Oracle's Chris Dickson sailing in Congressional Cup

by Rich Roberts on 10 Apr 2002 Chris Dickson, recently placed on a leave of absence with the Oracle Racing
America's Cup team training in Auckland, N.Z., arrived unannounced at the
Long Beach Yacht Club at mid-day Monday to join his younger brother Scott
as tactician.

The boats had already left the harbor to practice, but Dickson immediately
jumped on a chase boat to join Scott, a Long Beach resident who represents
the host club.

For the next five days starting Tuesday, they will compete on Catalina 37s
against crews from six America's Cup teams---including defending champion
Peter Holmberg, representing Oracle.

Chris Dickson deflected questions about whether he had or needed permission
from Oracle to participate in others events, as Paul Cayard has after he
was consigned to shoreside duties late last year.

'I'm not here to talk about Oracle,' Dickson said after returning from the
water. 'I'm here to help the little brother through the week.'

Chris Dickson, formerly the world's top-ranked match racer, won the
Congressional in 1990 and '91 and called tactics for Scott when the latter
finished second in '98. Although Chris won't be driving, his presence gives
the event five former winners on the 10 boats, along with Holmberg ('98,
'99 and '01), Rod Davis ('81, '85, '89 and '93), Gavin Brady ('97-'97) and
Dean Barker (2000).

Holmberg recently soared to first place in the ISAF world match racing
rankings and the Swedish Match Tour, which now includes the Congressional
Cup.

The fleet, with their affiliations and new and previous ISAF rankings:

*Peter Holmberg, Oracle Racing, 1 (2);

Jes Gram-Hansen, Denmark, 3 (5);

Luc Pillot, Le Defí Areva, 7 (7);

*Gavin Brady, Prada, 8 (8);

*Dean Barker, Team New Zealand, 18 (19);

Ed Baird, USA, 19 (18);

*Rod Davis, Prada, 23 (39);

Andy Green, GBR Challenge, 31 (30);

Ken Read, Team Dennis Conner, 38 (46);

Scott Dickson, USA, unranked.

*---Former winner.

The lineup includes the last six winners: Holmberg in 1998, '99 and 2001,
Barker in 2000, Brady in '96 and '97, and Davis, the only four-time winner,
in '81, '85, '89 and '93---the first two when he was a California resident
before moving to New Zealand. Davis jumped from 39th to 23rd in the
rankings by reaching the Steinlager/Line 7 semifinals, where he lost to
Holmberg, 2-1.

Holmberg is from St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands, but he's almost as
much at home in Long Beach, and not only because he has won three of the
last four Congressionals.

'I trained here for the '84 Olympics,' he said, 'lived here for six months.
For me, it's familiar territory. It's in the back of your mind that you've
done it here before, but it's not going to get you through.'

The Catalina 37s, introduced in the 1990 Congressional Cup, are the SUVs of
the world match racing circuit---the biggest boats and the only ones with
steering wheels instead of tillers. Equipped with masthead jibs, their
straight-line speed is not extraordinary, but they are extremely agile for
the pre-star jousting unique to match racing.

Each boat will have a crew of five, including the skipper/helmsman. They
will sail a double round robin climaxing with best-of-three semifinals and
finals on Saturday.

The action in the Long Beach outer harbor may be viewed from the end of
Belmont Pier, which will have bleachers and narration for spectators at no
charge.

The Congressional Cup's total purse is $25,000. The top eight finishers
receive Swedish Match Tour Championship Prize points. The top eight point
leaders at the conclusion of the Swedish Match Tour divide a $200,000 prize
purse, with the Swedish Match Tour champion receiving $60,000.

Congressional Cup sponsors include F&M Bank, Trojan Battery, Jones Lumber,
Port of Long Beach and Mondavi Winery.

Congressional Cup
www.lbyc.org