Crew wanted Barker gone, says Dalton

Team New Zealand have issued their most definitive account yet of the ousting of Dean Barker as skipper, saying it was the result of an in-house survey of the sailing team. Photo / Supplied

Team survey was catalyst for change says Team NZ boss, but critics claims his head should have rolled.

Team New Zealand have issued their most definitive account yet of the ousting of Dean Barker as skipper, saying it was the result of an in-house survey of the sailing team.

In an exclusive and wide-ranging interview with the Weekend Herald, Team NZ chief executive Grant Dalton has addressed some of the issues surrounding the beleaguered sailing team in the two years following the dramatic 9-8 America's Cup loss to Oracle.

Team NZ have received trenchant criticism for not releasing the results of a post-San Francisco review, but Dalton said the only relevant material ended up being played out in public anyway. The major casualty of the review was Barker, who has been replaced as skipper by Glenn Ashby and as helmsman by Peter Burling.

He was offered a shore role but instead resigned and was immediately picked up by Japanese start-up team Softbank. Barker claimed he only heard of his demotion through social media after the news had been leaked to NewstalkZB.

Dalton said the change at the helm was the result of a confidential survey of the sailing team.

"That was a universal vote in May last year," Dalton said. "This is all the guys, not me, they were all speaking anonymously so they didn't feel like they'd come under a vendetta or anything. We needed change within the leadership of the sailing team."

Barker could not be reached when approached for comment yesterday. He has previously accused the team of rewriting history when it comes to his departure.

One of Dalton's biggest critics is Barry McKay, the veteran of five America's Cup campaigns, including one under Dalton. He believes either one of two serious misjudgments by Dalton in San Francisco - agreeing to a lay day while in control of the regatta and including himself on the boat as a grinder - should have been enough to see him removed as head of Team NZ.

"He's done a fantastic job of maintaining a tough-guy image. It's great in the boardroom. He has all these wealthy individuals spellbound with this aura of toughness.

"He tried to do everything but just because you're raising the money it doesn't give you the goddamn right to be on the boat, or even run the team. You don't see Steve Tew selecting himself for the All Blacks, do you?"

McKay said it showed a lack of gumption that the review, overseen by board member Bob Field, was not released.

"The parts that needed to be implemented if you like publicly, have been, and the internal ones have been as well," Dalton responded. "The stuff about how we brand the boat best when it cuts through the water - is the logo flush or not - the public don't give a rat's arse about that. But they do give a shit about the leadership of the sailing team and that had played out in the public already."

Dalton has also been the subject of barbs from Oracle frontmen Jimmy Spithill and Sir Russell Coutts. Of late, he has refused to fight back.

"It's in their interests for me to be gone. My mental block for that is that if they're that focused on me personally - which they are - there's got to be a reason for that," he said.

"My going would probably collapse the team from a financial point of view - it may not but it could and [from their perspective] it's certainly worth a shot - and it's no more complicated than that."

Dalton has the unwavering backing of the board and the money men. Sir Stephen Tindall comes under both categories. He said the America's Cup review was "brutal" and "comprehensive" but issues of confidentiality meant there was "stuff that ... I wanted to disclose that we couldn't".

"The result of that [review] is what we've got today apart from a couple of lost people who we'd have preferred not to lose. But I've got to say, I'm immensely impressed [with the new guys]."

The Emirates-sponsored team finally got back on the water racing at Portsmouth a fortnight ago.

Under Burling's helmsmanship, they finished a creditable second in the opening America's Cup World Series regatta.

"We've got a fresh breed of sailors who can take us to the top in Bermuda," Tindall said.

However, Tindall was unequivocal when he said Dalton had to win the America's Cup if he wanted to keep the role beyond Bermuda 2017.

"Of course he does," Tindall said.

Read the full profile of Grant Dalton in today's canvas magazine.