Off to Disneyland

Chris Dickson fronted up to answer the media’s questions this evening. He congratulated Luna Rossa and paid tribute to his own team BMW Oracle Racing.

“We’ve had a very strong team with a huge amount of depth in the sailing team, in every area. I look back on this week, on Round Robins 1 and 2, we had no glaring weaknesses. We were outclassed by Luna Rossa in a number of areas this week. If there was something glaringly obvious we’d have done something about it.”

He also thanked Sten Mohr for stepping up to the helmsman’s job today, a job which he said was a thankless task for the Dane. “We call it a ‘hospital pass’ in rugby, when the ball is coming your way but you know you’re going to get hammered.”

So why offload the job to Mohr? It turns out it wasn’t Dickson’s choice. “The decision to take me off the boat today was Larry’s decision and that was his call to make, he’s the owner. “Nobody did a bad job on our team. Our friends across the fence, at Luna Rossa, did a much better job.” Asked what advice Dickson would have the Italian finalists, Dickson replied with a smile: “I don’t think they need a lot of advice, and they certainly don’t need it from me.”

So, what future for BMW Oracle and what future for Chris Dickson? “The future for the team is that Larry is committed to having the team continue. That was decided some time ago. The future for myself is I signed up for this campaign and we’ve got a bit of wrapping up to do for a few weeks, then I’ll be quietly heading back to New Zealand and taking my family to Disneyland on the way home, probably. And life goes on.”

Click here to hear more of Dickson's valedictory press conference