Please select your home edition
Edition
A+T Instruments BFD 2024 Leaderboard

America's Cup Hall of Fame: Highlights of 34 years of commentary - Peter Montgomery

by Richard Gladwell/Sail-World.com/nz 8 Aug 2020 22:02 PDT 9 August 2020
Peter Montgomery interviews Peter Blake with Russell Coutts after the 1995 America's Cup win in San Diego © Montgomery archives

Peter "PJ" Montgomery will be inducted into the America's Cup Hall of Fame in March 2021.

He is just the third "chronicler" to be admitted to the esteemed Hall of Fame - normally the domain of multiple America's Cup winners, notable team principals, designers of multiple Cup winners or others with decades of America's Cup involvement.

Known universally as "The Voice of the America's Cup", Montgomery is from a sporting background - both as a competitor and then as a commentator of multiple sports including Test Match Rugby, Olympic Rowing and Olympic Athletics, as well as International, World and Olympic Sailing.

His association with Peter Blake opened up the broadcasting of trans-oceanic sailing. Blake and Montgomery took their radio audience into the Southern Ocean via the crackle of single sideband radio, and always with the opening line "how are you, where are you?"

The former school athletics champion can look at a situation through the twin lens of a competitive sportsman, as well as the more detached view of a commentator.

Internationally he is best known as a yachting commentator, but in New Zealand, Montgomery covers several codes including the privileged position of being sideline-eye for test match and national rugby matches.

PJ has the unique talent of being able to talk to the stars of all sporting codes with the awe of a 12-year-old, in language that can be understood by his famous little old lady with the blue-rinse hair from Riverton, and extract responses from sailing newbies to America's Cup champions that answered the unspoken questions in the minds of even hardened and expert sporting fans.

Key parts of the Montgomery commentary arsenal are his connections - his "men in the field" providing inside information, accessed via an invaluable black book of phone contacts; together with a lexicon of Montgomeryisms that can sum up any situation in less than a sentence.

A radio-man, Montgomery used the "live-cross" to handle breaking sailing news, using the best available technology - be it landline in the '70s to mobile phone a couple of decades later.

Montgomery began his live tack by tack, radio broadcasting career covering the 1970 OK Dinghy Worlds, and then the 1971 One Ton Cup. Both events stretched available technology to its maximum, in days where many homes still had party-lines and what is accepted now as standard communication technology was only glimpsed and used on Star Trek.

PJ attended his first America's Cup in 1980 and has delivered a live commentary of every America's Cup race involving a New Zealand boat from Race 1 of the 1986/87 Louis Vuitton Cup on October 5, 1986, when KZ-7 took on Heart of America. As well as commentating at the 1992 Louis Vuitton and America's Cups, Montgomery was the commentator in the movie "Wind", using 12 metre yachts that had participated in Cup racing in 1987 and starring Matthew Modine and Jennifer Grey.

During that era, he anchored the live commentary of New Zealand's three America's Cup wins in 1995, 2000 and 2017, as well as the many heart-breakers in between.

Highlights of PJ's America's Cup career:

Image Gallery America's Cups 1987 to 2010

Related Articles

America's Cup: Another sponsor signs for Italians
Luna Rossa has announced that Unipol has renewed its trust in the team Luna Rossa has announced that Unipol has renewed its trust in the team and will accompany it as an official sponsor for the duration of the 38th America's Cup. Posted on 5 Jun
America's Cup fillibustered by Challengers
A Cup in turmoil - Protocol is unsigned - with entries due to open on Sunday. Updated story: America's Cup got underway in Rome on Monday, with Round 2 of the official welcoming ceremonies on Wednesday in Naples. However three teams are working in collusion and have again issued statements within minutes of each other. Posted on 29 May
America's Cup enthusiastically received in Naples
The Castel dell'Ovo, was the venue for the arrival of the America's Cup in Napes The Castel dell'Ovo, set on the tuft peninsula of Megaride was the outstanding setting for the Official Host Venue Presentation of the Louis Vuitton 38th America's Cup. Posted on 28 May
Italian PM welcomes America's Cup in Rome
Prime Minister Meloni set out a bold vision for the regeneration planned around AC38 The magnificent setting of the Casino del Bel Respiro, commissioned by Pope Innocent X in 1644, in the grounds of Villa Pamphilj, was the outstanding and historic setting for the formal presentation of the Louis Vuitton 38th America's Cup. Posted on 26 May
America's Cup: Big changes in crew line-up
Women and Youth crews to sail in AC75 in the next Cup - Final Draft of AC38 Protocol Historic changes are proposed in the Final Draft of the Protocol released by the America's Cup Defender. For the first time a Female and Youth crew members will be part of the six-crew lineup on board the all-electric AC75s. Posted on 23 May
America's Cup: The Blitz of Statements
Various parties associated with the America's Cup released statements calling for more transparency Various parties associated with the America's Cup released statements calling for more transparency in the America's Cup. Emirates Team New Zealand responded by releasing what is tagged as the Final Draft of the Protocol. Posted on 23 May
America's Cup: Emirates Team NZ respond
Emirates Team New Zealand has responded to the statements sent overnight (NZT) Emirates Team New Zealand has responded to the statements sent overnight by two Challenger teams calling for more transparency in the negotiations over the Protocol and venue for the 38th Match. Posted on 22 May
NYYC American Magic team statement
Concerns over transparency and cooperation necessary to secure a fair Protocol Over the past seven years, we've competed with pride, purpose, and perseverance in two editions of the America's Cup. It has been an honor to represent the New York Yacht Club and the United States on the global stage. Posted on 22 May
Athena Racing concerned over 38th AC transparency
Around the recent announcement of a Host City for the Cup in 2027 Athena Racing, representing Royal Yacht Squadron Ltd. as Challenger of Record for the 38th America's Cup, is concerned by the ongoing lack of transparency around the recent announcement of a Host City for the Cup in 2027. Posted on 22 May
America's Cup: Part 2 - No Excuse to Lose
The last race of the (63+254i) America's Cup has begun where tension deepens and strategy sharpens The last race of the (63+254i)th America's Cup has begun. Earth's syndicate, led by the New York Yacht Club, faces off against the Thalassocratic League of Deniau in a final match — winner takes all. Posted on 18 May
Lloyd Stevenson - AC Alinghi 1456x180px BOTTOMHenri-Lloyd Dynamic RangeAllen Dynamic 40 Footer