Dickson poised to take Cup

Press, 14 March 1987, Page 84

Dickson poised to take Cup

By

TOM BRIDGMAN

of NZPA Washington Chris Dickson’s controlled skill and tenacious crew-work yesterday put the New Zealanders in a good position to win the Congressional Cup yacht race series off Long Beach, California. Dickson showed his mastery by dominating the start against two of his toughest opponents — the Australian, lain Murray, and Dennis Conner’s America’s Cup navigator Peter Isler.

By ensuring they were first across the start-line, Dickson and his experienced New Zealand crew beat both those opponents, while superb crew-work brought a third victory over the American Olympic yachting gold medallist, Robbie Haines. The wins gave Dickson a 5-0 lead in the series

with each skipper having just four races to go. Nearest tp him with a 4-1 score is the American Dave Perry, another wily match racer who has won the Congressional Cup two out of the last three years, beaten last year by Britain’s Harold Cudmore; Perry’s only loss so far has been through a technical protest by Murray..

“Dennis Conner took the America’s Cup back to the United States but it looks like Chris Dickson is going to take the Congressional Cup to New Zealand,” said Tim Witherspoon, spokesman for theLong Beach Yacht Club. A jovial Dickson said he had “a good day” and was ”in quite a happy little position.” “We nailed lain Murray at the start, winning it by 13 seconds and controlling it from there,” he said.