Dean Barker got the better of his former teammate and mentor Russell Coutts when Team New Zealand beat BMW Oracle Racing by 27 seconds on the second day of the Pacific Series yacht regatta yesterday.
Barker was Coutts’ understudy when Team New Zealand defended the America’s Cup off Auckland in 2000 and succeeded him as skipper and helmsman when Coutts joined current Cup-holders Alinghi immediately after that regatta.
Coutts is unbeaten as a helmsman in America’s Cup racing, but he was forced to take second place to Barker yesterday as Team New Zealand posted its second win of the round-robin series that concludes on Feb.14.
PHOTO: AFP
Team New Zealand crossed the start line ahead of Oracle after spirited pre-start maneuvering and won the favored right-hand side of the course, leading by 14 seconds at the first mark.
Coutts pressed Barker hard on the first run and closed to within two seconds at the leeward mark. The San Francisco-based Oracle team briefly grabbed the lead on the second beat, but after two tacks were forced to cross behind the New Zealanders and Barker kept control for the rest of the race.
“Our plan was to start on the right and get a bit of separation between us. We achieved that and were able to control the beat,” Barker said. “We gave ourselves enough of a buffer at the top of the second beat to make the last run pretty comfortable, but with the shifts and tidal current it wasn’t a time to be complacent.”
Alinghi beat Italy’s Luna Rossa by 52 seconds and Greek Challenge posted its first win in America’s Cup-class company when it beat South Africa’s Team Shosholoza by 1 minute, 4 seconds.
The Greek team, skippered by New Zealander Gavin Brady, was penalized a point after colliding with Alinghi in the pre-start on Friday, but erased that penalty with its win yesterday.
Damiani Italia Challenge beat China Team by 1 minute, 18 seconds in the other match yesterday. Britain’s Team Origin and France’s Pataugas K-Challenge had byes.
After two races, Team New Zealand leads Pool A and Alinghi leads Pool B with two points each.
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