Meet the men who are now comfortable in their own skins: Peter Holmberg and John Cutler. For much of the two-year build-up to this Louis Vuitton Cup, they were inhibited by the presence of Larry Ellison, especially after Paul Cayard and Chris Dickson were demoted to gardening leave.
There was just too much testosterone inside Oracle BMW Racing for Ellison to give houseroom to the likes of Cayard and Dickson. Holmberg and Cutler are an entirely different breed. Holmberg has that relaxed down-island attitude, stemming from his US Virgin Island roots.
Cutler is a Mancunian who moved to New Zealand as an eight-year-old and is a laconic smiler. Don't mistake this relaxed attitude for lack of drive or competitiveness. Each has an Olympic medal around his neck, something Cayard and Dickson can't claim, and ironically each collected their medals (silver for Holmberg and bronze for Cutler) at Pusan in 1988.
They collaborated in trying to launch a Virgin Islands challenge in 2000, but fell at the first fundraising fence, packed their tents and joined Stars & Stripes and America True. Now they are reunited at Oracle BMW.
Rather like syndicate chief executive Bill Erkelens, they have found the last two years a little bit of trial. Clearly they couldn't speak on behalf of the fifth's richest man in the world, whose wealth is so weighty that it briefly exceeded the GDP of New Zealand itself. And needless to say every media enquiry started with 'the Larry question'. Will the boss be steering? If so, when? And who decides?
As late as the eve of Round Robin 1, we witnessed the curious spectacle of Holmberg calling his boss 'the skipper' in one press conference and Ellison insisting it was Holmberg in an other. But it's been pretty plain for several months that the team is comfortable with its own hierarchy.
"I couldn't take off or land a plane," says Holmberg making an analogy with one of his boss's most consuming passions, "but I think I could fly one straight and level. It's the same with Larry. He's a talented guy. He can sail to the targets perfectly, but I don't expect him to tack or gybe the boat. He'll pick his time when to drive. We had a meeting before all this started. We decided the best way to deal with all this was to be dead honest. If John, myself, Tommaso (Chieffi) and Ian (Burns) don't think it's a good idea, we'll say so."
And so Ellison has steered and USA 76 has won. Everyone seems at ease. This is quite unlike 1992 when the pro sailors, and particularly Paul Cayard who was then skippering Il Moro di Venezia, found it hard to stomach the idea that a rich amateur (in this case Bill Koch) could create a boat fundamentally faster than everyone else so that his own modest helming ability was taken out of the equation.
You could ask if amateurs belong in sailing's so-called pinnacle event. But they've been integral to it since 1851 and it's what brought Ellison into the game. He admits he couldn't expect to play football with the San Francisco 49ers. And in sport as in business, he believes you can't be successful without "an awful lot of exceptionally talented people around you."
Tim Jeffery, 11 October 2002
