Peter Lester has been the New Zealand Yachtsman of the year twice, in 1977 and again in 1987.
Previous experience
He’s gone on to compete in three Americas Cup campaigns and is now an expert commentator for events such as the Americas Cup, the Rio Olympics, the Extreme Sailing Series, Red Bull Foiling Generation Auckland, Volvo Ocean race (VOR) and much more.
He’s held the position of High Performance Manager at Yachting New Zealand; responsible for the New Zealand Olympic Sailing Academy programme, and most recently worked for the Aspire Academy in Doha, Qatar as Head Coach of the yachting team.
Achievements
Throughout his career he's had several notable achievements including skippering 'Propaganda,' one of the three boats that made up the winning NZL team in the 1987 Admirals Cup for New Zealand. He's also skippered 'Pinta' to win the 1993 One Ton Cup in Italy for New Zealand and the 1993 Admirals Cup as a member of the German team.
In 1992 he coached the Spanish Americas Cup Challenge in San Diego. After the Spanish Challenge was eliminated from the Louis Vuitton Cup, he was engaged by Television New Zealand (TVNZ) as an expert commentator for the remainder of the LVC and the Americas Cup Match.
From there, he's commentated for several competitions including the Volvo Ocean Race, SAP at Kiel week, Extreme Sailing Series, Singapore, Qingdao and Sydney as well as the 2016 Red Bull Foiling Generation Auckland regatta.
Current work
For 2020, Peter will be in Sardinia and Portsmouth for the America's Cup World series regattas, as the sailing commentator for the Olympic Broadcasting Service OBS in Tokyo. He is also commentating for TVNZ for the ACWS, Prada Cup and Americas Cup in Auckland 2021.
He has diverse interests beyond yachting, both in the range of sports my family are involved with, and in community and school affairs.
