By SUZANNE McFADDEN
He might have lost his keel, but Chris Dickson has not lost his sailing cool.
The America's Cup skipper, who dived for his life a week ago when his Team Oracle boat capsized, kept his feet dry yesterday in leading the fleet in the national matchracing championships.
Dickson, the defending
champion, scored six wins from seven in perfect conditions on the Waitemata Harbour. His only loss was to Phil Douglas, one of the new crew members in Team New Zealand.
The three Team NZ skippers in the regatta had their own private battles.
Former world champion Frenchman Bertrand Pace, now a Kiwi helmsman, suffered two defeats - to team-mate Douglas, and to seasoned campaigner Brian Trubovich.
But Pace in turn beat young Team NZ driver Cameron Appleton, who ended day one with four wins.
Appleton's other losses were to two even younger skippers who are starting off on the same path as he went down five years ago - Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron youth programme sailors Ryan Houston and Ryan Parkin.
Kiwi-American-Italian Rod Davis, who looks certain to sail on board Prada in the next America's Cup, shares second place with Pace on five wins.
The fleet raced through round-robin one yesterday in winds that built up to 18 knots in the middle of the day.
The winner of the Lindauer regatta, which ends on Sunday, earns automatic entry into next year's Steinlager-Line 7 grand prix, now part of the Swedish Match world tour.
