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Kiwis complete America's Cup sweep
Posted: Friday March 03, 2000 03:47 AM
AUCKLAND, New Zealand (AP) --- The protege won the prize while the skipper contentedly watched America's Cup history unfold from a chase boat. New Zealand became the first country other than the United States to defend the oldest trophy in sports Thursday when it won the coveted Cup in a most unusual way. In a move that probably only the Kiwis could pull off, veteran skipper Russell Coutts stepped aside hours before Race 5 in favor of 26-year-old Dean Barker. The Auckland native made his first America's Cup race a memorable one, the clincher of a sweep of Italy's Luna Rossa. Coutts could have become the first skipper to win 10 straight Cup finals races. Instead, he watched from a chase boat on the grey, blustery Hauraki Gulf as the Kiwis sailed the untouchable Black Magic to their second straight 5-0 final, assuring that the 149-year-old America's Cup will remain at the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron. "This morning Russell asked me if I wanted to go and race. How do you turn down an opportunity like that?" Baker said on the joyful, champagne-splashed ride back into Viaduct Basin, where thousands of fans crammed the wharves, their cheers drowned out by the blast of horns from the superyachts moored there. "It's an amazing feeling to finish this off," said Barker, a former youth world champion. Coutts put the team ahead of himself, figuring it wouldn't hurt to give Barker some experience, even if it was in the clinching race. "Team New Zealand is the all important thing," Coutts said. "Look at them -- we're a great team. We're people who work together well and that's what it's all about." Sail trimmer Simon Daubney called it "an ambitious move." "A lot of people might say it's some sort of arrogance, but when it works, you can get away with it. It really is a team concept," he said. Barker was in good hands, counseled around the course by veteran tactician Brad Butterworth. The 48-second winning margin was the closest of the series. "I can't complain about the way he sailed today, and nobody else can," Butterworth said. Within a minute of the finish, Coutts had jumped aboard Black Magic as the normally reserved Kiwis went wild. This is just the second time the Cup has been defended outside the United States. In 1987, Australia couldn't hang onto it, losing it back to U.S. skipper Dennis Conner. Coutts' decision to take himself off the sleek, 75-foot yacht for the clinching race was probably the ultimate proof of New Zealand's depth and team concept. He raised the possibility earlier in the series that he'd give Barker a turn on the wheel. Many thought it would be in Race 4, but with light, shifty conditions, Coutts steered Black Magic to victory on his 38th birthday. It was Coutts who steered Team New Zealand to a 5-0 win over Conner off San Diego in 1995, one of the most dominating performances in America's Cup history, then got Black Magic four-fifths of the way home in this defense. Of Team New Zealand's crew of 32, only 16 get to sail the boat. Coutts had that much faith in Barker, and apparently was content to share Charlie Barr's 97-year-old record of nine straight America's Cup victories. "Charlie Barr probably would have done it, too," Coutts said, meaning turning the boat over to Barker. Luna Rossa was trying to take the America's Cup back to Europe for the first time since Britain lost it to the yacht America in 1851. The Italians were believed to have a silver bullet of a boat, but the Kiwis proved just as they did in San Diego that they're way ahead of the curve in boat design. And their crack crew never makes mistakes. The Kiwis again led at every turning buoy on the six-leg, 18.5-mile course. That means they haven't trailed at 50 straight turning marks dating to the opening race of the 1995 America's Cup. The wind at the start was 18 knots, the most on the Hauraki Gulf in a finals that saw four racing days wiped out by lack of wind. Barker won the start, leading Luna Rossa across the finish line by 12 seconds. The Italians kept it close the first two legs, but Black Magic sped away the second time the yachts sailed into the wind, extending its lead to 48 seconds. The biggest advantage was 1:13 rounding the buoy for the final spinnaker run to the historic finish.
The next defense will be in either 2003 or 2004.
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