Blake considering new yacht

Press, 29 January 1982, Page 24

Blake considering new yacht

PA Auckland Ceramco New Zealand’s skipper, Peter Blake, is considering a new maxi ocean racer for the next Whitbread round-the-world race in 198586.

He has had preliminary talks with Ceramco’s managing director, Tom Clark, who arrived in Mar del Plata on Monday. No decisions have been reached, but Mr Clark has been checking what is known of the plans of people such as Flyer’s owner-skipper, Conny .van Rietschoten, and Charles Heidsieck’s skipper, Alain Gabbay, both with new Whitbread maxis coming up. “It’s too early for anything definite,” said Mr Clark yesterday, “but we’ve talked and are doing our homework.”

“We’ll probably do the same in England at the end of this race when more is known of what the organisers plan to do with it.” Blake’s future is at this stage not certain. He has had. offers from England, including one to return to his former job of skippering Bob Belly’s maxi ocean racers — in the first instance the H6l- - Condor 11. But he also has job offers in New Zealand: “My first responsibility when we reach England will be to sell Ceramco N.Z.” he said yesterday. “I also have a book S to complete fairly quickly. 1 After that, we’ll see. ] “This has been a big slice 1 out of my life and a major 1 commitment for both myself

and my wife, Pippa. The time is coming when we have to think about our future. “If I do the Whitbread race again, it will only be in a full-on maxi. That’s the way things are heading. The time was when maxis had no show on handicap because they weren’t efficient to their rating. But that has all changed — as Flyer is proving in this race and as Ceramco did with its win in the second leg from Cape Town to Auckland.” Ceramco is up for sale at SUS6SO;OOO. This compares favourably with the asking. prices of SUS9OO,OOO for Flyer and $U5450,000 for Disque d’Or. “We’ve had nibbles, but

nothing definite so far,” said Blake. The rising cost of campaigning a boat in the fouryearly Whitbreaid — an event which started as an adventure in 1973-74 but now is the ultimate long distance racing test - is evidenced by Van Rietschoten’s ready admission that he will seek a sponsor for the 1985-86 race. So, most of the skippers are in favour of relaxation of yachting’s rule which prohibits advertising on boats. The Royal Naval Sailing Association, which runs the Whitbread, obtained special dispensation for names, but everything else is tightly controlled under rule 26. The 1981-82 race has.

meanwhile, slowed to a crawl. There have been no new arrivals since Skopbank, of Finland, at 8.32 p.m. local time on Tuesday.

The next boat expected is the 51ft Traite de Rome at 6 a.m. today.

Licor 43 is under jury rig and is expected in Mar del Plata at 4 a.m. tomorrow while Croky is expected on Saturday, Walross 111 on Sunday and Bubblegum, its broken rudder fixed, next Thursday,

There is unlikely to be any change in the handicap order. The French 48-footer Morbihan is the leg winner. Outward Bound will remain fourth and Ceramco N.Z. sixth.