Dean Barker Wins Ficker Cup
Dean Barker dominated the 2018 Ficker Cup to win the Grade Two World Sailing regatta and advance to the Congressional Cup, which will start this Wednesday. Also qualifying for the Congo Cup is Johnie Berntsson of Sweden, who finished second in the three-day regatta hosted by Long Beach Yacht Club.
Breeze varied from 6 to 11 knots. Two days of sunshine gave way to a hazy day of competition yesterday, while the Indy cars in the Long Beach Grand Prix droned in the not-too-far distance.
Barker dominated the series. On Friday, he suffered his only loss, to Dave Hood, a staff commodore at LBYC and winner of the recent Long Beach California Dreamin’ stop. "We got him in a tough place to defend himself," explained Hood, "got a good start, and got the right side, which we wanted."
Barker and Berntsson squared off in the finals. Barker thought that the 2005 Congressional Cup event, which he won, “could be one of the last match-racing events I’ve done.” He hasn’t lost his touch, as evidenced by his steady, cool-headed performance, conquering Berntsson one, two, three. Winner of the Crimson Blazer in 2009 and second-place finisher in 2017, Berntsson will be competing in his tenth Congressional Cup.
American Chris Poole took third and Leonard Takahashi of Japan finished fourth. “I’m still trying to figure out how we got into a position to get to race Dean Barker,” said the 19-year-old Takahashi, adding that competing against Barker was “a dream come true. It was truly a humbling experience, and I’m thankful to Dean for giving us a lesson.”
The Ficker Cup was founded in 1980 to honor the legendary Bill Ficker ("Ficker Is Quicker"), who helmed Intrepid to victory in the 1970 America’s Cup and won the Congressional Cup in 1974. It offers world-class match racing action in an equalized fleet of one-design Catalina 37s. Ficker passed away in 2017.
“It’s an honor to win the trophy named after Bill Ficker,” Barker said. “This has been a fantastic opportunity for our American Magic team to go sailing in a competitive environment and get back into the match-racing game. It’s great for the soul to do this kind of racing.” Barker, a Kiwi, is now sailing for the USA. He and tactician Terry Hutchinson are America’s Cup veterans and key players in NYYC’s American Magic campaign to challenge for the Cup in 2021.
The 54th Congressional Cup will run April 18-22 off the Belmont Veterans Memorial Pier, where spectators can listen to commentary and watch the competition. See www.thecongressionalcup.com.
Also concluding on Sunday was the Star Western Hemisphere Championship. Five Brazilians and one San Francisco Bay Area sailor took the podium positions. Hosted by Biscayne Bay YC in Miami, FL, the regatta started on Thursday. Going into yesterday’s races, the teams of Lars Grael and Samuel Gonçalves (BRA) and Paul Cayard and Arthur ‘Tutu’ Lopes (USA/BRA) both had a chance to win the championship. But Cayard and Lopes couldn’t match the consistency of Grael and Gonçalves. Third on the podium were Jorge Zarif and Guilherme De Almeida, making Cayard the only non-Brazilian among the top six sailors. "It was a tough competition with Paul, and in strong winds," said Grael.
