New Zealander Chris Dickson returned to America's Cup racing today with a sudden promotion from his desk job with the Oracle team to helmsman of the syndicate's campaign boat.
Only yesterday, Dickson had emerged as helmsman of Oracle's back-up boat. Today, with syndicate head Larry Ellison as skipper, he replaced PeterHolmberg on the helm and steered the San Fransisco team to a 2 minutes 40s win.
Admittedly, the Americans had little to fear from the low-budget, one-boat Mascalzone Latino team who had won only one race out of nine going into today's competition.
But Dickson, who skippered New Zealand's first Cup campaign in 1987, showed he didn't need a gentle reintroduction to the art of match racing.
The man with a reputation for being a hard driver stamped his mark on the match from the outset, gaining a controlling position over Mascalzone Latino ITA-72 by doing a dummy dial-up. As Mascalzone helmsman Paolo Cian went head to wind, USA-76 dived back down and hooked onto their stern.
Seconds before the start, Mascalzone Latino wriggled free and both yachts came off the line more or less even.
The Italians launched a tacking duel on the first leg and managed to keep it close, but as soon as the yachts stretched off into a drag race, Oracle BMW Racing was able to assert superior boatspeed and make gains.
Apart from the first downwind leg, USA-76 gained on every leg to finish with a commanding lead.
Holmberg, the on-the-boat skipper and helmsman for the first round, was dropped from the sailing team this morning and his future with the San Francisco-based syndicate was unclear this morning. He was at the helm of the warm up boat for Oracle today.
Oracle's fortunes in the Louis Vuitton cup have stalled, with the US$85m syndicate losing four of its last five races until today's win.
Dickson's return came nine months after he was sidelined by Oracle after an apparent disagreement with some crew members.
