From http://www.lunarossafanclub.it – thanks Guilio Z for first posting.
This is a letter Peter Blake wrote to the Prada Team a few days after their defeat against Team New Zealand in the 2000 America’s Cup.
DEDICATED TO LUNA ROSSA
The America’s Cup is an elusive trophy, and has rarely changed hands in the last 150 years. This is not a sport for the faint hearted. It is not a quest to take lightly or on a whim. It is a fight between sailors from yacht clubs all over the world that desperately want the same thing: get their hands on the Cup.
The prestige for the winner has more value than any other sporting achievement. It’s winning against the invincible and doing the impossible that attract sailors, dreamers and millionaires, but the victory is not easy, and most of the time it doesn’t happen.
The only way to win is to continuously participate, continuously return time and time again with the conviction that you can do it. Hesitating after the first attempt is not part of the rules of the game.
You need extraordinary people with ferocious motivation, lots of experience and attention to details and unconditional dedication. The game is uncertain; for all you can dedicate, for all that you can motivate, and for all that you are willing to spend the victory is never guaranteed.
For some it becomes a kind of drug. It is a game that you can come to deeply hate, to then discover that you can’t live without it at least not until you win. Then there’s the metamorphous (at least that is what happened to me).
I was part of a crew that succeeded in winning the America’s Cup at least once and successfully defending it. I was finally free of the tightness in my mouth and in my stomach. I am paid. I am cured. I go to sleep at night and dream other dreams. New passion are being born inside of me.
Just so that it is clear, competing for the America’s Cup is a game of passion, of dreams when in every waking moment (and while you are asleep) you have only one unique thought and that is winning but the victory is uncertain until you have it in your hands.
The delusion and the disappointment hurts even when the others are suffering, imagine trying it out on your own hide. You keep asking yourself “how”? and “why”? For weeks until you find the determination to try again, to not repeat the same mistakes, to do it better than before, to be better that the rest of the world, to be the best and than the anxiety becomes dreams and passions all over again.
The thought of winning never ever abandons you but it is better to leave it on the side and concentrate on a new objective: to be the best in every phase of the new challenge. Nothing is left alone, not even the smallest detail. But this doesn’t happen just because you want it to.
You need a team of exceptional people who share the same dream and the same passion and are not scared even when odds are against them. It’s the difficulty of the challenge that puts the adrenalin in your veins that may have been weakened by the previous defeat. The America’s Cup is what it is because it is so difficult to win.
It is not a game for armchair admirals. It is not a game for a person who is not prepared to come back. It is not a game for the faint hearted. It is a game for those who are not scared of pitting themselves against the best that the world has to offer. It’s a game where winning is almost impossible, almost, but not impossible. And this is why it is worth fighting for. It is the difficulty that gives any challenge some sense. This is the essence of life itself.
To all the people in Team Prada who are telling their story in this book, I would like to say, I admire your sportsmanship, your tenacity and your enthusiasm for life. You have given all of us a really positive imagine of your country and your countrymen will be proud of you.
This time you didn’t win but certainly didn’t lose. You only lose when you don’t have the courage to return. Not winning is part of the learning process which leads you to success. Because it is also a question of luck.
It won’t be easy. The best things never are.
Peter Blake
This letter is SO cool.
Since we have to burn some time until the AC start here’s more interesting reading:
http://www.bymnews.com/may/boshier-1.html
Hey Andy. Excellent link. Thanks. Not sure I agree with what Professor Boshier has to say on the ‘traitor’ subject, although he does share some interesting insights into the Kiwi psyche.
I think it has more to do with our collective lack of understanding about professionalism in sport (and maybe that’s because it came so late to Rugby, Vs other professional codes). This is a silly question but I’ll ask it anyway. What do you think Sir Peter’s views would have been on the Alinghi Kiwis? Thanks for the post. Regards, David G.
The Blake letter is just awesome, I hadn’t read it before.
The line:
“It is a game that you can come to deeply hate, to then discover that you can’t live without it at least not until you win” describes so many of the great people who have dedicated themselves to winning the Cup over the years.
