Dean Barker won his second Auckland Match Racing Cup title today on the Waitemata Harbour, amid fierce competition from some of the world’s top skippers.

His back-to-back successes in the Auckland Match Racing Cup framed a win in the New Zealand Match Racing nationals late last year. He won the inaugural Auckland Match Racing Cup this time last year.

"It makes a nice start to our year, defending this title," Barker said after he had beaten British challenger Ian Williams 2-1 in the final.

It was a tough final day of racing with Barker and his Emirates Team New Zealand crew of Terry Hutchinson, Don Cowie, James Dagg and Jeremy Lomas first having to dispatch Adam Minoprio and his crew of young guns in the best-of-five semi-final.

Minoprio proved a worthy contender, taking the first match from start to finish and then shutting Barker out of the start in their third encounter. But small mistakes proved costly and Barker clinched his place in the final with a 3-1 win over Minoprio.

In the other semi-final, the world’s second and third ranked match race skippers went head to head as Williams and Frenchman Mathieu Richard slugged it out in a series that went all the way to five matches before it was decided.

Richard was 2-1 up and needing just one more win to advance to the final, when Williams and his crew staged a remarkable come-back. The British skipper won the next two in a row and took a come-from-behind win in a series of matches that had the umpires busy dishing out more penalties than they had for the entire regatta.

In the final, Williams took first blood. However, Barker and his crew came back with guns blazing to win the next two encounters, both of which featured spirited tacking duels, and take the title.

In the petite final, Richard secured 3rd place with a 2-0 win over Minoprio, who finished 4th.

Finals Results (First to win 2 points)

Williams def. Barker (0'09")
Barker def. Williams (0'18")
Barker def. Williams

Petit Finals Results (First to win 2 points)

Richard def. A.Minoprio (0'09")
Richard def. A.Minoprio (0'12")

Semi-Finals Results (First to win 3 points)

Flight 1 : A.Minoprio def. Barker (1'18") - Richard def. Williams (0'43")

Flight 2 : Williams def. Richard (1'22") - Barker def. A.Minoprio (0'48")

Flight 3 : Richard def. Williams (1'02") - Barker def. A.Minoprio (1'06")

Flight 4 : Williams def. Richard (0'26") - Barker def. A.Minoprio (0'13")

Flight 5 : Williams def. Richard by (0'50")