Dean Barker not rushing to make call on sailing future after early America's Cup exit

American Magic's Kiwi helmsman Dean Barker says now isn’t the time for him to decide if yesterday’s tough loss to Luna Rossa will be his final America’s Cup chapter.

Barker and the New York Yacht Club’s entry were eliminated from the Prada Cup yesterday after Luna Rossa swept them 4-0 in the semi-finals.

What made the defeat worse was the fashion in which American Magic bowed out of the competition, with their repaired boat Patriot still showing it had some gremlins from the team’s dramatic capsize two weeks prior.

Barker was asked if that race would be an anti-climactic end to what has been a 20-year journey that started with Team New Zealand in 1995, but the Aucklander remained coy.

“Right now I haven’t given it any thought whatsoever,” Barker said.

“I really want to spend some time with my four kids and wife, try to be a better dad and do all those sort of things.

“In this type of environment you invest everything into it, and they’ve been incredibly supportive. Now I want to give back some time to the kids so I can see them do what they want to do.”

Barker said in hindsight, while they were stoked to get Patriot back on the water, the repairs that needed to be made cost them severely.

“The biggest issue you face is losing those days on the water, where ideally you’d be continuing to develop. We probably underestimated what impact it may have had when you see how much Luna Rossa has moved on."

“[They] had definitely taken a step on and in reflection we missed a bit of development during the period we had to rebuild the boat, and we just weren’t as crisp and as disciplined as we needed to be to do well.

“It’s never a nice feeling to lose. I’ve been in the game a long time, had some tough moments and it certainly doesn’t get any easier.”

Barker added he hoped New York Yacht Club would remain in the America’s Cup though after an 18-year absence.

“They’ve got such a strong history, and are very much part of the makeup of the America’s Cup. It’s great to have the Yacht Club back as part of it.”

Time will tell if he will too.