Oracle owner forced to take shore leave

Larry Ellison may be a billionaire but yesterday the man he installed as skipper five days before rather ungratefully dropped him from the crew of his own America's Cup boat.

Ellison's name was missing from the Oracle BMW Racing team crew list released for their race against United States rivals Team Dennis Conner's Stars & Stripes in the second round robin of the Louis Vuitton Cup for America's Cup challengers.

The Oracle Corporation chief executive, who is funding most of a $85m (£55m) campaign from his personal fortune of $16bn, shocked his team by replacing the world match racing champion Peter Holmberg as skipper last week.

Disappointed by his team's performances, Ellison replaced Holmberg with the New Zealander Chris Dickson, who had himself been sidelined early in Oracle's campaign, reportedly over friction with other team-mates.

Dickson has responded by recalling Holmberg as helms man after Ellison had sailed most of Oracle's races in the first round robins in a tactical role.

The bold selection move however came to nothing when the race was postponed after Conner's Stars & Stripes suffered gear damage earlier in the day and was unable to make it back to the start line. Oracle, who lie in equal fourth spot, later lodged a protest at Stars & Stripes failure to race.

GBR Challenge's boat Wight Lightning was beaten by the Seattle-based OneWorld in their second round robin.

Andy Beadsworth, Wight Lightning's starting helmsman, looked to be in serious trouble at the hands of OneWorld skipper, James Spithill, in the pre-start manoeuvres, trapped on the wrong side of the starting line. But with two minutes to go Beadsworth performed a double-dummy tack and managed to get Wight Lightning's stern ahead of One World's bow.

Beadsworth had the better start and finished strongly but Wight Lightning eventually crossed the line 1min 5sec behind.