Barker ahead after first day

Anne Hinton reports from the New Zealand National Match Racing Championships

The first day of racing in the 2004 New Zealand National Match Racing Championships saw the wind box the compass and vary from 0 to a maximum of 12 knots. Five flights of the nine from the first round robin were completed, with Dean Barker taking top slot with five victories and no losses. Ainslie almost matched this score, losing only to Barker. While Pace also ended with four victories, losing only to Ainslie and beating his BMW Oracle team mate Chris Dickson along the way.

There were many splits from the start in the morning’s racing in light and very variable northerlies. Initially it paid to go left, but later on those who went right were, in general, better placed. There were three attempts at flight four. The wind died off completely from the north in the first edition, forcing abandonment, then swung in from the south. Racing got underway in this new breeze, only for the pressure to drop out again. In the third attempt the wind came in from the southwest to west and built up to 12 knots at times, although still being rather patchy across the course.

In terms of his own racing, with a win-loss scorecard of 5-0, Barker said: “It’s a good day for us, but it could easily be the other way. It’s pretty flukey.” However, despite this modesty, it was clear that Barker was sailing well. “We put ourselves in good positions a lot of the time. We started pretty well today and managed to pick the first shift really well. We had a couple of close races, but we managed to come out on the right side of them, which is pretty good”, he admitted.

In the Barker and Ainslie all Emirates Team New Zealand confrontation in flight three, Barker had the upper hand during the pre-start. Ainslie tried to wipe him off as they went each side of the committee boat, but Barker remained in control. They split sides on the start and Barker was clear ahead at the top mark and remained well in the lead throughout, despite the light and variable pressure. “We got the better of him at the start and were able to extend around the course. It wasn’t good conditions, so it wasn’t really good match racing”, said Barker.

Ainslie’s only loss was to Barker. The best match of the day, the final one in the final flight, saw Ainslie up against Bertrand Pace. A hard-fought pre-start saw Ainslie run up the backside of Pace and incur a penalty for the collision. Nonetheless, it was Ainslie who got the best of the start, with a decent gap to windward of Pace and good speed on. From this position, Ainslie was able to stay on top of Pace and extend enough around the course to be able to take the penalty at the finish and cross the line with about a boat length to spare over his opponent.

Commenting on Ainslie’s match racing ability in general, Barker seemed impressed with Ainslie’s progress: “He’s doing well. He beat Bertrand in the last one [last race today] and that’s a good one. He should be pretty happy. He only had one loss today. It’s really good.”

The match of Chris Dickson versus Bertrand Pace, both from BMW Oracle Racing, was the first one in flight three. As a consequence of all the wind dying issues, they had three goes at sailing each other. In the first race, Dickson had picked the right side on the beat and had the lead at the top mark. However, Pace read the pressure changes better downwind and had established a small lead by the bottom mark, before the wind disappeared. The next two attempts at racing saw Pace in control throughout and he eventually got the win against his name on the third time the match was run.

Barker also sailed against Chris Dickson in the first flight of the day. In the very light northerlies the two split sides off the start and Barker was clearly in control by the top mark and was able to establish a good lead around the course. Similarly, Ainslie had a split side start with Chris Dickson, picked the right side on the beat, and had established a good lead by the top mark, never to be headed.

Simon Minoprio had a close contest with Dean Barker, until a momentary loss of concentration enabled Barker to come over and get the inside berth at the bottom mark. This enabled Barker to establish a lead which he never relinquished. A similar situation occurred in the match between Barker and Jury.

There was one battle of the brothers, with Simon Minoprio up against his younger sibling, Adam. The start was a closely fought contest, but after that, the senior Minoprio’s experience with the MRXs and knowledge of the Waitemata Harbour showed and he easily won the race. “This morning was my first match racing in the MRX”, said Adam Minoprio. He had been second in the Governor’s Cup in the States earlier in the year. “I’m learning lots [here]”, he said. “The standard here is first class. We’ve won a few starts, but it’s gone downhill pretty quickly after that [due to lack of familiarity with the MRXs].” The junior Minoprio brother did not succeed in getting any scores on the board after the first day’s racing. “I think he’s getting more confident, though”, said his brother, Simon.

Scott Dickson did better than his brother, Chris Dickson, defeating Dunstan, Jury and an out-of-practice Cameron Dunn, who has spent most of the last year coaching the New Zealand singlehanded sailors for the Olympics. Dunn’s bowman is Jeremy Lomas, usually seen at the sharp end of Emirates Team New Zealand. After taking the genny down, while standing on the sail and adjusting the pole, Lomas suddenly found himself in the water during the match between Jury and Dunn yesterday afternoon, as the sail he was standing on went over the side. Managing to hang on to the guy, he grabbed the side of the boat and was assisted back on board without a pause in racing, enabling Dunn to hold on to his good lead and win against Jury.

Laurie Jury did not have a happy day and ended with only one win – against Adam Minoprio. He was, however, in the lead until the final few yards of his match with Australian Michael Dunstan, who just rolled him at the finish.

Dunstan had a number of close matches, including his final one of the day against Chris Dickson. He managed to stay ahead and pull the wins out of the bag, finishing with a 3-2 scoreline on wins-losses for the day.

“I’ve only done two Coke Cups on the Waitemata before”, said Dunstan. “I’ve only once sailed an MRX before.”

“The weather’s not really cooperating”, he commented, “but it’s going to be a tough regatta for us because everyone here has had so much experience in the MRXs and we’re starting from scratch. [Dunstan does, however, have experienced MRX sailor, Kiwi Ryan Houston, on his team for this event. Houston usually sails with Dunstan’s great Kiwi rival, Simon Minoprio, in his Vision Yachting team.] We’re over here to get the experience – learning”, said Dunstan.

Dunstan started match racing about five years ago at the Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron. He was picked as the youth helmsman in the very small programme that the Squadron in Sydney had, and had the benefit of most of the coaching and getting to the regattas in consequence.

Asked about the OzBoys America’s Cup Challenge, for which he is the skipper-designate, Dunstan said “It’s tough in Australia. It’s not the same kind of market for sponsorship. It’s hard to say. I’d really like to be positive, but I’m struggling to see them getting the money at the moment, but who knows, we’re still in contact at the moment and we’re just waiting.” OzBoys has helped Dunstan gain entries on the northern hemisphere match racing circuit, even if it hasn’t been able to support his attendance financially at the events.

With strong winds forecast for Friday, both competitors and the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron race committee, led by PRO Judy Salthouse, were glad to have half a round robin completed, in spite of the conditions, at the end of the first day’s racing for the New Zealand National Match Racing Championships 2004 on the Waitemata Harbour in Auckland.

Results after 5 (out of 9) flights of first round robin (win-loss)

1st Dean Barker 5-0
2nd Ben Ainslie 4-1 (loss to Barker)
3rd Bertrand Pace 4-1 (loss to Ainslie)
4th Scott Dickson 3-2 (losses to Barker and Pace)
5th Michael Dunstan 3-2 (losses to S.Dickson and Ainslie)
6th Simon Minoprio 2-3 (losses to Barker, Ainslie and C. Dickson)
7th Cameron Dunn 2-3 (losses to Pace, S. Minoprio and S. Dickson)
8th= Chris Dickson 1-4 (losses to Barker, Ainslie, Pace and Dunstan)
8th= Laurie Jury 1-4 (losses to Barker, Dunstan, Dunn and S.Dickson)
10th Adam Minoprio 0-5 (losses to S.Minoprio, Pace, Ainslie, Dunstan and Jury)