January 26, 2008
We haven’t posted here for a little while – I hope everyone had a happy Christmas and New Year.
The big news for our family is our recent move to Doha, Qatar. I am working for the Aspire Academy as head coach for the yachting team and I am really enjoying the atmosphere here.
There are plenty of things afoot in America’s Cup land but until there is any real news about the next regatta I won’t be posting regularily. I’d encourage you to stay tuned to the various sailing sites and blogs, it will be interesting to see how things pan out over the next few months.
Cheers
Pete
1 Comment | 
Americas Cup, Aspire Academy, Qatar, Sailing, Sports, Yachting | 
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Posted by peterlester
July 7, 2007
Team New Zealand are in a very strong position for the future. Given where they were in 2003, which was in a shambles, they are now right there with huge assets, huge intellectual knowledge and huge passion and belief.
They have got there through very good leadership, good recruitment and good design where the sailors have had a lot of input.
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290 Comments | 
America's Cup Teams, Americas Cup, Emirates Team New Zealand, Sailing, Spain, Sports, Valencia, Yachting | 
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Posted by peterlester
July 5, 2007
Although Team New Zealand lost the match, they fought it out until the end. We should be proud of them.
They put it all on the line but weren’t good enough.
The positives are that Alinghi are not a generation ahead and Team NZ should be at the next cup. Not a lot needs to change. The regatta started off with a bit of a debacle with all the delays and finished in a bizarre manner.
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26 Comments | 
Alinghi, America's Cup Teams, Americas Cup, Emirates Team New Zealand, Sailing, Spain, Sports, Valencia, Yachting | 
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Posted by peterlester
July 4, 2007
Well what a race to end the America’s Cup.
One second – one measly second.
Off the line it was a good start from Dean Barker but Alinghi, in a compromised position, hung on.
The race was a classic day of how powerful it was to be on the right hand side of your opposition. The power was really on the right on the upwinds. Sailing on the left, New Zealand on both upwind legs were bow forward but were unable to capitalise on that.
On the downwind Team New Zealand did well to roll Alinghi on the first run. At the bottom mark gate, maybe if we look back in two races, the Kiwis took the right hand gate looking down and got passed on both times. How significant that might be.
The last downwind was bizarre. At the top mark Alinghi did a dial down. The boat on starboard has the rights, which was Alinghi. The dial down was a set move. Alinghi had practised it. Alinghi dialed down when the New Zealanders dialed down and held their course. Team New Zealand were ruled not to have kept clear. It was a penalty.
Most of us thought the game was over then but on the final run the breeze collapsed near the finish and we saw Team New Zealand get rid of their penalty and miss going into the eighth race by one second.
What a race it was.
As you can imagine Team New Zealand were distraught. But they have plenty to be proud of. They have come so far since 2003. Grant Dalton’s leadership has been tremendous and Dean Barker will leave this cup as one of the best helmsman in the game.
They just have to go on…
Thanks to you all for dropping by, we certainly hope you have enjoyed the racing and its been great to be able to bring it to you. When we started this little blog we were unsure of how it would do – its had 90,000 page views since we started and has been a storming success thanks for you all.
I’ll aim to keep the blog running over the coming months, so stay tuned 
In the meantime, we all need a holiday. I will be flying with Paul tomorrow to Bodrum in Turkey to spend some time with Ergin and the Provezza guys. I will also be joing my wife Susie, and the boys, Ryan and Sean who are already there.
11 Comments | America's Cup Teams, Americas Cup, Emirates Team New Zealand, IACC, New Zealand, Sailing, Spain, Sports, Valencia, Yachting | Permalink
Posted by peterlester
