Yachting: 'We beat a guy in a three-year-old boat'

VALENCIA - Team New Zealand skipper Dean Barker said the challenge for his team now will be to continue to improve as they build toward next year's America's Cup.

A 2-1 win over Alinghi in the final not only won the 12th America's Cup pre-regatta but also the 2006 season championship.

As the Emirates Team New Zealand crew stood on the podium in Valencia, their promising new black boat, NZL84, docked alongside, the haka blared out over the sound system.

This was both a special and important win for the New Zealand syndicate.

While their success has to be kept in context, their performance in this regatta - the last match racing event before the challenger series in April - is very encouraging.

Winning 15 of their 17 races, NZL84 is clearly quick while the crew showed plenty of composure and confidence, especially in the races which really counted.

On the tow in from the race course, Tony Rae, who has been part of every Team New Zealand campaign, had his arm draped around Barker, who for many remains associated with the devastating cup loss of 2003.

For Barker, the victory over Alinghi had to be particularly satisfying. But what was probably more pleasing for the syndicate was how much they had improved since the last regatta and how they beat Oracle and Alinghi in extremely close races where boat speed, good tactics and flawless sailing all came into play.

"I think for us the semifinal and the final are an indication of how we expect the racing to be," Barker said.

"Racing where the boats are never more than two or three lengths apart around the whole course. It is just going to be that way through the Louis Vuitton and into the America's Cup."

Barker said the key for his team now will be to continue to improve.

"Alinghi have done so well in the past because they are not prepared to accept what they are doing now is good enough. They are never complacent.

"It is very nice to enjoy the moment now, but next Monday it is business as usual and back into the grind of a lot of sailing and developing boat speed.

"A fraction of speed right now would make a huge amount of difference to anyone."

And that is the worrying bit. Although Team New Zealand did extremely well to beat a very experienced and polished Alinghi team in the final, Alinghi were still sailing their old yacht, SUI75.

However, in saying that Alinghi will have taken note of the New Zealand boat, especially in the second race, where it took off like a rocket.

With a 1-0 lead over Alinghi in the final, Team New Zealand lost race two yesterday. Leading all the way around the course a gybe proved costly allowing Alinghi to sail past for a 24s win.

With the acid on in the decider, the New Zealand team played the windshifts perfectly before NZL84 decided enough was enough and put her foot down leaving SUI75 in her wake to grab a 1min 24s victory.

Team New Zealand tactician Terry Hutchinson said that although they feel good about beating Alinghi, it was important to remember the Swiss were sailing an old boat.

"In the last regatta people were saying we had used a new boat to catch up to Alinghi and they have a new one sitting in the shed.

"I think it would be a mistake to look much behind the fact we beat a guy in a 3-year-old boat, barely."

However the Swiss had to be impressed with NZL84, which stepped up a gear in the second race.

"We felt a little bit like someone had put a flame thrower on us and shot the whole boat forward from the pressure perspective," Hutchinson said.

"But the team didn't crack, Dean [Barker] was strong in all the starts, the boat handling and everything we worked on after the last regatta worked. You have to feel happy with that.

While Team New Zealand were celebrating their win, Chris Dickson's BMW Oracle Racing and Luna Rossa were organising repairs to their boats after they collided the previous day.

The jury rejected the protest presented by Luna Rossa and awarded one point as redress to the Americans who therefore won the petit final 2-0.