Sailing: Change at helm transforms GBR

America's Cup: Wight Lightning sails into contention with back-to-back victories off Auckland

Two days ago it was impossible to raise a smile inside the GBR Challenge base camp here in Auckland. The team had scraped a victory against the highly unfancied French team Le Defi Areva but apart from that, had nothing to show for their efforts nearly two weeks into the first round of the Louis Vuitton Cup America's Cup Challenger series.

But 48 hours have seen a dramatic transformation in the fortunes of Peter Harrison's GBR Challenge team, starting on Friday when Ian Walker and his crew delivered their first serious scalp: defeat of the Swedish Victory Challenge with a masterful display. For the first time wives and families were invited into the base and there was a carnival atmosphere as the boat came home.

Yesterday the team performed even better, defeating Oracle BMW Racing, one of the big guns of the competition. Suddenly, the pressure that has been building up inside the GBR Challenge camp over the last two weeks has lifted.

"I always said we were sailing well but the breaks just weren't going our way," said a delighted Walker as he stepped ashore after steering GBR 70 Wight Lightning to victory yesterday. "Yesterday and today a few of those breaks went our way, the crew performed brilliantly and suddenly it has all fitted into place." The relief on faces around the camp is palpable, none more so than in Walker's case, as he shoulders responsibility for the performance of the team on the water. But the last few days have not been without their dramatic moments.

Starting helmsman Andy Green, who started GBR 70 in the first six races from which the team garnered just a single victory, was replaced by Andy Beadsworth before the encounter with the 2000 Louis Vuitton Cup champions Prada last Thursday. Pundits claimed Green had been sacked, the GBR Challenge maintained that this was the squad system in normal working order. "We have 34 people in our sailing squad," insisted Peter Harrison. "Two starting helmsmen, two drivers, and so on."

Whatever the logic, the inclusion of Beadsworth on the racing crew list had the effect of galvanising the GBR crew into stepping up a gear. The immediate impact was a winning start against Prada and a race that only went to the Italian A team by just over 20 seconds at the end. Then Beadsworth outmuscled his long-term adversary Jesper Bank over the start line to give Walker a decisive lead off the line as the GBR 70 skipper took the wheel.

Yesterday there was every sign of a maturing performance after an even start when tactician Adrian Stead held his nerve and called the shifts perfectly in difficult and fluky conditions to beat Oracle. The American team had come from behind after trailing at the first cross and first and second marks to take the lead on the upwind leg. But GBR Challenge regained the advantage on the second downwind leg, bringing up more wind and seeming faster in the 12 knot winds.

"The Americans seemed very quick upwind," remarked Stead, who had needed to dig deep into his mental and tactical reserves to hold Oracle at bay and to repass them in the closing stages.

And so the first round-robin looks like finishing in a very different style to how it started. "Our target was to win four races," said Walker as he came ashore yesterday. "And if we beat Mascalzone on Sunday we will have achieved that."

The irony of the situation is that when the Mascalzone race was called off due to a lack of wind last week and rescheduled for today, Britain were looking shaky and could easily have lost. With their tails now up and some key victories behind them, a loss against the weaker of the two Italian teams would now be against the run of form. And if they can post a third consecutive win, the GBR Challenge will be tied for fourth overall at the end of the first round-robin.