There was a familiar note to the reaction to the collapse of Larry Ellison's America's Cup bid. "Renowned for a dictatorial leadership style and inability to let people do their jobs when the pressure is on, he has to be the key component in Oracle's failure." Harsh. But the New Zealand Herald's correspondent was referring, not to the famously capricious Oracle founder, who funded the quixotic $400m bid to win the yachting trophy, but to the skipper, Chris Dickson.