Putting aside the controversy raging at home over the Team New Zealand handover, Dean Barker and his crew continue to keep their minds on the job in hand, and are currently topping the charts at the Australia Cup.
The Team New Zealand crew have a half point lead at the top of the Sun Microsystem scoreboard, ahead of Steinlager Line 7 Cup winner Bertrand Pace and his Le Defi Francais team, and Peter Gilmour's Pizza LA team from Japan.
The competition on Perth's Swan river has been hard fought, with not an easy race to be had, and no shortage of close finishes and the occasional collision.
So tight is the competition that in his last race on Thursday, Barker dead-heated with Team Young Australia skipper James Spithill, hence the half point in his scoreline.
The last time anyone can remember a dead-heat in a match race was when the world championships were held here on the Swan River in 1993, when Russell Coutts dead-heated with Young America skipper Ed Baird in a race of the finals.
Among other action on the water was a collision between Gilmour and Peter Holmberg of the US Virgin Islands, with Gilmour's boat being gashed in the side, but he was penalised for the incident, though the jury later ruled that the cost of repairs should be shared.
By late afternoon on Friday, Barker and his crew of Tony Rae, Hamish Pepper, James Dagg and Chris Ward, had scored a total of 12 victories, one draw and four losses.
RESULTS: Dean Barker (New Zealand) 12.5 4
Peter Gilmour (Japan) 12 4
Bertrand Pace (France) 12 5
Peter Holmberg (US Virgin Islands) 9 7
Bjorn Hansen (Sweden) 8 8
Magnus Holmberg (Sweden) 8 9
Luc Pillot (France) 8 9
Sebastien Destremau (Australia) 7 8
Gordon Lucas (Australia) 7 10
Jes Gram-Hansen (Denmark) 6 10
James Spithill (Australia) 5.5 9
Andy Green (Britain) 3 14
QUOTES: Dean Barker: Basically today we are unemployed, but we're going to carry on as normal.
We're not really sure what is going on, I haven't talked to Russell of Brad for a couple of days. For us we're just concentrating on what we're doing here.
I don't know if I've been paid for this last month, I haven't checked my bank account.
You'd hope that there's no ill feelings there, obviously there is a problem, but we're very hopeful that something will get sorted out in the short term.
Russell Green: I understand there was a transition agreement in place to ensure a smooth hand over from the old hierachy to the new hierachy. The objective of the new hierachy was that the key personel could be contracted immediately.
The responsibility of the sailing team was to defend the Cup in the best manner possible, and that was their objective when they lined up on the starting line, knowing that if they were successful they would be taking over responsibility for Team New Zealand.
From a personal perspective it seems incredible to me that people who have performed so incredibly well on the water, are now being frustrated. If there are commercial issues why haven't these been addressed earlier.
Tony Rae: If we won the Cup we were supposed to take over, if we lost we'd look like a bunch of lemons, and no-one would care anyway.
Yachting: Team NZ keep nose in front in Australia Cup
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