Sir Peter Blake

A hero for me is a person that is nice and caring. He /She can be trusted to do things to that may or may not be lifesaving. Leadership skills are important too because people follow heroes and look up to them. They have courage to do what they believe in and compassion along with determination. I think that Sir Peter Blake had all of these qualities and he was hero.

On October 1, 1948, Sir Peter Blake was born. When Sir Peter Blake was growing up, his family lived in a wooden bungalow in Bayswater, in Auckland's Waitemata Harbour. Peter was the second eldest child and he lived in a family with four children: Janet, (himself), Tony and Elizabeth.

Peter and Tony were the ones in the family who had a real love for the sea and yachts. They would dream of the latest yachts then they went and drew their own. Usual team sports like cricket, rugby and soccer, didn't interest Peter and Tony. It was just boats and that was it. The Blake children grew up with the sea as their playground. Tony and Peter explored all the creeks near their house. When Peter was eight years old, his father built him a P-Class yacht. He next got a Z-Class dinghy, which he called Tango.

Sir Peter Blake was one of the most effective people in yachting history and he was named New Zealand's sportsman of the year twice and was New Zealand's yachtsman of the year four times. Sir Peter Blake was a seriously good sailor because not only did he win yachting's most prestigious trophy (Americas cup) twice, he also won the Whitbread around the world race and he also got a trophy in a record breaking nonstop voyage. Furthermore, Sir Peter Blake was awarded a knighthood from the Queen.

All of these awards aren't just given to a yachtsman; he was an explorer, scientist, sportsman and a dad. He had a reputation as a gifted leader and some people also said that he had a fierce determination. While Sir Peter Blake was sailing around the world he saw how polluted the world was, therefore he decided to go on a environmental expedition for 8 months to raise awareness.

Unfortunately, on Thursday 6th December 2001 Sir Peter Blake was killed. He was in a gunfight with pirates, who captured his ship at night in Brazil. Sir Peter Blake was aboard his boat with his crew on the Amazon River when they were attacked by the pirates. Two other crew members on Sir Peter Blake's boat were also wounded, but Sir Blake tried to shoot at the pirates, and he may have wounded some of them, but he was shot in the back and then died later that night. Sir Peter Blake's log for Thursday read: "Location: Rio Amazonas. Status: Still motoring. Conditions: pleasant." Sir Peter Blake also posted a response to the question, "Why are we here? We want to make a difference."

Sir Peter used to wear red socks as a good luck charm and the only time he lost a race was when he wasn't wearing his lucky red socks. Now in New Zealand we have a national red socks day every July to raise money for KidsCan, a charity for kids that have cancer. I think that growing up around yachts and the sea had a big influence on what Sir Peter Blake's career was going to be. Sailing was once Sir Peter Blake's childhood and then it became his career. I would describe Sir Peter Blake In three words: Inspirational, passionate and loyal. He is all of these and I really do think he was a great man and that is why he will be remembered.