Winner Dean Barker and his "flawless" crew make their way downwind at the Congressional Cup off Long Beach, CA.

LONG BEACH, CA — When it came time to walk the walk, New Zealander Dean Barker and his crew successfully strutted their stuff. On the heels of seven straight victories in the final round robin of this vaunted match-race event, the young America's Cup veteran scored back-to-back wins in the semis and the finals to emerge as the new owner of sailing's green jacket, taking home $5,972.50 for his trouble. Denmark's Sten Mohr and his crew finished second ($3,582.00), and France's Bertrand Pace third ($2,982.50).
A heavy chop and winds near 20 knots set the stage for the end of the round-robin action on Friday. By displacing Pace in a tiebreaker (each had 13-5 scores), Barker earned the right to select his semi-final opponent, and the nod went to Australia's Sebastien Destremau. In his semi-final match, Pace was to face either Peter Holmberg or Mohr, whose identical scores of 10-8 caused much consternation for regatta officials. First Mohr was selected, then Holmberg appealed and got a reversal, but finally the organizers reverted to Mohr.
In the semis, Mohr, the No. 1 ranked match racer in the world, outsailed Pace (ranked No. 2) in two races, but fell to Barker in as many races in the finals. Although the young New Zealander credited his crew's "flawless" execution, which was evident in the semis, it was pre-start positioning that won him the finals. With strong showings in the previous two events of the Swedish Match Tour, Barker and company are sure to be contenders at next month's Match Racing World Championship, the ACI Cup, in Croatia.