KEY POINTS:
A few minutes earlier they were locked in a fierce battle on Auckland's Waitemata Harbour.
But now Emirates Team New Zealand skipper Dean Barker and BMW Oracle Racing's Gavin Brady are standing on the dock, perched over thumb-size plastic yachts.
Brady had ploughed into Barker in the fourth race in the final of the New Zealand match racing championships and the umpires were deciding whether to punish him for damaging Barker's boat.
If found guilty, Brady would have points deducted and with the score tied at two all in the best of five final that would have been disastrous for him.
The animated Brady, arms waving and boss Chris Dickson in the background, gave his version, then Barker got down on hands and knees and showed how he saw it, using the plastic yachts. The umpires let Brady off the hook.
But the crash was spectacular.
After trailing Brady around the whole course, Barker latched on to a puff of wind and rolled him about 100m from the finish. But as they approached the finish line, Brady failed to let Barker cross, barrelling into him and earning two penalties.
Barker's win tied the score at 2 all.
Barker and his crew of Terry Hutchinson, James Dagg, Don Cowie and Jeremy Lomas had won the first race in the final series convincingly, although were helped after Brady copped a penalty for clipping the mark.
Brady fought back and won the next two after Barker opted for the wrong side of the track.
"In this regatta we have found it quite difficult to predict what is going to happen," Barker said. "We thought the left was going to be stronger than it was."
However, in the fifth and deciding race the left came good for the Team New Zealand crew, who powered over the startline and around the course comfortably ahead of Brady, handing Barker his third consecutive and fourth New Zealand match racing title.
The win is a testament to the strength and character of Barker and his crew, who were up against quality competition.
After a mixed start to the regatta they fought back and, even when they were staring defeat in the eyes in the final, kept their composure and sailed faultlessly around the track.
"This regatta has been one of the tougher ones. We just struggled through the round robins, we didn't feel like we were sailing badly we just struggled to get wins on the board," Barker said.
"But on the last day of the round robin, in the semis and today, we sailed a lot better than we have been. It didn't feel like we did anything different. We just kept battling away.
"It is good for the team [Team NZ]. It was fantastic Ben [Ainslie] winning the regatta in San Francisco, that was a real good lift for everyone in the team so it is good that we can back it up with a good result here."
Barker acknowledged that Brady had sailed well throughout regatta.
"He sailed most consistently all week. Adam Minoprio, he really impressed me - I thought him and his guys were fantastic. That is great for the standard of match racing here. We are going to have to watch ourselves."
NZ MATCH RACING CHAMPS
Final - Best of five race series
Dean Barker - Emirates Team New Zealand 3
Gavin Brady - BMW Oracle Racing 2.
Petite Final - Best of three race series
Chris Dickson - BMW Oracle Racing 2
Adam Minoprio - 0
