Yachting: Barker and Pace ease into final

New Zealander Dean Barker and French rival Bertrand Pace will battle out the final of the Auckland Match Racing Cup yachting regatta tomorrow.

Both skippers had 3-0 wins today over their respective semifinal opponents, New Zealanders Cameron Appleton and Chris Dickson, on Waitemata Harbour.

As top qualifier, Barker had chosen to race off against Appleton, and their contest provided plenty of incident.

Race two was stopped in mid-contest with Appleton in the lead because of a mix up over an umpiring penalty.

In the rerun, Appleton won a close start and held the lead the top mark.

But Barker and his Team New Zealand crew did a fine job on the first of two downwind legs to shadow and roll over Appleton's boat, and hit the front.

In race three, Barker once more had to come from behind on the first run and appeared to be overtaking Appleton when he copped a penalty when gybing too close to his opponent.

He did his penalty turn immediately and again his crew did well to get themselves back into the race on the next leg.

Heading to the top mark for the final time, Barker was close enough to have starboard right of way, forcing Appleton into a manoeuvre that misfired.
"He just lined us up and got us stopped dead and pointing in the wrong direction," Appleton said.

"It was game over at that point."

Appleton said he was pleased overall with how the regatta had gone for him and his largely new crew.

He had achieved his primary target of finishing in the top four in the 10-strong fleet, but had come up against "pretty polished" opposition in the semifinals.

"To win these regattas, you have to be well oiled and make as few mistakes as possible," he said.

"You can really see that Dean is sailing at the top of his game at the moment with a crew that can match him. We were beaten by guys that outsailed us."

Pace, a former world match racing champion and two-time winner of the Auckland event, beat his boss at America's Cup syndicate BMW Oracle Racing when he downed Dickson.

Pace is tactician with the syndicate, while Dickson is its skipper and chief executive.

The Frenchman said getting off the line well was vital in the lighter conditions.

"Fortunately we had a good start and we got an advantage straight away," he said.

"It was easier after that to play the windshifts."

Pace said the scoreline didn't reflect the competitiveness of his contest with Dickson.

"We won 3-0, but it wasn't that easy," he said.

"It was tough, but I think my team were very, very good today."

Barker will go into the final with recent history in his favour. He won both his races against Pace in the round-robin phase this week.

- NZPA