Finnish sailor Staffan Lindberg may have scored only one win so far in the Auckland Match Racing Cup, but beating Dean Barker is something few skippers can lay claim to.
Lindberg was one of only three skippers who managed to upset the unstoppable Barker in the double round-robin competition which
finished on the Waitemata Harbour yesterday.
The Emirates Team New Zealand skipper finished the competition top of the leaderboard with 15 wins and three losses.
Joining him in today's semis are fellow New Zealanders Cameron Appleton and Chris Dickson and Frenchman Bertrand Pace.
As Barker finished top of the leaderboard, he has the right to chose who he will tackle in the semifinals.
While all three will be tough, Barker may lean towards racing Appleton, leaving the BMW Oracle Racing boys Dickson and Pace to battle it out.
Dickson and Pace are one apiece. Pace beat Dickson in round one, Dickson turned the tables in round two.
With shouting aplenty and protest flags soaring, they were masterful displays of match racing. Teammates? Heck no. In this regatta, Pace and Dickson are worse than enemies at war.
Barker and his crew of Terry Hutchinson, Jared Henderson, Don Cowie and James Dagg ended the first round with just a loss to Alinghi's Ed Baird.
While they had no problem dismissing their heavyweight rivals in round two, they tripped against Lindberg and Britain's Ian Williams yesterday.
They botched both starts, which in yesterday's brisk easterly and strong tide meant game over on the one-sided track.
"We had a couple of brain fades on the starting line," Hutchinson said. "That is a little of the nature of the beast. The rest of the time it has been pretty good. We are sailing pretty solid. I think Dean is doing a nice job on the starting line, which takes the pressure off some of the manoeuvres."
Ironically, it is when Team New Zealand boss Grant Dalton ventures out to the racecourse to watch them that the crew go haywire.
He was on the water when they lost to Baird, and he fronted again yesterday to see them defeated by Lindberg.
Luckily for Barker, it is understood Dalton is away motor-racing for the rest of the weekend.
The semifinals are a best of five series. The winner of each pair will advance to tomorrow's final, which is also the best of five series.
The skippers who did not make the semifinals will sail off to decide fifth to 10th. That's where Lindberg, ranked 10th in the world, hopes to make his mark.
Semifinalists
* Dean Barker
* Cameron Appleton
* Chris Dickson
* Bertrand Pace
Chris Dickson forces a penalty on Ian Williams. Picture / Richard Robinson
Finnish sailor Staffan Lindberg may have scored only one win so far in the Auckland Match Racing Cup, but beating Dean Barker is something few skippers can lay claim to.
Lindberg was one of only three skippers who managed to upset the unstoppable Barker in the double round-robin competition which
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