Yachting: Cup hero bows to younger sail mate

By TERRY MADDAFORD

America's Cup hero Dean Barker was yesterday handed a lesson in the realities of match-race yachting. He was thrashed 3-0 by his younger Team New Zealand campaign team-mate, Cameron Appleton, in the semifinals of the Steinlager Line 7 Cup on a windy Waitemata Harbour.

Barker, beaten only twice in the 14-match round robin, was expected to breeze into today's final. But, from the time Appleton shut Barker out in the first start until he crossed the finish line 9s clear at the end of the third race, Barker hardly had a sniff.

Ashore after docking his well-beaten MRX boat, Barker made his feelings clear with a polite "another time might be better" comment before heading off to contemplate today's sail-off for third against fellow Kiwi Gavin Brady. One of his crew commented, "We just sailed badly."

Appleton now faces experienced Frenchman Bertrand Pace in a "north versus south" final.

Not among the first 15 skippers named for the regatta, Appleton, who finished eighth on a countback at his last attempt in 1997, was the last skipper invited. His name is missing from the official programme.

If he wins today's best-of-seven finals he will not be tempted to sail any other races on the rich Swedish Match Grand Prix tour.

"I have other things I want to do," the 22-year-old said. "I can always come back to match racing."

Barker probably wished he had found other things to do yesterday. In the best breeze of the week-long contest - and with Ray Davies calling the tactics and the support of other crew members Andrew Taylor, Zach Hurst and Nick Heron - Appleton stuck to his game plan against Barker.

"I was surprised how the pre-starts went," Appleton said. "We knew what to expect from Dean, but we were still able to win the starts and dictate in all three races.

"I could not understand why he let us do it. We won the first two starts. He was probably just ahead in the third." Appleton won the first race by 14s, the second by almost half a minute.

Brady was disqualified in the first of his races against Pace, but came back to win the second by a whopping 1m 48s. Pace won the third and fourth, by a mere second, after a slight course change.

In the race for fifth, Chris Dickson won the first and third races to head Britain's Andy Green. Earlier, Dickson had lost a one-race sail-off against Pace for a place in the semifinals when, trailing, he inexplicably attempted to sail the wrong way around one of the marks.