Sailing: Coutts cashes in on TNZ calamity

If all it took was a whole nation willing him to win, Dean Barker would be planning his America's Cup victory speech now. Instead, he needs their continuing belief to help dig his defence of the America's Cup out of a malaise he could never have imagined in his worst dreams.

Team New Zealand has taken two stunning blows in the opening of the best-of-nine series as its former skipper, Russell Coutts, now at the helm of Switzerland's Alinghi challenge, has gone 2-0 up. Coutts' first point on the board was a gift as a catalogue of disasters befell his successor, Barker.

First there was the sight of Matt Mitchell bailing out hundreds of gallons of water with a plastic dustbin. Then the end of the weight-saving carbon fibre mainsail boom snapped off. While the crew were trying to make a hasty repair, the headsail ripped out of its deck fitting, then the groove in which it is hoisted.

Barker's first foray in sole charge ended in just 20 minutes as Team New Zealand, unbeaten in its last 10 America's Cup races, found itself becoming the first America's Cup finalist to fail to finish a race since America's Resolute in 1920.

Then came grounds for a restoration of confidence, as TNZ's turbocharged, hull-enhanced NZL-82 yacht powered past Alinghi on the second leg of the second race on the Hauraki Gulf. But Coutts showed all the resolution for which he is so famous, chipping back at his opponent, harrying him, and picking up valuable seconds.

In a thrilling finish, Coutts turned home fans' hope into despair, winning by just seven seconds. Britain's America's Cup starting helmsman, Andy Beadsworth, pointed to the way Alinghi threw 33 tacks at TNZ on the last upwind leg and made a perfect sail selection for the final run downwind. But his play of the day, with the line almost in sight, was Coutts' willingness to take a 50-metre loss so he could climb into an attacking position. "That was certainly not an easy decision to take," Beadsworth said.

Barker looked gaunt and devastated. His tune-up boat was so damaged in the same conditions which saw his race boat fall apart that they will take three days to fix. The worry is some of those faults have not yet been found in his race boat.