Sailing: Dickson to race for Britain

CHRIS DICKSON has signed up to sail for Britain in this year's Admiral's Cup, writes Stuart Alexander. Dickson, who has skippered America's Cup campaigns for both his native New Zealand and Japan, will join Stuart Childerley as tactician on the 45-footer Provezza.

'It's nice to have someone doing the tactics that I respect so much,' Childerley, who will co- skipper the boat with charterer Don Wood, said.

Childerley sailed alongside Dickson during the two-boat trials in New Zealand for the forthcoming Whitbread race but left the project due to uneasy relationships with some of the other crew members. He is now talking to Lawrie Smith who has one or two places to fill on his Whitbread maxi, Fortuna.

Meanwhile, Childerley tomorrow begins tuning trials on the 45-foot two-tonner, which will first race with a largely Turkish crew in the Two Ton Cup in mid-July. After that the majority of the crew will be British, though the owner, Ergin Imre, and a few of his crew will stay aboard for the Admiral's Cup.

Dickson will join the boat, which was relaunched yesterday in Lymington, on 24 July and will stay until the end of the Fastnet, doubling as a second helmsman in the offshore races.