The anticipation builds!
P
What a remarkable letter. Peter Blake was a true sportsman and an inspirational Kiwi bloke.
I learned to sail on Lake Brunner on the South Islands West Coast, probably one of the smallest and most isolated yacht clubs in NZ, certainly a long way from Auckland. I will never forget meeting Sir Peter when he came all the way down here, in the middle of the night to speak on the night before the 24hr race for trailer yachts. He spoke on his ENZA campain and the brand new team they had put together to win the america’s cup called Team NZ. As a 14 year old sailer I was devastated when NZL20 lost, and to hear about this exciting new challenge with Blake at the helm was awsome. When we won in 95 it was just magic.
This is what Kiwi sport is all about, when Sir Peter said after the win in 95 “little old NZ has just WON the americas cup” I new, that he new, what little old NZ really is.
I don’t agree 100% with this Boshier guy either.
But I think his views were pretty accurate.
After a few weeks of reading this blog I think everybody deserves to know that I’m not a kiwi. I was born in Argentina and I moved here more than 6 years ago. Now everybody will understand some grammar oddities in my comments.
Reasons why I came to NZ are many and complex to explain but I tell you one: Peter Blake and watching the AC on ESPN in 1995 was one reason why I ended up here.
Argentina is a country with many times more resources than NZ and it has been a crappy country for the last 75 years. NZ is (thanks to people like Peter Blake and Grant Dalton) one of the top 10 countries in the world to live in.
Reading New Zealand in the genoa of the ETNZ boat makes me feel very proud of my choice.
Oh David, I forgot to answer your question… I think that P Blake was a very international man. He was married to an English woman, I don’t really know if his children were born here or in the UK. What I’m trying to say is that I think he would have accepted the reasons why Coutts&Co. jumped ship. But it’s all speculation really.
Thanks, Andy. Having lived here for only 6 years does not disqualify you from being a Kiwi. The advantage you have my friend, is that you CHOSE this country to live in. For me and the majority of Kiwis, it was an accident of birth.
Many indigenous Kiwis (those born here of any race) in my experience do not have your appreciation of just what a wonderful country this is. Thanks for your comments. I enjoy your perspective, mate. Regards, David G.
Great post Pete,
Poigniant reminder of a great man.
Personally I think Sir Peter would have understood why the guys bailed in 2000, because he did too! I am annoyed at the attitude of some of our compatriots if what Bertarelli is saying is true.
Man. No-one in the history of the cup has gone from scratch to winner in 3 years, why cant other kiwis see what an achievement that is?
Team NZ 2000 didn’t have an issue really, more of a lack of management, I can replay the GPS,VMG and bearing co-ordinates off that first race that showed 82 going faster and higher with 3 tonnes of water in her. The issue was no-one followed up on Mick Cooksons input and that is the bottom line. So I think the anger at losing the cup shows more of a lack of understanding at the true state of TNZ head office and lets face it Russell could not have been plainer about that being his primary reason for leaving.
Typo above^^^
Just to make it clear, I was talking about TNZ 2003, not now, I see a very clean and accountable structure that great sailors are happy to work for.
We may not have the legs on Alinghi but hey we are sailing them for the cup.
It will be a great series.
Best Wishes to the Team
glorious post with this letter. It is full of feelings, strenght, humanity, intelligence and respect….According to me, this letter wins every AC!
regards
Vale
OFF TOPIC
I just noticed an interesting Lester comment. He asserts LR was ‘probably’ strongest in flat water at 14/15 knots. Yet the turncoats beat what appears to be 91 in light winds! Is 100 ‘that’ much better?
Could Bertarelli’s latest outburst of hurt feelings have something to do with his negative prescience? Why, all of a sudden, should the precious wee rich boy be so ‘apparently’ worried about what a few ETNZ ‘fans’ may or may not have said to ‘some’ Kiwis in Ernie’s crew.
