KEY POINTS:
Standing there in his crisp white Oracle uniform, Chris Dickson was as composed and focused as ever.
His team had just come off the water following a mixed day in the final day of round one in the challenger series in Valencia.
Their clean record had been tarnished after a one-minute loss, much to the delight of the locals, to the hometown favourites Desafio Espanol.
But in their much-awaited round one clash with Emirates Team New Zealand, Dickson's Oracle had come out on top by a comfortable 38 seconds.
After round one Dickson's team are number one. The New Zealand helmsman had to be happy. Not that he was showing it.
Aside from the odd flicker in his piercing blue eyes, Dickson was carefully keeping his team's round one success in perspective.
There was a long way to go and if you looked back on the last challenger series in Auckland, it was not Alinghi but American syndicate OneWorld who had their noses in front after round one.
And where did they end up? Third.
Oracle's match against Team New Zealand got off to a spectacular start. Both boats were early for the line.
Dickson locked Team New Zealand skipper Dean Barker on the wrong side of the line and then took them well beyond the pin at the start gun.
Team New Zealand were given a lucky escape when they were able to tack around and start while Oracle gybed and stalled in the process allowing Team New Zealand to power away first.
"Our prestart went 100 per cent perfectly for us for 95 per cent of it," Dickson said.
"There is 30 seconds there at the end I better go and look at to figure out what I should have done because what I did do didn't go down too well."
Oracle trailed New Zealand by more than 100m early on the first beat.
But they rounded the top mark right on their hip. The New Zealanders then gybed to the left because Oracle were affecting their air.
They then continued left, which proved costly as Oracle surged ahead on the right.
With such a big separation there was little the New Zealanders could do but watch.
Oracle rounded the bottom mark 27s ahead. Team New Zealand came back on the second upwind beat but again Oracle put themselves in better breeze at the top of the leg and surged ahead.
Their lead was never in danger on the final run.
"It was a very puffy, shifty day out there," Dickson said. "We saw fortunes come and go very quickly in a number of races. With our race against Desafio they did a nice job at getting in front and did a very nice job at staying in front. We kept looking for an opportunity and we never got one.
"It was a tough day. To come out with an important win and an equally important loss was probably okay.
"We have a very fast boat. We are pretty happy. It is fast across the range. I don't think we have ever been sailing against anyone where we have felt that we are slower. ... but having said that the depth in the challengers is really high."
