Dean Barker is someone, while I do not know him strikes me as a really solid sailor, with his head squarely on his shoulders, so when he speaks on the subject of the America’s Cup I am inclined to listen.
\nSUNDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2011
\nDean Barker: “We’re about winning the America’s Cup”38-year old skipper Dean Barker and his team Emirates Team New Zealand (ETNZ) currently sit at the top of the leaderboard of the America\u2019s Cup World Series Championship with 38 points (19 scored in match racing, 19 in fleet racing), just four points ahead of Oracle Racing Spithill. With the third and final World Series event for 2011 just around the corner, Barker updated Sailblast on ETNZs training progress\u2026as well as shared some thoughts on the new AC game\u2026
\nWhat was one thing that you took away from racing AC45s in the recent in events in Cascais & Plymouth?
\nThe biggest eye opener is the maneuverability and how the racecourse and boundaries operate. It makes the racing just so much tighter and more emphasis on crew work and boat handling than ever before.
\nEmirates Team NZ (ETNZ) did extremely well – what do you attribute your strength to this early in the game?
\nWe were really happy with our performance. We know we can sail a hell of a lot better but I\u2019m sure like all the teams you make a lot of mistakes around the course but it\u2019s a challenge with these boats in tough conditions and close quarters with other teams. It\u2019s going to be hard to sail at a high level.
\nWe\u2019ve put a lot of effort into our crew work and boat handling and that\u2019s paid dividends. I think during the period in Auckland we\u2019re a bit off the pace. At our first crack at the soft sails, they were good but not good enough so we\u2019ve developed our sails – we’re into our second generation and that\u2019s been a big improvement in our speed. We feel like we\u2019re a lot more competitive now against Oracle who in Auckland who had quite a big jump it felt over the rest of us. We\u2019ve made some good gains there. But we\u2019ve worked really hard on things like getting around the corners and being able to react in all different situations around the course. That\u2019s been a big strength.
\nHow are you preparing for San Diego?
\nTo be honest we\u2019ve been pretty full on working with boat design for the 72. San Diego is rolling around pretty quickly so we will need to get our heads back in the game for racing but we have a few practice days there before racing proper starts so that\u2019ll give us an opportunity to get back into it all. We\u2019ve been doing a bit of sailing back here in Auckland on the 33s as obviously like everyone else, except Oracle who have a couple of extras, our 45 is en route to San Diego.
\nHow\u2019s the transition to the multihull been for you?
\nI\u2019ve been sailing multis now for a year and it\u2019s amazing. It feels like the progress that we\u2019ve made since we came last in Almeria in the Extreme Series last year. It feels like we\u2019re making some really good progress. I\u2019d say it\u2019s still not necessarily instinctive like monohull sailing was. There\u2019re times when you know what you want to do but you can\u2019t quite make it happen instinctively. But it\u2019s coming – it just takes time to reprogram yourself to adjust to different situations where things happen very very quickly. You have to be able to make decisions a lot quicker than in the monos. But it\u2019s all a really good challenge.
\nWho is your back-up skipper?
\nWe\u2019re a pretty small sailing team at the moment. We really don\u2019t have a lot of back-ups in any position to be honest! Depending on who is injured at any time we\u2019ve got cover by three grinders and a few others who aren\u2019t sailing on the boat.
\nWhen will ETNZ expand its sailing team?
\nThat\u2019s about it really. We\u2019re not going to have two 72s. We just don’t have the resources to do it. It\u2019s too expensive to take two 72s off the dock and go two-boat testing. It\u2019s an expensive game we\u2019re in and to take two 72s sailing, you\u2019d need an army of people. There\u2019s probably only one team that\u2019s in that position right now.
\nWhere are you at in the 72 design\/build process?
\nWe\u2019re in the final stages of our design. What we\u2019re learning pretty quickly is that the more you learn the more you don\u2019t know! You just have to try to narrow in on the first design. The good thing is that we\u2019re making good progress, the hard thing to know is what is the level you\u2019ll need to be at in 2013. The learning curve makes it seem like we\u2019ve got a long way to go but we\u2019re at a level where we think we\u2019ll be competitive enough. We have a design group of about 30 people we draw from including Pete Melvin, Scott Graham, Luc Du Bois – there\u2019s a bunch of guys who are contributing. Cookson\u2019s will build the hull and structures, and Southern will build a lot of our wing and wing components.
