Win in Trieste gives Team New Zealand a boost

Dean Barker has scored a vital psychological victory for Team New Zealand over his toughest adversary, former Team New Zealand skipper Russell Coutts, winning the final of the Omega Seamaster Cup in Trieste, Italy, this morning.

Barker and nine of his Team New Zealand crew beat their former skipper and his Alinghi America's Cup team by the bizarre scoreline, 3 1/2 - 1 1/2, in the matchrace final.

It was the first time Barker and Coutts had met in a matchrace since 1999 - and their first matchracing encounter since Coutts left Team New Zealand after the 2000 America's Cup.

"A lot of the local media here were building it up all week as the big grudge match - the master against the apprentice," said Barker this morning.

"I guess in a way it was kind of true. Russell has been a huge influence on my sailing career, and I was lucky to have learned from him in the last America's Cup campaign.

"But there was no love lost out on the water today. So obviously we loved beating him."

Not only was it an important win over the Alinghi team, but it also gave Barker a crucial morale boost eight months out from the America's Cup in Auckland next February.

"Obviously it's huge for us to win this. The last couple of months have been pretty frustrating. After a couple of poor performances in the last two regattas, it was nice to come back and start sailing well again."

"After sailing poorly in the Congressional Cup, I came home and had a good chat with Ross Blackman [Team New Zealand's chief executive] about how we could do much better on the water.

"We realised that I had to focus much more on the sailing and less on the on-shore duties that go with being skipper. The management side is running really well, so now we can concentrate on the sailing side. The time has definitely come to be as good as we can on the water."

Barker said he felt confident about his sailing throughout the regatta, sailing against a handful of skippers who will race on the Hauraki Gulf in the Louis Vuitton Cup starting in October.

The racing was held in powerful 52ft boats with 12-man crews.

Barker's crew were Team New Zealand sailors James Dagg, Peter Evans, Jared Henderson, Nick Heron, Grant Loretz, Jonathan Macbeth, Richard Meecham, Hamish Pepper and Tony Rae - with two local Italian sailors making up the numbers.

In the semifinals, Barker beat Andy Beadsworth and his GBR Challenge team 2-0. Coutts had a similar scoreline win over former America's Cup helmsman Chris Law.

In the showdown that everyone was waiting for, Coutts took first blood, forcing Barker to suffer a penalty at the first mark then crossing the finish line 4s ahead.

Barker evened up the scores in race two, but the third race was deemed to be a rare tie - with both skippers awarded half a point.

The Team New Zealand crew raced away with the last two matches to take the title.

The victory comes a week after Team New Zealand's back-up helmsman Bertrand Pace finished a close second in the ACI HT Cronet Cup in Croatia, behind Le Defi skipper Philippe Presti. Presti failed to make the semifinals in the Omega Seamaster Cup.

Barker will now return home before heading back to Europe where both he and Pace will compete in the final event on the Swedish Match Tour, the Swedish Match regatta.