Lastly, a question to PL; prefaced by this….I listened to an interview with Grant-The Great. He asserted that is was ‘qite possible’ that Alinghi could have rammed ETNZ during their little duel. Here’s the q.
What would be the outcome if, during any race, Alinghi purposely rammed ETNZ, with such force as to effectively stop the boat completing the course and stopped them coming out next day? Would Alinghi win the AC by default?
David G, I’m legally a New Zealander and I have an 18 months old kiwi son. For some issues I feel like a kiwi 100% for some others I don’t. The Americas Cup is one of the issues that I feel very close to me as a (new) kiwi.
David, I don’t really know who’s going to win the AC. What I think is that our benefactor Ernesto might want to start collecting some excuses in case SUI 100 is not ‘that’ fast.
Poor old prada boys have come oh so close so many times now.
Seems the cup is that little bit too elusive
David,
There is no way that Alinghi would go out and do this.
Can you imagine the world wide shame.
I think GD’s comment was made in jest.
Good old Sir Peter. I don’t think there would have been a dry eye in the entire blog after reading that. Best of luck to the Italian team(s) for next time, I sincerely believe you will win the cup one day so keep trying.
Professor Boshier’s comments are interesting. Some of them are pretty much spot on, but he did seem to imply that BMW-Oracle was somehow a tool of the American military-industrial complex… I was down Halsey street this afternoon (came to spy on my beloved NZL20 – some monster has attached a motor to the back of the poor thing!) and saw the boys down at the Oracle shed moving about one of their “sharks”. I can’t say I saw a hint of Pax-Americana on any of their faces.
If we win, the nationality rules are going to be one of the most controversial aspects of the next cup, I’d invisage. Personally I think something has to be done to make it more about countries competing rather than just some big abstraction. ACM says they want to get more people interested in the cup, but between the debacle over TV rights or lack thereof (thank goodness TVNZ came through for us there) and the national teams with almost no compatriots onboard things don’t look so good. Well, even if we do win, if we don’t find a challenger of merit who sees things along similar lines then all will be for naught.
It’s probably too late to expect 100% of the teams to be from the same country (and it’s not like the Americans were avert to filling up their ranks with Norwegans during the 30s), but maybe we can compromise on a set percentage. 66%? 75%? 80%? Having a majority of one’s own country on board doesn’t have to mean that the John Cutlers of the world can’t lend a hand to the Desafio Espanols of the world, right? And it’s good for the teams, the results of ETNZ, Luna Rosa, Desafio, Shosholoza, Mascalzone compared to Oracle, China when you factor in the resources the teams had to work with suggest to me that there’s something extra about fighting for your country rather than just for money. It’s something that could see the cup coming back here even if we have a slower boat.
I’m interested in those VMG figures from ’03, Lee. It certainly looked to me like we had the boatspeed edge (albeit only just) back then. The team just didn’t have that all-important belief that they could win, you could see it in their eyes. Otherwise, while I think the cup would have still gone to Europe, it wouldn’t have ended up 5-0. Despite what has come out of the [especially British] media, Deano is really a top class AC helmsman. He was and is quite capable of beating the likes of Coutts.
Interesting question David G, on Blakes view of Alinghi Kiwis. From what I understand Blake and Coutts didn’t get on that well, but I don’t know about the other guys.
I do accept that the AC is a professional sport, and it is fact of life that kiwis will work for other teams. However, the Coutts, Butterworth defection is different, when you look at the context of the preceeding campain. Both Coutts and Butterworth sold us the idea that TNZ was a national team, that we could defend the cup for a long time, and they were the guys to do it. I think they even dropped into a P class regatta with NZL 60 and allowed the kids on board to meet their heroes. I have videos of Coutts and others talking about national pride and all the rest of it. Maybe they had good reasons to leave who knows, but one things for sure, they new TNZ would strugle with out them, and they new many kiwis would take it personally, and they did it any way. Ernesto can moan about kiwi hostility towards Alinghi, and to be fair some kiwis need to grow up a bit, but what does he expect?. The fact is Ernesto bought the america’s cup with the heart of our team. He didn’t have to go through the years of hard work, dissapointment, frustration that Sir Peter Blake talks about above, he just wrote some fat cheques and left NZ to a humiliating defeat. I hope Dalts and the boys absolutely thrash Alinghi five flippin zip, especially for long term crew like Tony Rae, Barry Mc kay, Nick Heron etc. It would be our nations greatest sporting come back, and would be up there with the win in 95.
