Turmoil within BMW Oracle?

In his first 'inside the America's Cup' column for us, Tim Jeffery looks at the latest goings-on in Larry Ellison's team

Ten days before Gavin Brady announced his resignation from BMW Oracle Racing it was evident he was 'gone'.

At the Danish Open match race event on the Swedish Match Tour, Brady exuded the happiness and relief of a decision made. He sailed like a man with a weight lifted off this shoulders, in stark contrast to the miserable demeanour that he had shown at the Toscana Elba Cup earlier in the year.

So what is going on inside BMW Oracle Racing? One source puts it thus: Chris is micro-managing everyone and everything. This team has some of the best and most experienced people. It has huge potential. We all want it to succeed. But working here is plain misery? No one ever pretends a Dickson-run campaign is a bundle of laughs.

Yet he has a rare talent, can drive a boat in a manner which impresses hardened pros - remember Tokio's run the Channel three Whitbreads ago? Remember how he dominated the match race circuit before Russell Coutts succeeded him? Remember how Dickson can step on a boat and extract fractions more out of it than most other drivers.

Yet he has a manner in which those around him feel hired not valued. If Dickson vents his frustration, it can be more withering than a nuclear winter. Consider the sail trimmers that BMW Oracle has and see how often they sail with Dickson outside of the America's Cup. This is no coincidence.

So we can conclude that it is no coincidence either that before Brady, John Kostecki had left. Before him Dirk de Ridder. Helmsman, tactician and top trimmer - all gone.

Others are taking time out to sail in the Volvo, as the team scale down to one boat sailing while the new boat is under construction at Janicki Industries near Seattle. Volvo-bound are Tony Kolb, Noel Drennan and Steve Hayles. Brady will be there too. He was born with saltwater in his veins. Competing on George Collins' Chessie Racing was the most heart-pumping sailing that Brady's done and you know he wants to do more. A VO70 at full chat in the deep south, sure as hell beats another day of testing out of Valencia.

All of which leaves the question of whether things at BMW Oracle are difficult or dysfunctional? No question, BMW Oracle is a team of talented, experienced dedicated people all of whom thought they could realise their potential in a way that mitigates the Dickson factor.

“There are checks and balances in place that will make this work,” said one old hand during the Valencia Acts. Within weeks, another senior source admitted to heart searching about whether to leave. No wonder Brady said at the Danish Open match race event that “a lot had been going on” at BMW Oracle.

"We have come through a hard patch and come out of it in good shape," says Dickson.

And here’s a thing, at the Louis Vuitton Acts 6 & 7 in Malmo, Ellison’s team posted its best set of results in any of the Act regattas. Dickson steered; Bertrand Pace and Eric Doyle were his tacticians.

Previous Acts were largely – not exclusively- the Kostecki and Brady show. The results?

Louis Vuitton Act 1 Marseille: runners-up to Alinghi
Louis Vuitton Act 2 Marseille: 3rd behind ETNZ and Luna Rossa
Louis Vuitton Act 3 Valencia: 3rd behind Alinghi and ETNZ
Louis Vuitton Act 4 Valencia: 3rd behind Alinghi and ETNZ
Louis Vuitton Act 5 Valencia: 4th behind Luna Rossa, Alinghi and ETNZ
Louis Vuitton Act 6 Malmo: 2nd behind Alinghi
Lousi Vuitton Act 7 Malmo: 2nd behind Alinghi

So, better success for Dickson... It recalls the comment made by Ellison after the Valencia Acts 4 & 5 in June at Oracle press conference in New York when someone lobbed an America’s Cup question into a computing software session. How’s your team doin’? Larry was the gist of it.

“Our best man’s not on the boat,” said Ellison. “But he will be.”

A short time later, Kostecki had left. Dickson’s decision ahead of Acts 4 & 5 to take himself off the boat was reversed.

As to Brady's departure, Dickson, the BMW Oracle Racing CEO/skipper said : "It was disappointing for me that he resigned, but I can understand his disappointment. He joined the team as the helmsman and he has been the helmsman at every regatta and following the Valencia regattas this year I got back on the boat as skipper and helmsman and I can understand Gavin's disappointment. He's decided to move on."

What we would give to know of Larry Ellison's view on all of this. We do know this. It's a calmer, happier crew when the boss is aboard. That Brady visited Ellison recently and departed on good terms. And that Ellison is very aware the vacuum in management during the Cayard-in, Cayard-out, Dickson-out, Dickson-in situation in the middle the previous campaign left it directionless at a critical juncture. He is not likely to let that happen again.