America's Cup: Favorite Moments - Dean Barker - Final Race 2000 Match
by America's Cup Media 7 Apr 2020 15:27 PDT
8 April 2020
Dean Barker - Fifth day of AM38 sailing in Pensacola, Florida. © Amory Ross
Dean Barker is now on his sixth America's Cup campaign and was part of the America's Cup winning 2000 team skippered by Russell Coutts, and skippering the trial horse all through that campaign.
That Cup was just the second time in Cup history for a Defence outside USA. And most Cup fans can recall what happened in the first one - where Dennis Conner in Stars & Stripes cleaned out Kookaburra in Fremantle in the 1987 America's Cup - commonly accepted as the best ever.
After coming through a Challenger Selection series that could only be described as rugged - and one that is regarded as the toughest Challenger Selection Series ever, Prada defeated AmericaOne, and came up against Team New Zealand.
To the Kiwis surprise, and relief, they had prepared well - due in no small measure to the pressure applied by Dean Barker and his "mushroom crew" as the trial horse team is known in Cup circles.
For the final race of the Match (the Kiwis later proved that you could lose an America's Cup needing just one more win), Russell Coutts made the surprise and very magnanimous gesture to his protege, handing the helm over to Barker.
Everyone held their breath at the start as the America's Cup novice stepped up to the plate. The rest as they say is history.
But this clip - Barker's favorite - says it all.