Larry Ellison

The Voyage

Larry Ellison is the most accomplished competitive sailor in the technology elite. His maxi-yacht Sayonara (a Bruce Farr design, launched 1995) won the 1998 Sydney–Hobart Race in the storm that killed six sailors and led to a maritime inquiry — Ellison crewed the boat himself and described the experience as the hardest 48 hours of his life. From 2000 he turned that competitive instinct into BMW Oracle Racing, building a programme that captured the 33rd America's Cup in 2010 with the radical hard-wing trimaran USA-17, then won the 34th America's Cup in 2013 in one of the greatest comebacks in sports history (8–1 down to 9–8). The Oracle programme pioneered foiling-AC72 catamarans — the technology that would change competitive sailing permanently.

The Stewardship

Ellison owns 98% of the Hawaiian island of Lanai, where he has financed coral reef restoration, marine sanctuary expansion and a transition off fossil fuels. The Lanai programme is among the most ambitious private marine conservation efforts in the Pacific. Ellison is not a public ocean philanthropist in the Benioff or Schmidt model — but quietly, in his Hawaiian waters, he funds significant ocean restoration work.

The Vessels

USA-17 (trimaran, 2010 America's Cup winner) — 90-foot rigid-wing trimaran, the most radical AC boat ever built. Sayonara (24 m maxi, 1995) — Bruce Farr design, eight Sydney–Hobart and Fastnet finishes including the 1998 storm race. Oracle Team USA's AC72 winged catamarans — comeback victors of the 34th Cup.

Why this voice on Wind Voyage

Ellison is the cleanest possible bridge between Silicon Valley and wind propulsion. A new-money buyer who watches the America's Cup understands instinctively why a wingsail is not eccentricity — it is the highest expression of the sport. Wind Voyage takes that engineering vocabulary into the explorer category.