Scotty Stevensons correspondence connection to Sir Peter Blake

Landlubber sports commentator Scotty Stevenson has his own reasons for admiring Kiwi America’s Cup hero Sir Peter Blake.

“Part of a primary school project was to write a letter to Sir Peter – although he wasn’t Sir Peter at the time – while he was sailing the Whitbread round-the-world race on Lion New Zealand,” says Stevenson.

“I still have the letter he wrote back to the whole class. He addressed it to every kid in the class, but by virtue of mine being the first name on the list the teacher gave it to me so I still have the original copy.

“Here’s a guy who was, I think, in the Southern Ocean at the time, and who took the time to write that letter and then send it at the next port. I thought what an amazing human being he must have been just to take the time to send a handwritten letter to a classroom of kids in rural Northland.”

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So it comes as no surprise to learn that Stevenson was one of thousands of New Zealanders who donned red socks a few years later – copies of the ones worn by Blake who was given them by his wife Pippa – during Team New Zealand’s victorious America’s Cup campaigns in 1995 and again in 2000.

Now Stevenson is sharing the commentators’ box for this year’s challenge with yachting veterans Peter Lester and Phil Robertson.

While a newcomer to the technical ins and outs of sailing, the one-time rugby commentator has no trouble understanding the grip the cup challenge has on many of his fellow Kiwis.

First awarded in 1851, for a race around England’s Isle of Wight, the trophy stayed in the hands of the New York Yacht Club until 1983 when it was won by Australia 2 at Perth. American Dennis Conner won it back for the New York Club in 1987 and, soon after, New Zealand’s Sir Michael Fay lodged a surprise challenge in the name of the Mercury Bay Boating Club.

While the Kiwis lost the contest on the water they later won in the courts when it was ruled Conner’s catamaran was a gross mismatch for their monohull. Victory was short-lived however with the decision being overturned on appeal.

It was Conner – notorious in New Zealand for walking out of an interview with Paul Holmes after the Kiwi broadcaster asked him to apologise for cheating – that really galvanised New Zealand support for our America’s Cup effort.

“He was the perfect villain,” Stevenson says.

“I think once Dennis Conner became part of the New Zealand psyche that was it. Probably a fair few Kiwis thought, ‘We’re never going to give up until we beat people just like this’ and Peter Blake obviously made that happen.”

There has been no waning of that enthusiasm, says long-time commentator Peter Lester who has been involved in 10 America’s Cups so far, including as tactician in that contentious 1988 challenge.

“What amazes me is, obviously, in Auckland everyone’s engaged. But last weekend, I was down in Christchurch and people are engaged there too. It’s not just an Auckland thing; it is a national thing and I have no doubt that, come March 6 (when the America’s Cup proper starts), it’ll stop the country,” he says, adding the controversy surrounding the event comes as no surprise.

“It’s the oldest competition in competitive sport and, with that, comes a lot of tales and a lot of skulduggery. A lot of very influential people in the world have tried to win it and failed. For New Zealand to have won it three times, maybe four because the big boats had it for six months, is phenomenal and I think we lose sight of that sometimes.”

Lester’s own fascination with the America’s Cup dates back to Australia’s win in 1983.

“I think what made it relevant for New Zealand was once it went to Perth, it was achievable for New Zealand to go and compete at that level,” he says.

“People went, ‘Yep, it’s close and we have the technology. We have a strong design and boat-building industry’. And they jumped all over it and off it went.”

It certainly hasn’t been al plain sailing but Lester believes Team New Zealand has learnt from each loss.

“So you look at ’95 and you look at 2017 in terms of ‘Why did they win in those years?’,” says Lester. “I’m in no doubt the reason was lessons learned from ’92 and lessons learned from 2013 set them up to win.”

The America’s Cup, TVNZ 1 from Saturday March 6