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Speaker 1: You're listening to the Weekend Sport podcast with Jason Vine

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Speaker 1: from Newstalk ZEDB.

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Speaker 2: A huge loss for the sailing community with the death

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Speaker 2: of former America's Cup tactician Peter Lester at the age

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Speaker 2: of seventy. He saw through three America's Cup campaigns and

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Speaker 2: became an expert voice on the sport, involved in the

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Speaker 2: World Feed team for last year's America's Cup in Barcelona.

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Speaker 2: He has been a voice of authority and an explanatory

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Speaker 2: voice to us across so many years in sailing commentary.

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Speaker 2: Peter Lester died on Friday night after suffering a heart

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Speaker 2: attack a week earlier. Fellow America's Cup commentator Peter Montgomery

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Speaker 2: worked extremely closely with Peter Lester, and he joins us now.

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Speaker 2: Pjsons ere condolences for the loss of your great mate.

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Speaker 2: Peter Lester tell us about the time that the two

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Speaker 2: of you spent together.

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Speaker 3: Our greetings, Jason Ys. It's quite a shock and a

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Speaker 3: struggling to take it in, but I've known Peter for

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Speaker 3: well a very long time. I commentated out of Takapuna

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Speaker 3: Beach back in nineteen seventy seven in the second World

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Speaker 3: ok Dinghies held in New Zealand the first back in

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Speaker 3: nineteen seventy and Peter Lester won that against some very

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Speaker 3: very formidable opposition, and then he subsequently went on to

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Speaker 3: be involved in the One Time Cup when back in

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Speaker 3: the very early seventies that was a very big deal

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Speaker 3: for New Zealand sailing, and then onto the Admirals Cup,

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Speaker 3: winning that what was it in the late eighties eighty seven,

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Speaker 3: and then he had been a tactician in the America's

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Speaker 3: Cup and a couple of times New Zealand Sailor of

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Speaker 3: the Year, and then he morphed over into the transition

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Speaker 3: of a sailing broadcaster as well, notably as a sailing analyst.

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Speaker 2: You've worked along side many people in a broadcast sense, PJ.

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Speaker 2: And I know not every sports person can make the

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Speaker 2: transition across. How was Peter Lester able to do that,

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Speaker 2: to go from sailor to explaining sailing to us?

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Speaker 3: Well, probably way back when I remember well, originally when

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Speaker 3: I first started broadcasting, Bill McCarthy told me the very

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Speaker 3: first day, don't ever forget you're talking to the little

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Speaker 3: old lady with the blue rints headoo and white tennis shoes.

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Speaker 3: And I've never forgotten that, and I remember telling Peter

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Speaker 3: Lester that as well, and as with many others, and

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Speaker 3: Peter was able to do that, because what can be

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Speaker 3: quite a complicated sport, then Peter was able to break

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Speaker 3: that down to be understood by people who were certainly

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Speaker 3: interested in the America's Cup but had no serious sailing knowledge.

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Speaker 3: And Peter was able to do that and do it well.

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Speaker 2: And of course these were regattas that you're involved and

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Speaker 2: often go on for a long long time, don't they. PJ.

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Speaker 2: You would have spent a lot of time in Peter

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Speaker 2: Lister's company outside of the commentary box. What were you know?

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Speaker 2: What will those memories be like for you? Ah?

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Speaker 3: Well, he was always a very friendly, personable person who

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Speaker 3: was very much a glass half full and well he

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Speaker 3: was good company and had a very funny sense of humor,

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Speaker 3: and I witnessed that often now. He was just very

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Speaker 3: good company, very knowledgeable about the sport he was talking about,

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Speaker 3: but also very good company.

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Speaker 2: Good on your PJ. I know you've got a queue

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Speaker 2: of people waiting to chat to you about Peter Lester,

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Speaker 2: so we'll let you go, but I appreciate you joining

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Speaker 2: us here on news Talks EDB to remember your great mate.

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Speaker 2: That's PJ Montgomery, who probably knew Peter Lester as well,

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Speaker 2: if not better than most people.

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Speaker 1: For more from Weekend Sport with Jason Faine, listen live

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