GO TEAM NEW ZEALAND!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I would like to become a kiwi too!!! I spent only two months in Nz, but I felt something different when I was there, and now, thinking that I going to Nz again, I am very happy and emotional. But, after hearing words by David G. I am quite confused… David G, tell me, why do you think that Nz is not so wonderful?
Ciao
Vale
cause the women have big arses, your money doesn’t go anywhere, transport system sucks, weather is average……ummm I could go on.
Damian, about weather, ok, it is not the best, but I think that it is characteristic….about transport, you can’t imagine how they are in Italy…absolutely horrible… about money, I can tell you that Italy is quite expensive, especially to rent or buy an apartment…..and finally, about women, it doesn’t matter for me…I AM A GIRL!!!!!!!!!!!!so that, tell me something about NZ boys!!!!!!!!!
Just having a little crack shot. NZ is a lovely place, it has its faults, but where doesn’t.
G’day Vale. Ha, ha. Damian walked straight into that one. Hehehe.
I DO think NZ is a wonderful place, Vale. What I was trying to say was that there are many Kiwis how do not appreciate/realise what a truly wonderful country we live in. My point to Andy was that he, like many other recent immigrants, obviously appreciate how great NZ is, because they decided to make it their home, while lots of us who are born here, just take the place for granted.
There are many beautiful and talented women here too, Vale. And, as for the men……we’ll I guess you’d need to as those Kiwi women. By and large, I think we are a pretty good lot, but then I’m a man, so you’d expect me to support the blokes! Ha, ha. Cheers, David G.
And about the weather. Auckland weather is crap, but the City of Sails does have a great harbour and gulf and that crappy weather provides some brilliant sailing.
The best weather is to be enjoyed in Canterbury (if you don’t mind the winter chill). It’s also the home of the best rugby team in NZ – and the one-eyed Canterbury Rugby supporter as it happens! But the sailing here is a bit limited.
So I guess wherever you are in NZ, you have to compromise somewhere along the line. But we are free to enjoy wide open spaces and with fewer than 4 million people there is more than enough room for everybody. Cheers, David G.
[...] Peter Blake’s letter to Luna Rossa – 2000 From http://www.lunarossafanclub.it – thanks Guilio Z for first posting. This is a letter Peter Blake wrote to the […] [...]
ohhh the good old debate about NZ…
I used to have pretty heated discussions about how good or bad this country is (with kiwis and other immigrants). And I came to the conclusion that is a very personal choice.
I come from a 15 million people city (Buenos Aires) full of theatres and museums and nightlife. Nevertheless living there as a normal middle class guy was a nightmare.
I f you like a nice comfortable quiet life this is the place to live in. But if you l like Sydney or London, be my guest go on, and leave. Stop whingeing about the weather or simply about being here when you live here.
And coming back to the topics of this blog. The sailing is in Auckland is just AMAZING. I couldn’t believe the generosity of the sailing community here. With very poor English within two days of me being in the country I was racing a Rum race on a Ross 930.
There is a HUGE sailing tradition in this country and I’m very glad to see that any Team New Zealand attempt to the America’s Cup is considered as a national issue.
[...] can read the full letter on Peter Lesters blog, something I’d recommend everyone do. Its a real insight into the mind of one of our greatest [...]
For me Peter Blake not only spoke of sailing but of life in general in his letter. The best things in life are not always free, but will take time and commitment. For someone to have as much passion for life as Sir Peter did and to lose him was a loss to us all. His letter has give me a little to think about and to keep trying things that dont come easily but to keep trying all the same. Its the Kiwi way. Ian McPhail – Christchurch. New Zealand