America's Cup- Dean Barker's Blog - A sail with the Duke and Duchess

by Dean Barker on 14 Apr 2014
Writing on his blog at Kiwi Yachting Consultants' websites, of which he is a substantial shareholder and director, Emirates Team NZ's skipper Dean Barker gives his view on Friday's Royal Matchrace and the state of the 34th America's Cup

Hi all

Well a very long time since the last post. It has been an interesting period and plenty happening. Still no news though on what the next AC holds in store.

However on Friday Team New Zealand had the great honour of hosting the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge in a match race battle between the two of them. We raced on board the two Sail NZ IACC yachts on a tight course outside the RNZYS.
I was fortunate to sail with William back in 2010 when he was last in NZ, but this time was on board with Kate racing against William which was a great experience. Kate was certainly very competitive and it became quite evident she was happy to beat William in both the races we sailed.

It is one of those very cool things in life that I get to do and certainly treasure the experience. Great also to see the Royals wearing our Baltic lifejackets!

It is now looking forward to the release of the Protocol and learning about what is in store for the next AC.

To see more of Dean Barker's blogs go to www.kiwiyachting.co.nz