Dean Barker (yachtsman)
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| Personal information | |||||||||||||
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| Born |
18 April 1973 Auckland, New Zealand |
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| Sailing career | |||||||||||||
| Class(es) | IACC, TP 52 | ||||||||||||
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Medal record
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Dean Barker (born 18 April 1972) is best known internationally for his participation in America's Cup yacht races with Team New Zealand/Emirates Team New Zealand.
In the 2007 Americas Cup series in Valencia, Spain, Emirates Team New Zealand, of which he was the skipper, went down 5–2 to the Swiss boat Alinghi.
Barker was born in 1973 in Takapuna, New Zealand. Barker's father is the well-known New Zealand multi-millionaire Ray Barker of the Barkers Clothing retail chain. Dean Barker was educated at Westlake Boys High School. Barker married former New Zealand field hockey representative Mandy Smith in February 2004. They have four children, three daughters; Mia, Olivia & Isla and one son Matteo. Dean Barker is also a major shareholder in Kiwi Yachting Consultants.
Barker sailed from an early age, starting out in Optimist and P Class boats, before graduating to 470s and Lasers.
Barker's first introduction to the America’s Cup was in 1995 when Russell Coutts invited him to train with Team New Zealand in San Diego. Although he was not involved in the successful challenge, he became a permanent member of the cup defense team once the cup was in Auckland.
Because there was no defender's series Team New Zealand used high intensity in-house racing to prepare for its cup defense. Barker’s skill as a match racer rapidly developed and he became skipper of the “B Boat” in these races. Although the racing was not public, and scores were not kept, it became apparent that he was at least holding his own with Coutts.
Team New Zealand went on to successfully defend the 2000 Cup 5–0, with Coutts relinquishing his normal helming role to Barker in the last race. After the 2000 cup there were multiple defections to other syndicates, most notably Coutts and Brad Butterworth to Alinghi and as a result Barker became skipper.
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