By JULIE ASH
His yacht's keel is on the bottom of the Hauraki Gulf but New Zealand skipper Chris Dickson and his Oracle Racing team remain upbeat.
Dickson was at the helm of Oracle's USA49 on Wednesday when it broke its keel and capsized.
A year earlier he was at the helm of USA61 when it also broke its keel and toppled over.
"We were saying there probably aren't too many sailors in the world who have broken two keels in a year," Dickson said.
USA49 was back at the Viaduct Harbour early yesterday.
"The team did a great job of salvaging the boat," Dickson said. "The mast and sail were rescued. The keel is still on the bottom of the Hauraki Gulf, down 100ft.
"We had some divers out there yesterday and we are going to make every effort to get the keel back so we can have a look at it. It is better we get it up than leave 20 tonnes of lead sitting in the Hauraki Gulf."
The American syndicate had both its training yachts out, just north of Waiheke's Onetangi Bay in 14-knot winds, when trouble hit.
"There was a huge bang, almost like an explosion, and then the boat quite gracefully started tipping over," said Dickson. "It felt like a capsized dinghy."
Oracle's two training boats were bought from America One after the last America's Cup regatta.
"Obviously the whole keel was not strong enough," Dickson said. "A year ago we changed a number of things and thought we had made significant improvements. We thought we had solved the problem but obviously we haven't.
"The problem is that they are old boats and the protocol prevents us from getting the plans of the keel, therefore we don't have any specific engineering knowledge of the keel structure."
Oracle, set up by software billionaire Larry Ellison, is designing and building its own America's Cup boats in the US. They will arrive in Auckland next year.
"This is a setback but not a major setback," said Dickson.
"We could have a new keel as early as next week."
Yachting: Dickson keeps on an even keel
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