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Dean Barker is most famous for being the amazingly calm and composed skipper of Emirates Team New Zealand that lost to Switzerland’s Team Alinghi in 2007.

Dean made America’s Cup history when he helmed NZL60 to victory in the final race of Team New Zealand's 5-0 "blackwash" over challenger Prada on Thursday 2 March 2000. At 26 he was the youngest sailor ever to skipper an America’s Cup yacht to victory – and he had never been involved with an America’s Cup campaign previously.

Having just missed the Finn dinghy Olympic berth in 1996, Russell Coutts asked Dean to try out for Team New Zealand 2000. Coutts sent him out on the match racing circuit and within a year he was one of the world’s top five match-racing skippers – ranked No 4 in 1999.

Skipper of the unsuccessful defense for the cup in 2003, Dean held his integrity through extremely tough times.

Dean began his sailing career at 10 years of age and his first solo sail – in an Optimist – ended in disaster when he got stuck in the middle of Lake Pupuke, and had to be rescued.

Dean has amassed a huge range of yachting titles in his brief career, in P-class, Laser and match racing. In 1990 he won the World Single-handed Youth Championship.

He is a popular speaker, not only because of his high profile, but also because he speaks from the heart and gives an open, honest interpretation of his sailing career.