One-time enemies on high seas now mates
Dean Barker admits it’s strange to be working alongside Jimmy Spithill after the pair ‘‘were trying to rip each other’s throats out two years ago’’.
Barker’s ugly departure from Team New Zealand earlier this year saw him snapped up by Team Japan to head their latest America’s Cup challenge for Bermuda 2017.
Part of Japan’s late participation includes a design package courtesy of cup holders Oracle.
The irony of getting a helping hand from an old and sometimes bitter rival isn’t lost on Barker.
He suffered the constant mind games of Spithill as the cocky Australian guided Oracle back from an 8-1 deficit to beat Team New Zealand 9-8 and retain the Auld Mug in San Francisco in 2013.
When asked by America’s Cup.com what it was like to be now working alongside Spithill in some form, Barker smiled: ‘‘Is it strange? Yes it is. We were trying to rip each other’s throats out two years ago.’’
He said they hadn’t shared a beer together in the aftermath of that epic cup battle. But now they found themselves living in Bermuda, sharing the same goal again, just from different perspectives.
When Barker was confirmed as Team Japan boss, Spithill tweeted out his surprise to be working with Barker – ‘‘Who would have thought’’ – with a hashtag to ‘‘get Dalton’’, as in Team New Zealand chief Grant Dalton.
Just how personal this current campaign gets remains to be seen. But Barker believes Oracle’s help will make his rookie outfit competitive.
‘‘For our team it’s great because we know the design package we will get is going to be good enough to go out and win.’’
And that remains Barker’s goal and he feels Team Japan has the ability to surprise.
‘‘We are going out to win, it’s nothing more complex than that.’’
He said he was motivated by his new challenge as he continues in an America’s Cup game that has occupied more than half his life.
‘‘The ability to bring together a group of people with the same objective ... it actually motivates you more when you are outside your comfort zone, I think it makes you take a step back and realise what were the ingredients you relied on in the past to be suc- cessful. That part is going to be the interesting part.’’
Barker said leaving Team New Zealand wasn’t a difficult decision after he had been removed from skipper responsibilities for the next campaign.
‘‘In the end, it wasn’t hard at all. I’d made my decision. I didn’t enjoy what was going on there. So in the end it wasn’t hard at all.’’
Looking back at the last challenge, he still remembers it fondly despite the heartbreak of surrendering that huge lead.
‘‘You get caught up in the moment, taking it race by race, you don’t really look at the bigger picture,’’ Barker said of a final that had so many twists and turns and so many nearmisses for the Kiwis as they looked to claim match point.
‘‘By the time we got to 8-1 we could see they were making some pretty remarkable improvements. Once they got to that point they were pretty much unstoppable.
‘‘But we still thought we could win the thing.’’
He said it remained his ‘‘most enjoyable America’s Cup experience’’ though he was still driven to lift the trophy again, as he had done in 2000 when he and Russell Coutts shared the helming duties in the successful Team New Zealand defence.
‘‘It is the ultimate goal in sailing to lift the America’s Cup up. I’m incredibly motivated to do that again.’’
Is it strange? Yes it is. We were trying to rip each other’s throats out two years ago.
Dean Barker