\nWho is developing your sails\/sailplan?
\nWe\u2019ve done most of sail development in-house so far. We get a lot of input off the chase (boat) and evaluate our sails against where the opposition is. Oracle is by far the most experienced in these boats and have sailed them more than everybody else and have probably built more sails than the rest of us. You\u2019re always looking to measure yourself against where they\u2019re at and the direction they\u2019re going. But, we\u2019re pretty happy with the choices and development we\u2019ve made.
\nWhat are some things you can see from the 45 that will translate to the 72?
\nThe 45 is a nicely balanced boat, it\u2019s fun to sail, it\u2019s relatively easy to sail compared to the more traditional X-40 type designs, it\u2019s quite a robust boat and seems to perform well across a variety of conditions. We\u2019ve learned a lot just from sailing that but it is limited in a lot of ways. It\u2019s got straight boards, it doesn\u2019t have any real lifting component, it gets limited by wind speed, it\u2019s a bit hard to push up the range but it\u2019s a fantastic boat for learning about multi hull and sailing with a wing.
\nThe 72 is a hugely more powerful boat. When you scale the 45 up to a 72 boat, it\u2019s quite underpowered. The challenges that are going to go with the size of the 72 are pretty daunting. The boats in a strong breeze are going to be animals. They\u2019ll be very hard to sail in SF conditions and you\u2019ll certainly have to have your wits about you to get around the course. They\u2019ll have capability of very high speed and you\u2019re going to have to be really in tune to sail with them well.
\nWhat\u2019s different about this Cup Campaign for ETNZ?
\nApart from the obvious, lifestyle and scenery, it\u2019s adapting to a different world. We\u2019ve moved from a world of detailing and fine tuning to one of complete new world of open book, fresh paper design. Any ideas are certainly worth consideration. There are no stupid questions or ideas right now. With this multihull world, we\u2019re just scratching the surface of a huge unchartered territory. It\u2019s not even like a new design rule within the monohull environment.
\nDo you think it was entirely necessary to move up to the 72 for the real deal in 2013, or do you think a successful Cup could be staged in the 45?
\nWell, the 45 would really detract from what the essence of what the America\u2019s Cup is about. It has always been a design race. I think to take away that aspect of the Cup would be a tragedy. It\u2019s about managing so many different aspects of a campaign for a successful America\u2019s Cup. When you get it right, then rightfully you deserve to win the America\u2019s Cup. From a sailor\u2019s point of view, one design racing is great because in the end the best team wins. There\u2019s no argument about who had the better boat. It comes down to who sailed the best. So, there\u2019s two schools of thought but in some ways I still believe in the traditional values of the Cup. It\u2019s about managing a whole lot of different aspects: design, sailing team, campaign management and just getting to the start line. I still think it\u2019s the right move that we\u2019re racing in a development boat in the America\u2019s Cup.
\nIf Oracle was so committed to keeping costs down for AC34, how could they then go buy four AC45s while the other teams have only one? What\u2019s ETNZ\u2019s position on this?
\nThere\u2019s no way Oracle is committed to keeping costs down. It\u2019s a complete fallacy that they\u2019re trying to keep costs down. It\u2019s absolute bullshit. The whole idea of this next America\u2019s Cup was to try to make it more affordable for the teams. I can tell you right now that the budget for doing this campaign is at least what we spent last time and you can do it for less but you just don\u2019t have a chance to perform. It\u2019s a complete joke if they can sit back and say it costs less money, it\u2019s not. It\u2019s way more expensive. But that\u2019s the game we\u2019re in. If you want a crack at winning the America\u2019s Cup you have to play by the rules and these rules are more expensive.
