Whitbread 1977 - 1978

Although Burton Cutter’s Whitbread debut was undone by lack of preparation, the yacht had shown distinct promise. Even though it was unfinished and structurally suspect, it was quick enough to take line honours on the first leg of the 1973 race from England to South Africa and was 2nd across the line on the final leg from Rio de Janeiro to Portsmouth.

In the British summer of 1974, Blake teamed up with Robin Knox-Johnston to compete in the two-handed Round Britain race in the now completed Burton Cutter. Knox-Johnston was very much part of the British sailing establishment, having won the non-stop round the world race in 1969. It was a sign of Blake’s growing reputation that he was teamed with Knox-Johnston for this grueling event. It was also a portent of a later collaboration in pursuit of the Jules Verne Trophy.

The partnership worked well and Blake and Knox-Johnston took Burton Cutter across the finish line to claim victory as the fastest monohull in the round Britain race. Another notch was carved in Blake’s growing sailing resume.

The next came back in his home waters when Blake teamed up with Graeme Elder to take line honours in the inaugural Round North Island (of New Zealand) race on board Gerontius in 1977.

In between these two events, Blake was casting about in search of a ‘proper job’. He spent a lot of time cruising, diving and obtaining a pilot’s licence. He scared the daylights out of his flying instructor when, on one flight, a bag of live crayfish he had caught on that morning’s diving expedition came undone and the scaly creatures invaded the cockpit.
But, he did secure a job as well, working as an industrial sales engineer. He described it as “flogging valves and insulation, real death-of-a-salesman stuff”.

It couldn’t last and, sure enough, next thing he was off on a mission to rescue a motoryacht from war-torn Beirut. He and the owner’s two sons managed to flee the city at 20 knots with the sound of gunfire and boats being sunk echoing behind them.

For the second Whitbread Round the World Race in 1977, Blake was offered a position as watch leader on the beautiful yacht, Condor. He accepted “with indecent haste”.

Moments of great beauty, the blue icebergs, soaring albatrosses and the Aurora Australis, the southern lights.”

— Sir Peter Blake

Heath’s Condor, as the yacht was known for this race, was jointly skippered by Leslie Williams and Robin Knox Johnston. Designed by John Sharp (who also designed Burton Cutter), the 77ft sloop was built of cold-molded timber and sported a mast built partly in carbon fibre, one of the first yachts ever to use the space-age material.

In this sense, the yacht was a curious combination of traditional and new materials. Once again, however, there was too little time and the yacht arrived at the start line in better shape than Burton Cutter, but with less than ideal testing and preparation. This was to prove fatal when the carbon fibre rig started whipping about at sea and finally broke above the top spreader. The crew made a jury rig of the remaining stump and sailed into Monrovia, where Blake led an effort to repair the mast using wooden splints and fibre glass. However, a new mast was shipped from England and the yacht rejoined the race 10 days later, with half the crew miserably ill from Monrovian food.

Blake was earning a name as a good man in a crisis and this reputation was further enhanced during a sobering event deep in the Southern Ocean. Blake was at the helm when the cry every mariner dreads went out. “Man Overboard!”

Bill Abrum had been flicked over the side by the spinnaker sheet and was in desperate danger in the freezing ocean. The rescue attempt in big seas and heavy winds was not a textbook affair. The engine was useless because the folding propeller had frozen shut and, by the time the yacht was turned around, the stricken crewman was out of sight.

However, Blake managed to guide the yacht back to Abrum under sail and, after a 10-minute ordeal, he was hauled back on board.

The near-tragedy had a profound effect and Blake later recounted that Heath’s Condor was sailed very conservatively for the remainder of the race. That, combined with the time lost during the dismasting and an insurmountable handicap (largely due to the exotic mast) spelled doom for Heath’s Condor’s chances and she finished the race in last place.

A highlight of the race for Blake was when the yacht arrived in his hometown of Auckland at the head of the fleet. It was Auckland’s first taste of the Whitbread race and began a mutual love affair with the fleet that endured through all the successive races.

Blake wrote of that leg from Cape Town to Auckland, remarking on its “moments of great beauty, the blue icebergs, soaring albatrosses and the Aurora Australis, the southern lights.

“But,” he continued, “racing at full speed in high winds and raging seas is dangerous. The temperature plummets to minus 10°C at night (plus the windchill factor), there are huge icebergs around, your compass goes haywire, whales appear from nowhere … You are cold and damp for days on end and get very little sleep. But it is also like going to the dentist: marvelous when it’s over.”

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