Yachting: Strong finish in Omega sets up Barker for charge at Louis Vuitton regatta

Dean Barker. Photo / Brett Phibbs

Team New Zealand skipper Dean Barker hopes a strong finish in the Omega Auckland match-racing regatta this weekend will set his team up well for next week's Louis Vuitton Trophy event.

Barker is one of 10 top match racing skippers that have battled it out on the Waitemata Harbour this week in the opening event of the Auckland Festival of Sail.

In the early stages of the second round robin, Barker trails Great Britain's Ben Ainslie on the leaderboard, sitting in second equal with Kiwi youngster Adam Minoprio and Poland's Karol Jablonski.

But with the leaderboard extremely bunched, Barker will need to sail consistently well in his remaining matches of the second round robin today to secure his place in tomorrow's finals.

Barker's boat is crewed by his fellow Team NZ members, and the Kiwi star is eager to get in as much practice as possible ahead of the start of the Louis Vuitton regatta on Tuesday.

He said the Omega event is the perfect opportunity to sharpen not only his match-racing skills and pre-start tactics, but also the crew-work and team communication before they switch to the big boats next week.

In addition to his five crew, Barker also has a designated tactician on board - marking a change from traditional match racing events.

"What it is good about this format with the extra person is that it means we can sail with [Team NZ tactician] Ray Davies, so it is a really good development leading into the Louis Vuitton."

While Barker says his main focus is on the Louis Vuitton event, it does not lessen his desire to win the Omega crown, in which the honours are largely individual.

"Every event we go in we want to sail as well as we possibly can and this is a good opportunity to sail against some of the best match racers in the world," he said.

Racing takes place under the auspices of the RNZYS in identical Farr-designed MRX yachts.