Remember 22nd October? Chris Dickson must. He was on his property north of Auckland, tending to his calves. The phone rang. It was the Oracle BMW camp from where he'd been rested eight months before following deep crew dissent at their California training base.
The next day, Dickson was back in the team's black sailing gear driving the tune-up boat. A day after that he was installed as replacement skipper on USA 76. Since then - and 'then' was Race 2 of Round Robin 2- Oracle BMW has not lost having previously let four races in five starts slip away.
As this is written Oracle BMW is on quarter-final match point, one win away from beating OneWorld's USA 75 and going straight through to the semi-finals.
Dickson only steered for one day, before bringing back previous skipper Peter Holmberg as helmsman, choosing instead to stand at his shoulder and take charge of the tactical game.
It would be easy to ascribe Lazarus-like powers to Dickson. There's no doubting the turnaround. So what has made the difference?
First, the design team under Bruce Farr moved USA 76 out of her very peculiar Round 1 low sail area configuration. The boat was dynamite upwind, the highest pointing boat in the challenger fleet. Hence the suggestion that she carried a penalty depth keel. But boy, was she vulnerable downwind.
It was a really odd mode to start off the trials with. Certainly it tricked the majority of observers, believing that the boat was in the wrong design space. "Maybe they thought they could see where we were," said Farr. "But we're pretty comfortable with where we are. It is a design space we have tested extensively both in science and in real life."
Dickson's good fortune was to come back with USA 76 in a different mode. Yes, Dickson has had a scorched earth policy towards crews in his previous campaigns - even by the uncompromising and intensely competitive standards of many leading skippers, Dickson is a class apart- but none of apocalyptic warnings of meltdown inside of Oracle BMW has shown any sign of coming good.
The only thing that has come good is Oracle BMW's form. Winning crews are happy crews. After Dickson's removal last year, and before him Paul Cayard, this was a team that operated efficiently but not dynamically.
Ellison sensed this. Dickson was brought back as a catalyst for change, even at the expense of Ellison's own place in the crew.
Oracle BMW Mk 11 looks like this. Chief executive Bill Erkelens has a diminished role as does sailing director John Cutler. Dickson's role gives him clout ashore as well as onboard. Cutler remains in the crew as a tactician alongside Tomasso Chieffi but it is Dickson standing at Holmberg's shoulder now.
The dynamics of Cup teams are unfailingly fascinating, especially at Oracle BMW. Just think of Dickson as the dynamo. He's supplying the electricity. Ellison's team is fizzing.
Tim Jeffery, 15 November 2002
