Chris Rattue: Grant Dalton getting that sinking feeling

Reports suggest there is a growing division between Grant Dalton (left) and skipper Dean Barker. Photo / Greg Bowker

As the rift between Dean Barker and Grant Dalton grows, hindsight will prove the Peter Principle is at play.

Grant Dalton is sinking fast. Running an America's Cup campaign is a tough business, and too tough for Dalton on the current evidence. In my opinion, he has lacked the necessary charisma to pull the team together and draw the public to his cause.

The team's image is shot. Funding is in disarray. Critically, there are credible reports of division between Dalton and skipper Dean Barker who has been angered by "leaks" that he will be replaced. Barker has reportedly sought a lawyer's advice which will get the public further offside because the whiff of an expensive legal battle which might involve our money is more PR suicide.

Barker has gone close to sinking two America's Cup boats - he may now help do the job for good without leaving land. But the buck does not stop with the skipper.

Dalton has been a truly outstanding sailor/boss, a round-the-world legend no less. He is one of those amazing people. But he is embodying the Peter Principle that managers reach a level of their incompetence.

The gutting thing for Dalton and Barker is how close they were to an amazing triumph in San Francisco. Since then, Team NZ has been heading towards Davy Jones' Locker.

New Zealand's America's Cup champions, the late Sir Peter Blake and Russell Coutts, appear more amazing by the day. Sir Peter looked like a leftover hippy, Coutts a schoolboy with a blank stare. Appearances are irrelevant. People still comment that Mike Hesson, the Black Caps coach, also looks like a schoolboy on the rare occasions he is sighted. Some schoolboy.

Blake had the common touch, but it was only one of his weapons. There was never any doubt that Blake and Coutts were in command. Fact is, both were sharp thinking and ruthless.

In contrast, Dalton did a weird thing in the last America's Cup when he decided to become a part-time grinder. This echoed the mistakes of football coaches who can't resist showing up their players at training. Dalton looked like an old bloke who wanted to show the young bucks he still had what it takes. Mana and mystique went overboard. As appears to be happening now, roles were confused.

If things go horribly wrong, as they did in San Francisco, there's a natural inclination to think that such a physically involved team leader did not have his mind properly on the job. Dalton said he wanted to know what was happening on the boat, as if Barker couldn't tell him that.

Since the stunning defeat to the Coutts' Oracle tidal wave, people have suggested Dalton was distracted by outside issues. Dalton has failed to act decisively or smartly since. His succession plan stinks. He had the chance last year to move Barker - a fine sportsman but one who bore the mark of triple failure - into a solely strategic position and blood Peter Burling, a brilliant young sailor, as the new skipper. Instead, the lines are muddled.

Team NZ have dallied for a year, and eventually controversy took over. Dalton has also failed to win over a fickle public whose attitude to how taxes are spent changes on a wind shift.

The pity of it all is that the 2013 racing was fantastic where hydrofoiling put the contest on a thrilling knife's edge. Burling is made for this, but will he get a chance?

Some weekend reports leave a clear impression that Barker is furious with Dalton. This is the moment for Dalton to act, to show he is tough, smart, and diplomatic. But it is one heck of a disaster to deal with.

I fear there has only been one man who could have got Team NZ out of a hole like this.

This is the other Peter Principle, because there was only one Peter Blake.

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