Peter Lester
1954 – 2025
The worldwide sailing community was shocked to hear of the unexpected death of sailing legend Peter Lester on August 8, 2025 following a heart attack a few days earlier. Born in Christchurch, Lester had an illustrious sailing career before making the shift to sailing
commentator in 1992.
As a mark of respect, Boating New Zealand is re-running the Reflections column on Lester’s sailing life, which was originally published in January 2016 and has been slightly expanded to include events since then.
A New Zealand sailing legend
Peter Lester enjoyed universal respect from sailors at all levels and from around the world, yet he remained level headed and humble. He will be sadly missed.
A 10 knot SW ruffles the sea off Takapuna Beach as 66 OK dinghies jockey around the committee boat. The starting gun signals the last of the seven race series to decide the 1977 OK Dinghy Worlds. As one of four sailors in contention for a series win, Peter Lester feels the pressure one mistake and it’s over. He responds as champions do and leads the fleet off the line. Lighter than many of his competitors, he struggles to hold his OK upright in a building breeze but hangs on to finish fourth, enough to give him the series by one point. It’s only the second monotype world title won by a New Zealand sailor.
“My earliest sailing memories are in a Z Class with someone from the Canterbury Yacht and Motorboat Club, then my grandfather gave me an old P Class,” said Lester.
It’s a long path from sailing an elderly P Class dinghy on a blustery Lyttelton Harbour, where Lester learned to sail, to winning a world championship, and like many journeys of this nature, it didn’t happen without the support of a great number of people.
The worldwide sailing community was shocked to hear of the unexpected death of sailing legend Peter Lester on August 8, 2025 following a heart attack a few days earlier. Born in Christchurch, Lester had an illustrious sailing career before making the shift to sailing commentator in 1992.
As a mark of respect, Boating New Zealand is re running the Reflections column on Lester’s sailing life, which was originally published in January 2016 and has been slightly expanded to include events since then.
First was his father, Gordon, an engineer with local company Sinclair Melbourne, who built many of Lester’s boats, including the P Class in which he twice won the Canterbury P Class trials for the Tanner Cup, and a Starling, the first built in Canterbury.
Then there was Brett de Thier, the late Graham and Peter Mander, fellow members of the Christchurch Yacht Club, who all helped Lester refine his sailing and racing skills on the Christchurch Estuary and Sumner Bar. “The Mander brothers were very much a part of my sailing life during those years.”
Auckland OK sailors helped too, including Harold Bennett, who loaned Lester an OK dinghy and a bed when he was in Auckland, and the late Clive Roberts and Alf Locke. However, the biggest help Lester received was from an unlikely quarter, the Lyttelton Waterfront Union, who supported him financially for two years.
That support came about when Lester, then aged 18, finished second in the Laser Nationals to Barry Thom and consequently qualified for the 1974 Laser Worlds in Bermuda. However, his then employer, Christchurch clothing manufacturer Lane Walker Rudkin, refused to give him time off, and hearing about this, the union raised the funds for Lester to go. While Lester was technically working on the wharf, it was understood he was free to train and attend regattas whenever necessary. He also received financial support from Ashley Meats, a company owned by Cyril Stevens.
“Looking back, I would have been the first professional yachtsman in New Zealand by a country mile,” chuckled Lester.
That same year, Lester won the under 19 OK Nationals, which also qualified him for the OK Worlds in Adelaide, where he finished top junior and a credible eighth overall.
The next year Lester competed in the OK Worlds in Finland, where he finished second. When Lester moved to Auckland in 1976, the Lyttelton Union persuaded the Auckland branch to carry on that financial support for another five years.
Lester won the 1977 OK Worlds as described in the opening paragraphs. Incidentally, Lester credits a suggestion from John Douglas, while at the 1976 Olympics in Montreal, to bring back an experimental Finn mast built by Needlespar in the UK as one of the keys in that 1977 win. This Finn mast was modified to suit an OK dinghy. Another key was his Alf Locke designed Mk2 hull. Subsequently, he also won the 1977 New Zealand Yachtsman of the Year.
Having attended the 1976 Olympics in Ontario as a reserve for the sailing team, Lester next set his sights on competing in the Finn in the 1980 Olympics to be held in Russia. Having won the New Zealand Pre Olympic trials, and placed first and third in two pre Olympic European regattas, Lester felt on track for Olympic success but was bitterly disappointed when New Zealand joined the USA led boycott of the Russian event over its invasion of Afghanistan. “I was gutted, and I gave it [Olympics] away after this.”
Auckland keelboat owners hadn’t been slow in recognising Lester’s abilities, and one of his first invitations of note was to join Graeme Woodroffe’s Mr Jumpa campaign for the 1977 One Ton Cup, where they finished second.
Lester was a trimmer on Wee Willie Winkie in the 1981 Admirals Cup and on Epic in the 1984 Admirals Cup. He then joined Del Hogg’s Pacific Sundance and Dollar Equity campaigns, helming the latter to win the prestigious Kenwood Cup in Hawaii in 1986.
The following year Lester helmed Bevan Woolley’s Propaganda, which, along with Goldcorp and Kiwi, made up the three boat New Zealand team for the 1987 Admirals Cup in Cowes, England. In what was New Zealand’s fifth attempt, they convincingly won the Admirals Cup, with Propaganda winning top individual boat in the Cup and the best IOR performance in the 1987 season. “We were really fast, and that win opened doors for me.”
The door that mattered was being invited to join Michael Fay’s Big Boat Challenge for the 1988 America’s Cup as tactician.
