from
Sir Peter Blake
An Amazing Life
by Alan Sefton
Chapter 1: Salt and Adventure in his Blood
He also used to sail a lot with Martin Foster who would telephone
and ask simply: ‘Want to go for a sail?’ The answer would be an
automatic ‘Yes’. Foster noted one such occasion in the log of Truant,
a 28-foot Woollacott design that replaced his 26-foot Mullet boat
Starlight. It was a turbulent spring, and one stormy Sunday in 1967
he went around to the Blake home to see if Peter wanted to go for a
spin. ‘Oh yeah’ was the response. They rowed out to Truant, which
was anchored off Devonport, and managed to cast off under storm
rig in a westerly gale. They reached at speed up the coastline of
Auckland’s North Shore to Long Bay where they anchored for lunch
before reaching back down the coast and into the harbour.
‘We were the only boat out there and Peter was in his element,’
recalls Foster. ‘He just loved it – thought it was fantastic.’
Certain traits that were later to be ‘Blakey trademarks’ had
already begun to emerge. He was very intense when he stepped on
a boat. Everything had to be done correctly. ‘Don’t forget, his father
was a naval officer in the Second World War,’ stresses Foster. ‘His
boats were always immaculately maintained and everything had to
be just right, particularly on Ladybird. Brian was most pedantic in that,
and Peter was the same. I don’t think there’s much doubt where he
got it from. We put a new rig in Truant in 1975. Peter was then
working for the mast manufacturer Yachtspars and had already done
his first Whitbread race on Burton Cutter. He’d come out sailing with
me and everything had to be spot on, even if you were only cruising
– every sheet, every sail had to be checked and in its right place. I
remember him telling me – “I hope you don’t mind me running
around like this, but I like things to be right”.’
Janet Blake remembers how meticulous and particular her father
was: ‘He made lists of things and he kept logs beautifully. His car was
always serviced well, and on the boat everything was done properly.
The house was pretty good, but the boat was always better. Pete was
always making lists too, just like Brian.’
The young Blake also held strong views about sailing, and this
led to the odd ‘meeting of the minds’ when he raced with his father,
according to Tony Blake. ‘Our family always got along really well
together. I can’t remember any dissension at all, except when we were racing with Dad. Peter and I had both done quite a bit of racing by
then, albeit in small boats, and used to make suggestions on where
to go and what to do. I think we forgot that Dad had done a fair bit
of racing himself. Anyway, I always remember him telling Peter to
“pipe down, I’m the skipper” or, on the odd occasion, “I’m the skipper
and what I say goes”.’
The Blake brothers always pitched in on the maintenance of the
family yachts, so it was no surprise when the now 18-year-old Peter
decided to build his own boat. ‘Peter was passionate about offshore
racing, as was I,’ remembers Tony. ‘I think Rainbow II and her exploits
would have really stirred us on in those days. I suspect that that was
when Peter really decided what he wanted to do in life. That was the
way he wanted to go. He wanted to go offshore racing. The entry
level in those days was through the JOG ( Junior Offshore Group) run
by the Royal Akarana Yacht Club. So Pete decided to build Bandit and
race her in the JOG.’
