Yachting: Keel teaches Dickson crew $500,000 lesson

The repairs to Chris Dickson's boat will be costly, but his big worry was losing a sailor, he tells SUZANNE McFADDEN.

Chris Dickson learned a valuable lesson at sea when the keel fell off his America's Cup boat - but at a cost.

The mishap to the pristine white boat will set American challenge Oracle Racing back at least a month in sailing time, and a chunk of cash.

A new keel will cost the syndicate at least $500,000, now that 21 tonnes of lead and steel are resting on the Hauraki Gulf seabed.

But yesterday, 24 hours after the keel dropped off and flipped USA61 on its side, skipper Dickson was not worried about the money.

He was simply happy that his crew were all alive to tell the tale.

"My first reaction was for the safety of the crew," said the New Zealander, who dived off the capsized yacht with his fellow sailors.

"We did a head count immediately and, once everyone was accounted for, we swung into action to see if we could save the boat.

"We wished it hadn't happened - but the team has made the best out of a bad situation."

The crew were put to the test during the emergency on Wednesday afternoon and then for the next 12 hours in a cold and wet salvage operation.

"We hope it doesn't happen to anyone else, but it's made us a lot stronger," Dickson said.

Yesterday, the hull of the old AmericaOne racer was back in the shed at the Viaduct Basin, where an investigation began into how and why the keel broke off.

"Right now we have no idea what happened," Dickson said. "The keel broke off at the bottom of the hull - that's it.

"It's a setback - we're not going to be sailing two boats again this year.

"We won't sail the other boat until we know why this happened and we are confident that [USA49] doesn't have the same problem."

Both boats were bought from Paul Cayard's AmericaOne syndicate and were to be used as trial horses until Oracle Racing built two yachts in 2002.

"This is a second-hand boat. We bought it a few months ago as is. Our design team didn't design the keel," Dickson said.

It is sitting 40m under the sea somewhere north of the Noises Islands.

Dickson said every effort would be made to salvage the keel, even though it would not be used again.

"It won't be going back in that boat, that's for sure. But we might use some of the lead in a new one."

The operation to lift it will cost about $20,000.

Oracle Racing do not have a replacement keel, so will have to build a new one.

Although the team are headed by the world's second-richest man, software mogul Larry Ellison, Dickson said they could not delve into a bottomless money pit.

"We have a budget to work to and we have to manage our time, money and effort. This will affect us."

Herald Online feature: America's Cup