New Zealand had a good run at the America’s Cup sailboat races. They won in 1995 and successfully defended the title in 2000. This stamp however is from 1992 when New Zealand’s boat was penalized for a not allowed design and failed to make the finals. So that year it was still America’s Cup. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.
It is not whether you win or lose, it is how you play the game. So why not put out a series of stamps to celebrate New Zealand sending a team to compete. Well how they played the game was to send a boat with design features that were not allowed. Once modified for rule compliance, the team was noncompetitive. Correction then, why not put out a series of stamps on floating rich man’s toys. Sure.
Todays stamp is issue A357, a $1 stamp issued by New Zealand on January 22nd 1992. It was a four stamp issue in various denominations. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth $1.25 whether it is used or unused.
The America’s Cup sailing race was first put on in 1851. Teams are put together by yacht clubs and often lead by very rich men as vanity projects. The involvement of such wealthy men means that the boats are spared no expense to gain any small advantage. The San Diego Yacht Club team in 1992 that won was lead by Bill Koch the little brother of the famous Koch Brothers who sold his share of his father’s petrochemical company for 400 million dollars to his politically active brothers. This gave him the time and money to play the playboy sailor man
Australia sent a team in the 1980s that became the first foreign team to win the Cup. Australia’s Cup? This attracted the attention of New Zealander Michael Fay, partner in the NZ investment bank Fay Richwhite. He put together a team of mainly Australian sailors under skipper Peter Blake and with a boat design originating in New Zealand.
The first boat was found in violation while in semifinals against an Italian team that went on to lose to the boat America3 under Bill Koch. Skipper Peter Blake was back at the next America’s Cup in 1995 and won with a new design boat. He returned again in 2000 and became the first foreign team to successfully defend a title. By then they were no longer getting support from Michael Fay, he had moved to Geneva to be closer to what he loved, his money.
Skipper Peter Blake had an interesting sailing career in addition to the America’s Cup. He became involved with the Cousteau Society from which he bought the Seamaster ship. He engaged in expeditions designed to monitor climate change under the auspices of the United Nations. In 2001 the Seamaster was boarded by pirates while on an expedition on the Amazon River. Blake was shot and killed and the rest of the crew had their wallets and watches stolen before the pirates left the ship.
Well my drink is empty and since I can’t afford the yacht lifestyle, I might as well have another drink. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.