Yacht-Racing Team Is Coming to Train

Software billionaire Larry Ellison’s Oracle yacht-racing team has chosen Ventura as its home port to train for its America’s Cup challenge, officials announced Wednesday.

The team will use adjacent sections of Ventura Harbor Boatyard and Ventura Isle Marina to store two multimillion-dollar racing yachts and equipment for about six months beginning in March. The crew will train off the Ventura County coast, said Bob Billingham, Oracle Racing operations manager.

The team has been training in Auckland, New Zealand, since October and plans to follow summer to the Northern Hemisphere in spring. It hopes to represent the United States in a competition which will be held in 2002-03 off the coast of Auckland.

John Johnson, owner of Ventura Harbor Boatyard, said Ventura appealed to Oracle because the harbor is small enough that it can reach open water quickly compared with its former Southern California home port of San Pedro. He also said that Santa Barbara Channel has winds that always blow in the same direction, which is important for training.