Sir Peter Blake, who was murdered in Amazonia on December 5th, was the consummate competitive sailor and a superb seaman. He was a meticulous planner, and inspired confidence in every respect. His successes were legendary, and the envy of all in his chosen sport. He sought, and often found, perfection in everything he did.
He is the only man to have won the Whitbread Round the World Race and the America's Cup, and held the Jules Verne Trophy for the fastest circumnavigation under sail. They are the big three, and the pinnacle of the sport.
Born in Auckland, New Zealand, and educated at Takapuna grammar school, he persuaded his father to build him a P-class dinghy, the universal training boat for dinghy racing in that country, and learned his trade the hard way. He was big for his age - too big to be successful in this tiny dinghy - but it was there that he learned the rudiments of sailing.
He went to Britain as a young professional sailor in 1973, and quickly persuaded Les Williams to take him on Burton Cutter, an 80-footer, in the inaugural Whitbread Round the World Race that September. The race became an obsession for Peter Blake, even though this ill-funded effort came to a halt off the Cape of Good Hope when the boat began to break up. He was with Williams and Robin Knox-Johnston when they combined for a second unsuccessful effort for the Whitbread in 1977 with Heath's Condor.
Four years later, that promise was fulfilled through the financial assistance of Auckland's businessmen. Peter Blake was on the starting line with a boat designed and built in New Zealand. Sadly, his Ceramco New Zealand lost her rig in an almost identical spot in the Atlantic to that where Heath's Condor had tumbled.
This time, under a jury rig, Peter Blake and his crew pressed on to Cape Town, stepped a new mast, and started the second leg to Auckland. They won the leg on corrected time, and proved that they were a force to be reckoned with, but with the race scored on cumulative time, there was no hope of winning.
After a further four years, he was back with another effort, in a boat sponsored by the Lion Nathan Brewery, which was to become a regular sponsor of his efforts. He finished second in the Whitbread, but this was simply not good enough. The brewery was keen to promote its award-winning lager, and funded a trimaran for Peter Blake and his navigator, Mike Quilter, to compete in the centennial Round Australia Race. Their Steinlager won going away.
It was with Steinlager 2 that he finally succeeded in the Whitbread in 1989.
His management expertise, and the devoted following he could attain, attracted the attention of Sir Michael Fay, who was engaged in his third campaign to win the America's Cup. He slammed his critics, by providing cohesion and coming close to success. It was the last of Fay's challenges - and Peter Blake was already looking for new ones - but the America's Cup simply would not go away.
With Knox-Johnston, he captured the Jules Verne Trophy in the 92 ft catamaran, Enza, for the fastest circumnavigation under sail. Then, when no-one in New Zealand seemed prepared to challenge for the America's Cup in 1995, Peter Blake took it on himself, mortgaging his house to raise the $75,000 deposit for a challenge. His determination - and that of his business friends - raised the wherewithal, and the challenge struck new heights. In the challenger selection trials in San Diego, the all-black boat was only beaten twice: once when Peter Blake was not on board; the other, when he failed to wear his hallmark red socks.
In the final, Black Magic, skippered by Peter Blake, won all her races by a comfortable margin to defeat Dennis Conner and take the America's Cup to Auckland - he was knighted for his effort. He was equally determined that the cup should stay in New Zealand, and he organised the successful defence last year.
Shortly after he joined the Jacques Cousteau Foundation as its head. He ran two scientific expeditions in its specially constructed sailing boat to Antarctica before embarking for Amazonia.
He is survived by his wife Pippa, a son and a daughter.
Peter James Blake: born 1948; died, December 2001