The Curse of Six-Four?

Anyone who has read Alan Sefton's recent biography of Sir Peter Blake is left in no doubt, that while the 2000 defence was a massive success, the years leading up to it were very unhappy times for the man they called 'Six Four'.

The split in TNZ between Administrative team (including Blake) and the Sailing Team was at the root of Blake's misery. Russell Coutts, Shnackenberg and Brad Butterworth were at the heart of the problem, and in a resignation letter to the board in 1999 he identified these three as having egos that were 'out of control'.

In addition Coutts' 'party' within TNZ were responsible for some spurious rumours doing the rounds which called into question Blake's probity. Things got so unpleasant that when preparing notes for a meeting with Coutts et al, Blake wrote 'What can I do to improve this situation, apart from shooting myself?'

Incidentally, the TNZ board, in refusing to accept his resignation, gave Blake their full backing to sack Coutts, Butterworth and Shnackenberg if he so chose. It shows something of Blake's strength of character that he didn't.

The events of 2004 leave me wondering whether some sort of retribution is being served on the those who caused Blake so much grief during his tenure at TNZ. As the year draws to a close, Coutts and Shnackenberg are unemployed and unemployable in the Americas Cup until 2007, and Butterworth's biggest hit of the year involved a wall and Dawn Riley.

Funny thing Karma.........

12/9/04