Peter Blake’s wife Pippa gave him a different pair of socks for each yachting campaign, for good luck. For the 1995 America’s Cup campaign in San Diego the socks were red, and Blake wore them every time the New Zealand yacht Black Magic went on the water. On one occasion he was injured, there were no red socks on board, and the black boat lost for the only time in the 1995 campaign. The rest of the crew started wearing red socks – and continued to win. To show their support for the challenge, New Zealanders from the prime minister to bus drivers donned red socks.
Using this item
Alexander Turnbull Library, Dominion Post Collection (PA-Group-00685)
Reference: EP/1995/4820/30
by Ross Giblin
Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.