Boy who vowed to give up yachting

By Suzanne McFadden

When he was 10, a terrified Dean Barker swore he would never sail a boat again.

It was his first sail alone in a tiny Optimist dinghy. His dad, Ray, pushed him out on Lake Pupuke and told him to reach, tack around and sail back to shore.

"It was really windy and I couldn't turn the boat around," Barker remembers.

"I was sitting in the middle of the lake, screaming and crying, until one of the residents rowed out to rescue me.

"It was one of the worst experiences of my life. I was terrified and there was no way I was ever getting in a boat again."

It was just as well Ray Barker convinced his son to try again on a family holiday. Otherwise he would never have become the new golden boy of the America's Cup - the man who will helm the next New Zealand boat in the 2003 defence of the Auld Mug.

Yesterday Barker began his new job after Russell Coutts, arguably the world's best skipper, stepped off the No 1 boat, and stepped up in the world of America's Cup control.

Barker was blooded in Cup conflict in the final race of Team New Zealand's 5-0 blackwash of Prada on Thursday - and yesterday Coutts confirmed he will stay at the helm.

"Dean will come in as our primary helmsman," said Coutts, who will run the next defence with Brad Butterworth and Tom Schnackenberg.

"There are only so many hours in the day, and I'm a person who needs to focus."

Barker, aged 26, said his new role running the sailing crew was "a pretty big honour."

"I know I don't have to look in the newspaper next week for another job," he said with a smile.

"It's a big responsibility to look after the sailing crew for the next defence. But I've learned a lot from Russell's leadership style.

"We're going to carry on as normal - not change too much. But we'll be introducing new faces, otherwise we'll go stale. I was one of about eight new faces this time."

Coutts will keep sailing, reversing roles as Barker's tuning partner in the build-up to 2003.

There is little time to rest. Yesterday the Team New Zealand crew were back at work, packing up the black boats ready for next summer's training and testing.

They will be given just one week off before the next campaign begins. Coutts is taking his son, Grayson, on a school camp, but will probably manage to fit in a game of golf with Barker - where they are as competitive as they are on the water.

"It's never friendly by any means - and there's always money riding on it," Barker said.

"There's a lot of sledging going on, too."

Barker, feeling a little fuzzy after the previous night's celebrations, was yesterday facing up to the changes in his lifestyle.

There was no more room on his mobile phone for messages. He walked from room to room in Team New Zealand's big black shed fulfilling interview requests.

The blond-headed, blue-eyed Barker is on a roll after helming the black boat to the final victory.

As he entered the startbox, five minutes to the gun, Barker's career was poised to tip either way. If he won this race, he would become a star. If he lost, "I knew I would look silly."

His mother, Billie, was so nervous out on the water, she had to keep turning her back on the racing.

Barker has fallen on the wrong side of the scales before. In 1993, he was on the verge of winning the world Laser championships - in the same waters where the America's Cup was raced - when he lost his grip and finished 10th.

Four years ago, he had the Olympic berth in the Finn dinghy at his fingertips, but lost the trials on the final day - to Team New Zealand grinder Craig Monk.

"My mum said to me this morning, it's amazing how things can change your life. At the time it might not seem as though it's a good thing," Barker said.

"The Olympic trials changed my tack. If I had won them I probably wouldn't be in Team New Zealand. I'd still be sailing around in a Finn. So things do turn out in the end."

Coutts has watched Barker's career since he coached him at Manly Beach one day in his P-class dinghy. He has seen him battle back from huge disappointments.

"Those disasters have been character building. They've made him a better sailor, and a better person for it," he said.

After missing out on those Olympics, a disconsolate Barker was invited to try out for Team New Zealand, generation 2000.

Coutts recognised his leadership qualities and sent him out into the world on the testing matchrace circuit. Within a year he had climbed to No 4 in the world.

"His ambition is what we needed," Coutts said.

His skill behind the wheel was just what Coutts needed, too - as the pair jousted on the Hauraki Gulf for two years before the Cup began.

"When we would discuss pre-start strategies, it was a huge help to me to have someone of that ability to discuss it with as well," Coutts said.

"That was the best thing about Team New Zealand this time - right through the boat, every sailor had a similar person they could bounce ideas off."

Now Coutts has chosen Barker to take over and run the sailing team for 2003, as Coutts moves into Sir Peter Blake's role.

When Barker stepped up to the wheel of NZL60 on Thursday, it was the first time he had felt nervous. His girlfriend, Suzette Davis, said he had been calm when he told her that morning he was going to skipper the boat.

"He was a little bit quiet. He rang at about 8 am, and I had to ask him if he was skipper," she said. "He was quite calm about it."

Suspecting he would be asked to do the job, Barker had watched videos of Prada's starts the night before while eating Italian pasta.

When it came to collecting the spoils after the final race, Barker was up on the podium quick as a flash alongside Coutts.

"It's the ultimate reward to touch the silver cup. Yesterday was the first time I'd touched it," he said.

"It didn't feel like we owned it until then, because I wasn't around in '95. As soon as I touched it, I felt like it was ours."