“Although that campaign against Conner’s catamaran was messy, as a sailor it was just fantastic.” There Lester worked with Laurent Esquier, who more than anyone had instilled a sense of professionalism into the Kiwi America’s Cup sailors. “The talent had always been there, but the discipline probably wasn’t; Laurent changed that.”
The following year Lester joined the Bengal Bay Challenge to help lift their skills for a possible future Japanese America’s Cup campaign. With a Japanese crew augmented by Kiwis, Lester skippered Tiger to top boat in the 1990 Kenwood Cup, helping Japan win the team event for the first time.
The New Zealand Challenge team didn’t require Lester for the 1992 America’s Cup in San Diego, so he joined the Spanish America’s Cup team as coach. After they were eliminated from the Louis Vuitton Cup Lester was engaged by Television New Zealand as a commentator for the remainder of the Louis Vuitton Cup and the America’s Cup. Since then, Lester commentated for TVNZ at the 1995, 2000, 2003, 2010 and 2013 America’s Cup regattas. He’s also commentated for ACTV TWI for the 2007 America’s Cup in Valencia and for BMW Oracle during their two nil drubbing of Alinghi in the 2010 America’s Cup. Lester’s now widely regarded as one of the most knowledgeable America’s Cup commentators.
Getting back to Lester’s competitive sailing history, in 1993 German industrialist Willi Illbruck invited Lester to join his Judel Vrolik Pinta campaign, initially as tactician and later as skipper. However the One Ton Cup rules required the helmsperson be a national of the boat, so instead of changing the helmsman, Illbruck offered Lester a peppercorn charter of Pinta, enabling Lester to enter the One Ton Cup for the RNZYS as helmsman. Pinta went on to win the 1993 One Ton Cup under a New Zealand flag and then reverted to a German flag and team for the 1993 Admirals Cup, which they also won. This achieved Illbruck’s goal of winning the One Ton Cup and Admirals Cup in one calendar year. Lester enjoyed sailing with the Germans but found them hard taskmasters. “When it [the campaign] was over, it was over.”
Lester then joined Chris Dickson’s Tag Heuer Team for the 1995 America’s Cup in San Diego as tactician and part of the management team. “We had some really good people involved, almost the Team New Zealand B team, but we had budget issues, and the boat had the wrong bow shape,” recalls Lester.
Late in 1995 Lester was recruited by the then New Zealand Yachting Federation, later Yachting New Zealand, to establish and run a High Performance Programme targeting the Olympics. In 1996 and 2001 Lester was Head Coach for the New Zealand Olympic sailing team for Atlanta and Sydney, respectively. Then, in 2002, he was appointed Yachting New Zealand Team Manager for the Athens pre Olympic test regatta, helping set up the sailing facilities for the New Zealand team for the 2004 Athens Olympics.
Meantime, Lester was sailing as a tactician, helm and skipper for one of Turkey’s eminent industrialists in various yachting campaigns in the Mediterranean. Under Lester’s direction, this team won the Aegean Cup three times in 2003, 2004 and 2005.
In 2007 Lester was appointed Head Sailing Coach of the Aspire Sports Academy in Doha, helping introduce competitive sailing for the local youth. Despite their inexperience, two of Lester’s students qualified for the 2007 Laser 4.7 Worlds, one finishing a very creditable 12th in a 320 strong fleet. However, Lester’s wife Susie struggled to adapt to living in Qatar, and he resigned from the position in 2009.
Looking back at his career in yachting, while Lester’s certainly proud of what he’s achieved, he’s more proud of the fact that he’s maintained his marriage and family life. He and Susie have three grown sons, all of whom are well settled in their own careers. “I don’t think it’s healthy to have your family immersed in yachting, ‘cause some of it isn’t that nice. You just have to look at some of the guys on the circuit their personal lives are a disaster.”
In the last few years Lester has cut down on his workload, picking the contracts and jobs that really interest him.
Lester returned to his grassroots and the OK dinghy more than a decade ago. He built one of the new kitset plywood OK dinghies, which he raced in the Golden Oldie division at Wakatere Boating Club for several years. “It’s all gone full circle; I’m back where it all started 100 years ago. And it’s great no crew, virtually no budget, just rock up and go sailing. That’s what it’s all about. I’m really enjoying it,” he told this writer in 2016.
Summing up Lester’s life in an article is a difficult task. He was a genuine natural sailor and helmsman, with an excellent feel for what made a boat go. A brilliant tactician, he kept his eyes out of the boat and was conscious of the bigger picture. He used his sailing skills seemingly effortlessly, whether racing dinghies, keelers, IOR or America’s Cup yachts. Humble, personable, and with a ready smile, Lester took time to share his wisdom with anyone who took the time to ask. He enjoyed universal respect from sailors of all levels around the world, yet he remained level headed and humble.
Uniquely, Lester transferred his natural talents, again seemingly effortlessly, into his commentary roles. His laid back style and ready humour were solidly backed with accuracy and in depth observations.
A devoted family man, Lester put his family first, a difficult task in the world of top level, high pressure, big budget sailing. He is survived by his wife of more than 40 years, Susie, three adult children, and four grandchildren. One can only imagine the loss his passing has left in their lives, and at Boating New Zealand we extend our deepest condolences to the Lester family.
Peter Lester one of the great sailors, leaders, and communicators of New Zealand sailing, and one of the nicest blokes you’d ever likely meet. It’s been our privilege to know you. BNZ
