Dining out with Dean Barker

When Gordon Ramsay, the celebrity chef, recites a recipe, he does it like this: "Bowl. Three eggs. Break. Whisk. Season. Fold into hot pan. Cook. Omelette. Done."

It's an easy-to-understand, unpretentious method. One with which Dean Barker would readily identify.

Most of us have already come to appreciate Barker as a man of action rather than words.

But plenty of column inches have been devoted to him in recent weeks.

The world's sailing elite have gathered in the land of simple tucker, Sardinia, for the latest serving of the MedCup, a five-race series sailed in TP52s.

While the America's Cup remains becalmed in a legal imbroglio, Team New Zealand has migrated to the self-styled "world's leading regatta circuit".

Earlier this week, on the first day of the regatta, Barker made mince-meat of a fleet that included sailing royalty Paul Cayard.

His soothing patter to reporters excited by his feat was polite but lacked any meat to put on the bones of what was an amazing story. It was, when boiled down, Ramsay-like: We tuned the boat. Picked the right sails. Won the start. Controlled the all-important first beat. Sailed for home. Won. And that was that.

He's been doing that, winning, so much lately that the reluctant hero is unmasking himself as arguably the world's foremost skipper.

Shouting from the rooftops is not Barker's thing, says his boss Grant Dalton, who is under no illusions about Barker's talent.

"We think he's the best in the world," Dalton says. "He hates it being put that way. It's not what he's about he's just a simple, modest guy and we are lucky to have him."

An unspoken truth in the sport is that Barker has attracted the attention of sailing's biggest spenders.

If Russell Coutts can command a fee of about 5000 (NZ$10,750) a day to sail in a MedCup, then the market rate for Barker can't be too far behind.

As his reputation grows, he, like Coutts, will find the temptation of jumping ship a big test.

He has already moved overseas. During New Zealand's winter he, his wife, Mandy, and their three daughters live in Valencia. Last year he helmed the King of Spain's yacht in the MedCup.

Although Team New Zealand cannot pay his market rate, he chooses to sail for them.

Why? The reasons are many. Loyalty undoubtedly plays a part: Team New Zealand is a tight unit.

But let's not forget he is still handsomely compensated by Team New Zealand, who also allow him to freelance at various regattas.

But Dalton, 52, hinted at a wider master plan. He has for some time now been grooming his loyal lieutenant, Kevin Shoebridge, as the team's next general manager.

Dalton estimates he probably has "only a couple of years" left in him as team boss.

"And Kevin and Dean are being groomed to take over.

"They already have a huge amount of responsibility. For instance, I am not in charge of this TP52 campaign. This is their show. I just sail on the boat.

"So when I go, what I do will fall onto their shoulders," Dalton says.

One of the ironies of this situation, should Dalton step aside, is that Barker would inherit the job that Coutts coveted; the job that might have swayed him from accepting the big money to join Alinghi.

This irony has not escaped foreign sailing media, who have the upmost respect for Coutts and Brad Butterworth as brash pioneers of New Zealand sailing, but speak of Barker in the same deferential tones as they do of Peter Blake.

Where Coutts and Butterworth were unafraid to make a noise on the international stage, Barker lets his presence do the talking. Fairfax

* Greg Ford travelled to Sardinia courtesy of Emirates

- © Fairfax NZ News