Fisher's View- Double Bubble

by Bob Fisher on 3 May 2007 There is no denying Chris Dickson and his crew have an uncanny ability to come back in crucial races.

They did it twice today.

The first time against the South Africans in Shosholosa, and then against the Swedish team in Victory Challenge. Each of their opponents had led for the first round and both were overtaken on the next beat, although whether or not BMW Oracle led Victory was a matter of conjecture.

That second race was in the best match race tradition, as might have been expected from Dickson and Magnus Holmberg, both of whom have won that world championship. But to watch the dialling down of these monster boats, approaching one another bow-to-bow was outrageously exciting. Holmberg did it twice in an effort to protect his lead.

The first time he was successful and led around the buoy by 13 seconds. The second time, Dickson was acutely aware of what to expect, and lined himself up for the assault. Because of this he was able to dip behind Victory Challenge and gain a leeward overlap. He continued to use this after passing the buoy and a luffing match ensued.

This was sufficiently intense that Holmberg tacked away from it and the two boats sterns were within a whisker of touching. Victory went out to the left hand side, picked up a little pressure and began to show ahead on the lay-line. But the advantage did not last and when the two boats converged after gybing, it was BMW Oracle that led and finished 14 seconds in front.

In the earlier match with Shosholosa, the South Africans led for the first round, but as the two boats rounded the bottom mark nine seconds apart, BMW Oracle tacked away, but when Shosholosa went to cover, Paolo Cian was blocked by the China Team that had started the previous match very late.
That enabled Dickson to hook in to a better shift on the left and a 24 second lead at the top mark that Dickson was able to increase on the run.

But that made the second time in the Rounds Robin that Shosholosa had led the overall leader for a round. Perhaps there is a possibility of vulnerability in the boat that every is starting to call 'The Machine.'

Vincenzo Onorato, the owner of Mascalzone Latino could not tolerate five defeats in a row and decided that there was an option open to him, to switch helmsmen. Today Cameron Dunn took over from Flavio Favini behind the wheels. Dunn may or may not have been better than Favini, but he did everything that Onorato requested.

After Jes Gram-Hansen had won the start against Desafio Espanol, Dunn took over and, in what was to prove a 'four-pointer', kept the Spanish at bay.
It was a must win race for the Latin Rascals for if they had lost, it would have most certainly been the end of any chance they would have had of reaching the semi-finals.

Two wins for Emirates Team New Zealand were achieved in a workmanlike manner that shows the team is back on track, but they were against teams they should have beaten and easily. It was a case of a conservative approach to the task in hand.

ENDS