Visiting the Oracle

Ed Gorman spoke to Peter Holmberg about life in Larry Ellison's team

Holmberg who is currently ranked number two in the ISAF world match racing rankings and worked in the afterguard of Dennis Conner's Stars & Stripes last time out, defended Ellison's obvious right to compete in what, in any case, has always been a rich man's game. "It's not a bad thing," he said. "If our sport can grow by leaps and bounds, if our rule does a little tweaking to allow those wealthy individuals to ride on their horse in a horse race, maybe the sport will go further. I've worked with a lot of owners and the ones that have a good attitude about it - it's a plus for the sport. If you can find a way for it to work for everyone's benefit, it doesn't frustrate me and for the sailing team, it's a win-win," he added.

So what about the politicking inside the Oracle afterguard? First Chris Dickson was moved sideways to a position where he was liasing between the design team led by Bruce Farr and the sailing team. He has now moved back and routinely drives opposite Holmberg. Then Paul Cayard was abruptly suspended as Sailing Director and is now in limbo but still on the payroll.

In some of Oracle's literature Cayard, one of the most experienced Cup hands alive, is listed as part of the shore team, in others as on the 'administrative' staff. In fact, at the moment, he is in the Southern Ocean on Amer Sports One and most definitely out of the Oracle loop.

This cannot be a good situation for any team - Cayard's status looks like a running sore and seems to have been the result of a direct conflict with the notoriously abrasive Ellison himself. But Holmberg and the rest of the team have to accept that. "It's a decision made by Larry Ellison who has the right to make that decision," he said. "We're going to live by the decisions made and we're going to find a way to make it work for us."

Holmberg expanded a bit on the undeniable fact that Oracle have had one or two problems - the sort of problems not seen to date, in public at least, within Ernesto Bertarelli's Alinghi syndicate. "On the political aspect, I'm not going to deny there's Dickson and Cayard," he said. "They are big personalities and sparks fly from fires and you've also got a CEO of our programme (Ellison) who loves controversy. Look at his corporation and how he runs it - he loves the headlines. So I've learned, and I'm not trying to be defensive here, to appreciate Larry's style - that's Larry Ellison. He's going to say (things) to make you guys write it down and he's certainly no dummy."

Holmberg believes the political issues - he called it "Dickson and Cayard" at one point - will be sorted out. "I believe we will solve it and make it work for us in whatever fashion we have to," he said.

Oracle - training in the Hauraki Gulf