syndicate set up by Ernesto Bertarelli, racing under the colors of the Société Nautique de Genève, to challenge for the America's Cup, as well as other competitions. Bertarelli had raced several smaller yachts named Alinghi previously, but 2003 was his first attempt at the America's Cup. Alinghi challenged for and won the 2003 America's Cup in Auckland New Zealand and successfully defended it at the 2007 America's Cup in Valencia, Spain. Alinghi lost the America's Cup to the Golden Gate Yacht Club and their team BMW Oracle Racing in a Deed of Gift match in Valencia, Spain in February 2010.
Oracle Team USA is an American yacht racing syndicate initially formed to compete for the 2003 America's Cup. They competed again in the 2007 event before winning the 33rd America's Cup regatta in 2010 – representing the Golden Gate Yacht Club. The team also won the 34th America's Cup in 2013.
The Golden Gate Yacht Club (GGYC) is a San Francisco, California, U.S. based yacht club founded in 1939.
Sir Russell Coutts is a world champion New Zealand yachtsman.
Sir Charles Benedict Ainslie is a British competitive sailor. Ainslie is the most successful sailor in Olympic history. He won medals at five consecutive Olympics from 1996 onwards, including gold at the four consecutive Games held between 2000 and 2012.
Paul Pierre Cayard is an American yachtsman and professional sailor. He has competed at multiple world championship level sailing events, including the America's Cup, the Whitbread Round the World Race, the Volvo Ocean Race and the Olympic Games. In 1998 he was selected as the US Rolex Yachtsmen of the Year. He has won seven world championships, twice participated in the Olympic Games and seven times in the America's Cup. In 2011 he was elected into the US Sailing Hall of Fame.
Christopher Stuart Dickson is a sailor from New Zealand. He was world youth champion three years in succession and later became world match race champion three times. He also skippered several yachts in America's Cup racing, and for New Zealand at the 2000 Summer Olympics, and in numerous other sailing competitions.
Mascalzone Latino is a yacht racing team that competes in America's Cup style sailing out of the yacht club Club Nautico di Roma.
The Société Nautique de Genève is a yacht club based in Geneva (Switzerland). It was founded in 1872 with the goal of developing nautical sports and high level sailors. Currently the club has about 3000 members.
The 33rd America's Cup between Société Nautique de Genève defending with team Alinghi against Golden Gate Yacht Club, and their racing team BMW Oracle Racing was the subject of extensive court action and litigation, surpassing in acrimony even the controversial 1988 America's Cup. Since the two parties were unable to agree otherwise, the match took place as a one-on-one deed of gift match in gigantic, specialized multi-hull racing yachts with no other clubs or teams participating. The Golden Gate Yacht Club swept the two races as their yacht USA 17 powered by a rigid wing-sail proved to be significantly faster than Société Nautique de Genève's yacht Alinghi 5. The litigation leading up to the match included which club would be the challenger, the dates and venue for the regattas, certain rules governing the regattas, and the construction of the boats.
The 34th annual America's Cup was a series of yacht races held in San Francisco Bay in September 2013. The series was contested between the defender Oracle Team USA team representing the Golden Gate Yacht Club, and the challenger Emirates Team New Zealand representing the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron. The format was changed radically to a best of 17, and Oracle Team USA defended the America's Cup by a score of 9 to 8 after Team New Zealand had built an 8 to 1 lead. Team New Zealand won the right to challenge for the Cup by previously winning the 2013 Louis Vuitton Cup. The 34th America's Cup's race schedule was the longest ever, in terms of number of days and number of races, and the first since the 25th America's Cup to feature both teams in a match point situation.
The AC72 is a class of wingsail catamarans built to a box rule, which governs the construction and operation of yachts competing in the 2013 Louis Vuitton and the America's Cup races. The class was subsequently replaced by the smaller AC50 class.
The 2017 America's Cup was the 35th staging of the America's Cup yacht race. The challenger, Emirates Team New Zealand, won by a score of 7 to 1 over the defender, Oracle Team USA. It was held on the Great Sound in Bermuda from June 17 to June 26. The races were conducted using hydrofoiling AC50 America's Cup Class yachts, which are slightly larger than the AC45F yachts used in the 2015–16 America's Cup World Series.
The 2017 Louis Vuitton Challenger's Trophy was a sailing competition held to determine the challenger in the 2017 America's Cup.
Julian Guthrie is an American journalist and author based in San Francisco, California, USA.
The Wind Gods: 33rd America's Cup is a 2011 documentary sailing yacht racing sports film about the 2010 America's Cup revised in 2013. The film is narrated by Jeremy Irons, directed by Fritz Mitchell, and produced by Skydance Productions. The soundtrack composed by Pinar Toprak won the 2011 IFMCA Best Documentary Score award. The film aired nationally on PBS in 2013.