  Recent years have witnessed tremendous progress in numerical relativity and
an ever improving performance of ground-based interferometric gravitational
wave detectors. In preparation for Advanced LIGO and a new era in gravitational
wave astronomy, the numerical relativity and gravitational wave data analysis
communities are collaborating to ascertain the most useful role for numerical
relativity waveforms in the detection and characterization of binary black hole
coalescences. In this paper, we explore the detectability of equal mass,
merging black hole binaries with precessing spins and total mass M_T in
[80,350]Msol, using numerical relativity waveforms and template-less search
algorithms designed for gravitational wave bursts. In particular, we present a
systematic study using waveforms produced by the MAYAKRANC code that are added
to colored, Gaussian noise and analyzed with the Omega burst search algorithm.
Detection efficiency is weighed against the orientation of one of the
black-hole's spin axes. We find a strong correlation between the detection
efficiency and the radiated energy and angular momentum, and that the inclusion
of the l=2, m=+/-1,0 modes, at a minimum, is necessary to account for the full
dynamics of precessing systems.
