Yachting: Barker in danger of missing the finals

Ben Ainslie in action against Adam Minoprio during flight six of the regatta yesterday. Photo / Dean Purcell

Team New Zealand skipper Dean Barker is in danger of missing out on the finals of the Auckland match racing regatta after a frustrating day on the water yesterday.

Barker lost his first three races of the day - including a one-second loss to local rival and young apprentice Adam Minoprio in a cliffhanger race in flight four of the second round robin - to slide down the leaderboard.

The Kiwi star rallied later in the day, picking up two wins before the weather halted his momentum.

Racing was called off early as the wind deserted the course and became too unstable for fair racing - in contrast to Thursday's predicament when the yachts were sent off the course because of too much wind.

By the end of racing yesterday, six of the nine scheduled flights in the second round robin had been completed.

Barker will need to win all three of his remaining matches to have a shot at making the top four.

The stand-out on day three was once again Great Britain's Ben Ainslie, who went through the day unbeaten to establish a commanding lead over the rest of the field. Ainslie, a three-time Olympic gold medallist, looked simply unstoppable yesterday, putting on a flawless display of match-racing to win his first five races, before the light and shifty winds forced a stop.

With 13 wins from 15 matches, the Brit, who will skipper Team Origin in next week's Louis Vuitton regatta, is the only sailor assured of a place in today's finals and looks the odds-on favourite to take the title.

Despite his fairly untroubled progress through to the semifinals, Ainslie said there were no easy wins. "This is probably the toughest group of match racers I have ever sailed against in a single regatta." He added: "It was very difficult conditions today," referring to the combination of a powerful ebb tide and very light, shifty winds.

"So far we have managed to be on the right side of things, so we are looking forward to racing in the final four."

Just who Ainslie will face in the semifinals is unclear, with five sailors battling it out for the remaining three spots. Of those five, Poland's Karol Jablonski appears the best placed. Jablonski, who has been the quiet achiever of the regatta, is ranked in second place heading in to the final day, with nine wins.

Kiwi youngster Minoprio also has nine wins to his credit, but he has sailed an extra race after regatta organisers got off the first race in flight seven, before the wind dropped out forcing the postponement flags up.

Australian Torvar Mirsky, Bertrand Pace of France and Barker are all a further point back with eight wins.

Should competitors still be tied after two full rounds of round robin, the semifinalists will be decided on countback.

The match of the day once again proved to be a local derby between Barker and his Emirates Team New Zealand crew and reigning world match race champion Minoprio.

In a match of see-sawing fortunes, Minoprio recovered from a port-starboard penalty at the top mark to come from behind and win by 1sec.

MATCH RACING LEADERBOARD
* Ben Ainslie 13 wins/2 losses
* Karol Jablonski... 9/6
* Adam Minoprio... 9/7*
* Torvar Mirsky... 8/7
* Bertrand Pace... 8/7
* Dean Barker... 8/7
* Magnus Holmberg... 6/9
* Francesco Bruni... 6/9
* Sebastien Co... l5/11*
* Chris Dickson... 4/12

*Minoprio and Col have sailed an extra race.