Barker wins National Keelboat title from Burling

by Tash Paget on 16 Nov 2008

A steady 15 to 18 knot breeze made the last day of the Club Marine National Keelboat Championships 2008 an intense battle between the top two crews, young Olympian Peter Burling and regatta-hardened Dean Barker from Emirates Team New Zealand.

The stronger winds today saw most of the Platu 25s including Barker’s crew come close to laying the mast in the water due to the excitable nature of these brand-new boats. The positions changed regularly during the day’s racing but in the end, Barker’s experience resulted in consistent placings and he and his crew won the regatta by 10 points.

Burling was second, after having led three of the four races sailed today, followed closely by the up and coming young Wellington crew headed by Josh Junior.

At the prizegiving, Barker commented on the extremely high quality of the competitors as a whole, saying ‘I think we might have to up the minimum age for America’s Cup sailors in order to keep our jobs!’

Gold Fleet Provisional Results:

Pos	Team	Skipper	Club	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	R7	Total
1	4	Dean Barker	RNZYS	1	4	4	1	1	1	2	10
2	10	Peter Burling	TYPBC	8	1	1	2	2	8	6	20
3	5	Josh Junior	RPNYC	5	2	7	4	9	2	5	25
4	2	Andrew Wills	RNZYS	2	3	6	5	3	7	8	26
5	15	Erle Williams	RAYC	3	6	9	7	4	4	4	28
6	11	Geoff Woolley	KYC	4	9	3	8	5	3	9	32
7	13	Laurie Jury	RNZYS	6	7	5	6	8	9	3	35
8	6	Simon Dickey	RNZYS	10	5	10	3	6	6	7	37
9	1	Roger Pagani	RNZYS	9	8	8	10	7	5	1	38
10	7	Scott Duncanson	OMYC	7	DSQ(11)	2	9	10	10	10	48

 

Overall results for the Silver fleet:

Pos	Team	Skipper	Club	R1*	R2	R3	R4	R5	Total
1	17	Rod Dawson	RAYC	2	1	1	1	3	5
2	16	Phil Robertson	RNZYS	1	ARB(6)	2	5	1	9
3	8	Derek Scott	NPYC	3	3	4	2	2	10
4	19	Chris Brodie	RAYC	4	4	3	3	8	14
5	12	Jacko Van Deventer	KIYC	5	9	7	7	4	23
6	14	Melinda Henshaw	TBC	6	5	9	9	5	25
7	9	Ross Currie	TYPBC	7	6	6	6	7	25
8	3	Patrick Baldi	CNC	10	7	5	10	6	28
9	20	Glen Jeffery	RYC	9	8	10	4	10	31
10	18	Sarah Tootill	BBYC	8	10	8	8	9	33