\n* Ed’s note: America\u2019s Cup Race Management (ACRM) does not limit the teams’ training outside of World Series events, for instance, some teams will sail as soon as boats are off the ship in San Diego and others will opt not to sail until closer to the start of racing. And, any team can purchase an additional AC45 for training\u2026assuming that they can afford to.
\nIf ETNZ knew what it knows now before you signed up, do you think you guys may have given this next one a miss?
\nDefinitely not. Emirates Team NZ exists for the America\u2019s Cup and we\u2019ve weathered the storm since 2007 to give ourselves the opportunity to compete in the 2013 event. You can\u2019t afford to sit out, it\u2019s just too hard to come in green and expect to get straight on the pace. If you miss a cycle, with all the development you\u2019ll never catch it back up. It\u2019s too much time. We decided that whatever the direction the Cup took that we\u2019d contemplate it seriously, evaluate whether we could raise the money and give it a really good go at winning it. We’re not it in to make up the numbers, we\u2019ve only entered because we think we can put up a challenge with a team that\u2019s good enough to win. Time will tell if that\u2019s the case. But, we\u2019re a team that\u2019s about winning the America\u2019s Cup.
\nMuch of the excitement over the 45, particularly for the non-sailing fan, is thanks to the crash factor. We wont (hopefully) see that with the 72. Without the crashes do you think the event will remain interesting for the non-sailor?
\nThere\u2019ll be an element who tune in to just watch the crashes, looking for the capsize or the collision. Those people you\u2019ll try to capture – you have to accept that there\u2019ll be that element. Hopefully people will be interested in watching the racing for what it is as well and we\u2019ll be able to capture a new interested audience. In the short-term while there\u2019s still a lot of spectacular action that\u2019s going to motivate people to watch. It\u2019s no different to the X-40s – the biggest hits come with the best action.
\nDo you think a nationality rule would help the AC grow as a fan sport?
\nI think it helps countries identify with their teams. We\u2019ve got other nationalities involved in our team but it\u2019s still pretty much all NZ, which certainly helps our fan base within NZ and the support we get as opposed to some of the other teams. Even though they may represent the US, Sweden and so on, they\u2019re not true national teams to the degree we are.
\nHow does your family take your busy lifestyle?
\nFortunately my wife Mandy is really good with it all because I\u2019m a bit of an absentee dad at times. I have four kids – 3 girls and a boy between six and one. It\u2019s a lot of fun, never a dull moment. You feel like you leave one circus and go home to another one!
\nWhat\u2019s your other business and how do you find time for that while still running a top AC team?
\nMy primary focus is with the team so I spend the majority of my time sailing and working with the design group when I\u2019m not traveling to events. When I do have a little down time I try to keep up to speed with Kiwi Yachting Consultants, a company I\u2019m involved with in NZ, and also Nexus Marine which marine electronics company in Sweden.
\nWhen do you expect to be moving full-time to SF?
\nAs a team we wont go up to San Francisco – mainly because of cost – until April\/May 2013 full-time. We\u2019ll be there next year for the events in August and September which will be great. I\u2019m absolutely looking forward to sailing on the Bay, I\u2019ve done a little bit of sailing there but not much. It\u2019ll be an amazing spectacle for sure.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Dean Barker is someone, while I do not know him strikes me as a really solid sailor, with his head squarely on his shoulders, so when he speaks on the subject of the America’s Cup I am inclined to listen. SUNDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2011 Dean Barker: “We’re about winning the America’s Cup”38-year old skipper Dean … Continue reading DEAN BARKER SPEAKS<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[632],"tags":[600,972,2397,971,2484,2391],"class_list":["post-2300","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-americas-cup-34-2","tag-ac-45","tag-ac-72","tag-americas-cup","tag-dean-barker","tag-larry-ellison","tag-san-francisco"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/stephenlirakis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2300","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/stephenlirakis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/stephenlirakis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/stephenlirakis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/stephenlirakis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2300"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/stephenlirakis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2300\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2301,"href":"http:\/\/stephenlirakis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2300\/revisions\/2301"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/stephenlirakis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2300"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/stephenlirakis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2300"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/stephenlirakis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2300"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}