Yay for Team New Zealand

Being a parochial lot (think you have to be when there are only 4.5 million of you in a country) we are all hugely excited that Team New Zealand managed to bring the Auld Mug back to New Zealand. Once again the "America's Cup is New Zealand's Cup"  Peter Montgomery sailing commentator.

For the uninitiated the America's Cup is a sailing competition with a history that arouses strong feelings of rivalry and sometimes acrimonious relations between the teams.

So congratulations to Team New Zealand who demonstrated good old kiwi ingenuity, and  proved that having the biggest cheque book doesn't guarantee success.

Just in case you are wondering there is a sewing point to this post - albeit a bit of a retrospective.

Back in 2000 when Team New Zealand made its first successful defence of the title under the guidance of legendary yachtsman Sir Peter Blake I was lucky enough to attend one of the races in Auckland.  We even followed the race from a boat out on the Hauraki Gulf.  To commemorate the event I made myself a waistcoat.

Unfortunately it is such a long time ago and the memory is a bit worn out so I can't remember what pattern I used for the waistcoat.  It may actually be a waistcoat that was traced from a tutor's pattern at an embroidery workshop back in the late 1990's.

The front of the waistcoat features the two boats which competed for the America's Cup back in 2000: Team New Zealand's NZL 60 and the Prada Challenge's Luna Rossa.

On the back is one (cut in half) of a pair of red socks sold as a fundraiser for Team New Zealand in 2000, alongside the America's Cup trophy.  Sir Peter Blake famously wore a pair of red socks given to him by his wife as his talisman for the 1995 America's Cup campaign.

I even embroidered a label to sign and date my creation. If you look carefully you can see my little red sock pin bought as a souvenir from Auckland.

I don't have any pictures of the actual racing as I was too frightened of dropping my camera in the water to take it. It was a truly magical event with huge numbers of boats out on the water watching the race and large crowds (by New Zealand standards) cheering them on from the shore. So even though the waistcoat is quite a bit larger than I am now I still keep it safe in my wardrobe as a memento of an amazing event.