Red Socks!

You may have heard about Red Socks around America's Cup race time.

The story behind why New Zealanders are red socks crazy goes like this:

In 1995 Peter Blakes wife gave him a pair of red socks as a good luck charm for the race.

Everytime Peter Blake wore the socks his boat won their race.

On the one day that Peter Blake didn't wear his red socks his boat lost!

Since that year New Zealanders have worn red socks to support Team New Zealand during their Americas Cup races.

1995 Americas Cup

In the same year that NZ won the Americas Cup for the first time Australia's boat snapped in half and SUNK!
A crack was heard by the sailors and Austraila broke in two.
Sailors started saying they were going to sink.
It was the first yacht to have sunk in the America's Cup ever. The sailors all had to jump ship and the support boats came and picked them up out of the water on to their boat.
The yacht sank in 1 minute and 40 seconds and now lies on the bottom of the ocean near San Diego.

Check out the video. Click on the picture to see.

More about Sir Peter Blake

*Peter was knighted by Queen Elizabeth in 1991 to make him Sir Peter Blake,
Peter was 48 at the time.

*In 2000 he established Blakexpeditions, and it was one of these Sea Master Voyage expeditions In Amazon when peter and his crew were attacked by Pirates.

*Peter says: "I think everyone needs to know that they are have a part of this environment and they are not apart from it."

*His last report on his blog was: "Status: Still Moving Conditions: Pleasant" was written by Peter on Wednesday 5th December 2002 before he died.

The Pirates

On Wednesday 5th December 2002 late at night in the Amazon
a group of people, about 8 men came up to the Sea Master (Sir Peter Blakes boat) on their boat and started climbing onto the Sea Master.

While the men were boarding Sir Peter Blake reached for his gun and shot one of the 8 men.

The men shot Sir Peter Blake back. He died from gunshot wounds that night.

The Pirates stole a spare engine and watches.

What was Peter Blake famous for?

Sir Peter Blake is most famous for his last two wins - the 1995 and 2000 America's Cup with Team New Zealand.

In 1995 Peter Blake and Team New Zealand won New Zealand the Americas Cup for the 1st time in history.

The second time that Peter Blake's Team New Zealand won the America's Cup was the 1st time that the cup had even been succesfully defended by any other country except The United States.

Since Peter Blake left work as a member of Team New Zealand, New Zealand has not WON the Americas Cup again.

Sir Peter Blake, was the worlds most famous sailor, he went faster and further than any other sailor.

About Sir Peter Blake

Sir peter Blake was born on the 1st of October 1948.

Peter Blake had 2 sisters and one brother, He was the second child born.

If Peter were alive today he would be at the age of 58 years old.

Peter was born and grew up in Bayswater which is in Auckland.

Growing up, the water was Peter's Playground and thats why he loved sailing so much.

Peters friends said that Peter was always serious about everything. He was a serious sailor and conservationist.