SailJuice Blog

I don’t think it was with any great regret that the management of BMW Oracle Racing accepted Chris Dickson’s resignation yesterday.

It would have been a very uncomfortable three months for everyone concerned, if the former CEO, skipper and helmsman had stayed the full course of his contract.

The question that we wanted answered at the press conference yesterday in the team’s plush cinema was whether they would ever again place that much power in the hands of one man.

Kiwi journo Peter Montgomery asked Laurent Esquier: “In the 21st century, is it too much for one man now to whistle, dance and do a jig on a five-cent piece all at the same time? Can one man do everything? Should you have a separate CEO, a separate skipper?”

The answer, which was a little… Read the rest

So it’s farewell to Desafio Espanol after the Kiwis romped away to a 500-metre victory, on a lumpy playing field that bore more resemblance to the Hauraki Gulf on a rough day than the more serene conditions we tend to associate with the Mediterranean.

As you watched the body language of the two teams when they crossed the line 1 minute 18 seconds apart, you could have been forgiven for thinking that it was the Spanish and not the laconic Kiwis who had won the day. There was not even a flicker of emotion as the New Zealanders booked their ticket into the Louis Vuitton Cup finals. Not that the Spanish were anything like as exuberant as on previous days, but there was still plenty of hugging and handshaking going on between the crew whose regatta had come to a… Read the rest

Yesterday was a reserve day, today was blown off with too much wind and 2-metre waves outside the breakwater, and tomorrow there is a fear that the wave state might still prevent racing, even if the breeze is forecast to be a little lighter.

That means the continuation of the Semi Final between the Kiwis and the Spanish might not get going again until Thursday, the last scheduled day of racing. There is a reserve day down for Friday, but there’s no way the Kiwis would want it to go any further.

When the spectator fleet comes out in force on the weekend, Desafio Espanol seems to find an extra gear. Their weekend racing record is excellent so Dean Barker must get the job done by the end of the working week.

If the two teams… Read the rest

Alinghi has sold its wonderboat of the 2005 Louis Vuitton Act Series, SUI 75, to the new British challenge for the next America’s Cup, Team Origin. Although SUI 75 was originally thought to be a bit of a dog in Auckland (with Russell Coutts’s team opting to sail the tried and tested SUI 64 to win the 2003 Cup), in its revamped Version 5 mode SUI 75 was a pure thoroughbred.

Alinghi dominated the match racing and fleet racing in 2005 with this boat, and SUI 75 was still a very potent weapon against the challengers’ 2006-generation boats such as USA 98 and ITA 86. Only the Kiwis’ NZL 84 could possibly claim to be faster.

So Sir Keith Mills’s new team has made a very smart purchase. Ian Walker, tactician of +39 Challenge, says that one of the great… Read the rest

Chris Dickson fronted up to answer the media’s questions this evening. He congratulated Luna Rossa and paid tribute to his own team BMW Oracle Racing.

“We’ve had a very strong team with a huge amount of depth in the sailing team, in every area. I look back on this week, on Round Robins 1 and 2, we had no glaring weaknesses. We were outclassed by Luna Rossa in a number of areas this week. If there was something glaringly obvious we’d have done something about it.”

He also thanked Sten Mohr for stepping up to the helmsman’s job today, a job which he said was a thankless task for the Dane. “We call it a ‘hospital pass’ in rugby, when the ball is coming your way but you know you’re going to get hammered.”

So why offload the… Read the rest

A great day for Italy and Spain, Luna Rossa booking an easy place in the Louis Vuitton Cup Finals and Desafio Espanol proving the match of the Kiwis in every department, winning a thrilling match by just 15 seconds.

Every time the Spanish win, they celebrate like they have just won the America’s Cup, such is the spirit in the team. Fortunately they have a day’s rest to get their heads together and contemplate the possibility of taking another match of New Zealand on Tuesday. It is by no means beyond the bounds of possibility.

Having witnessed Luna Rossa trounce BMW Oracle 5-1, the Spanish must be beginning to believe that the unthinkable really can happen against New Zealand. There is very little to choose between these teams in terms of boatspeed. On these 3.3 nautical mile race courses,… Read the rest

Chris Dickson is off the boat today. Gavin Brady has taken over as skipper, with B boat helmsman Sten Mohr stepping up to the wheel. Larry Ellison is on board, to see his team racing for the last time… or to contribute to the beginning of a remarkable comeback for BMW Oracle Racing.

The last time Sten Mohr (pictured) steered USA 98 was in that disastrous race against China Team. If the American headstay foil hadn’t blown up that day, the Americans wouldn’t be in this predicament now. They’d have won the Round Robin and would have enjoyed the pick of their opponent in the Semi Finals.

But that’s all water under the bridge. This is Mohr’s big chance and it’s going to be fascinating to see how he stands up to a James Spithill… Read the rest

Chris Dickson reputedly has the tattoo of a scorpion on his shoulder. The scorpion is fabled as a creature that commits suicide by stinging itself to death when surrounded by fire.

Today Dickson was trapped by a bush fire of young Aussie James Spithill’s making, as Luna Rossa chased USA 98 into ‘coffin corner’, the left-hand boundary of the start box from which boats rarely escape without penalty.

As Spithill harried USA 98 past the pin-end start mark and into the ‘zone of no return’, in a bid of desperation Dickson gybed around and tried to get across Luna Rossa bearing down on him on starboard gybe.

The aggressive young Aussie could have whacked USA 98 amidships, and the umpires judged it as a red flag penalty. BMW Oracle was adjudged to have gained… Read the rest

It’s not often that a sailor will get applause out of an audience as cynical as a bunch of sailing journalists, but Matt Wachowicz managed it at last night’s press conference. The American navigator on Desafio Español 2007 said spirits had never been higher in the Spanish team, even if they were 1-3 down against the Kiwis.

“I think you need to realise we’re a young team,” he said. “And we set our objectives realistically in the beginning. We accomplished our number one objective which was to make the Semi Finals. The day we did that, we sat down and we made a new goal and that was to go out and do our best to win a race in the Semi Finals.

“Two days ago, we accomplished that goal. So now we need a new goal. And it’s not… Read the rest

A month or so ago, we media types were talking about how there was not one – but two places up for grabs in the Semi Finals, such was the perceived weakness of Luna Rossa at the time. Word on the street was that the Italians were struggling in pre-Act 13 training against the likes of Areva Challenge. The question was which of the 2nd tier teams would be joining the dead certs – BMW Oracle and New Zealand – as the other two teams in the Semis.

How wrong could we be? Now 3-1 up against BMW Oracle after another intriguing match in steady moderate breezes, they appear to be the equal of Americans in almost every department. Even the superior downwind speed of USA 98 was not in evidence today, with Dickson throwing everything but the kitchen sink… Read the rest