American Magic skipper Terry Hutchinson has backed Dean Barker’s tactical call to attempt a “notoriously difficult” maneouvre in the lead-up to the team’s dramatic capsize in Sunday’s Prada Cup racing.
Hutchinson on Monday fronted the media for the first time nearly 24 hours after the hair-raising incident, which saw the US boat sustain significant damage.
In the void of information, sailing fans have debated on social media and blog message boards the wisdom of Barker’s call to attempt a tight tack and bear away in difficult conditions at the final gate rounding when the team were seemingly in control of the race, with a 500m on Italian challenger Luna Rossa.
Hutchinson has rejected any criticism of his helmsman, saying Barker has the team’s unwavering support and he will continue to encourage the former Team NZ skipper to be aggressive.
“As a team we have the utmost confidence in [Barker’s] abilities,” the veteran US sailor said at Monday’s press conference.
“We win as a team, and we lose as a team.”
Critics of Barker pointed to the on-board comms in the lead-up to the final mark rounding, which picked up apparent indecision over which gate to take. When Barker made the call to tack and bear away into a strong left hand shift, trimmer Paul Goodison commented on the difficulty of the maneouvre they were about to attempt.
The American Magic crew on Monday spent time analysing the comms as part of the on-going debrief process following the incident. He says the crew identified the windshift and saw an opportunity to take it.
“Coming into the mark there was a lot of discussion about the left being favoured, and then you hear [Barker] saying ‘we should tack bear away’ and then you hear [Goodison] saying ‘that’s a hard manoeuvre’,” Hutchinson explained
