KEY POINTS:
Three months out from the start of the America's Cup in Valencia Team New Zealand skipper Dean Barker believes his team are sailing more consistently than ever.
Barker and his Emirates Team New Zealand crew of Don Cowie, James Dagg, Jeremy Lomas and Terry Hutchinson backed up their win in the New Zealand Match Racing Championships with a victory in the Auckland Match Racing Cup yesterday.
In a regatta beset with light winds and strong tides, Barker and his crew showed their tenacity to come from behind and beat Adam Minoprio 3-1 in the semifinals and Britain's Ian Williams 2-1 in a reduced final.
Barker said he was pleased with the way his crew battled back when things weren't going all their way.
"We are more consistent than we have ever been and that gives me a lot of heart looking ahead to what we are going to face in April."
As for the regatta's significance to the America's Cup Barker said it was important to fine tune their match racing skills against the likes of Williams and Mathieu Richard, who are top performers on the world match racing circuit.
"For us it is very positive and we take a lot of the lessons learnt back to what we are doing at Emirates Team New Zealand and hopefully use a little bit of that in preparing us better for Spain."
The semifinals and finals were sailed yesterday after a lack of wind on Saturday.
As the winner of the double round robin competition, Barker chose 21 year-old Minoprio as his semifinal opponent. As he showed throughout the regatta, Minoprio wasn't afraid to mix it with his more experienced rivals and he beat Barker in the first race.
But Barker went on the attack and claimed the next three races earning a spot in the final against Williams, who scored a hard fought 3-2 win over Frenchman Richard.
The starts were decisive in all five races, with plenty of penalties dished out during the jousting.
"Yes, it was a bit of a punch up," Williams said of his semifinal. "It was good for the spectators. It was good fun."
Barker opened the final with a loss after Williams benefited from a right hand shift off the line which he used to keep the New Zealander at bay.
Barker got the better start in race two and in the decider won the favoured left hand side and made small gains on his opponent around the course.
Williams said Barker was simply "slicker".
"In lots of small things really, sailing a little bit more tidier. He deserved to win."
Team New Zealand managing director Grant Dalton said it was heartening to see Barker and his crew tough it out.
"You can't read too much into it because we are in season - some of these guys are out of season a bit, but Dean is consistently winning regattas, they haven't lost one for a long time," Dalton said.
"Just watching around the start line he is a lot more aggressive - dominant in some cases."
The only thing Barker might have been ruing at the end of the five-day regatta was his two losses to America's Cup rival James Spithill in the round robin.
"Yes we'd like to beat him but in the big scheme we were focused on winning this event, Barker said.
"Yes he beat us twice but across the board we were a lot more consistent."
