Dunno if you USA guys know about him, but over here he's a walking god
Sir Peter Blake killed in Amazon
07 December 2001
BREAKING NEWS
BRASILIA (Reuters): New Zealand America's Cup winner and adventurer Sir Peter Blake has been killed in a shooting in Amazonia, after a night-time attack by hooded, armed pirates.
Sir Peter, one of the most successful sailors in yachting history, was aboard his Seamaster boat with his crew on an expedition up the Amazon River when they were attacked by the pirates and he was shot dead, his sponsors, Omega, said.
He was 53 and is survived by his wife, Lady Pippa, and two children, Sara-Jane and James.
A statement from the expedition's organisers said: "The group of seven or eight armed and hooded intruders boarded Seamaster at approximately 10.15pm local time.
"Sir Peter was fatally shot and two other members of Seamaster's crew were injured, one with a gunshot wound across the back, the other with a blow to the face.
"Both injured men are back aboard Seamaster after receiving hospital treatment. The other seven Seamaster crew were badly shaken but unharmed."
Anne Lise Windmill, first-secretary at New Zealand's embassy in Brazil, said the embassy was working with police to establish the facts of the incident.
A spokeswoman at Brazil's federal police headquarters in the capital added: "The police are investigating, we have some leads. His death is confirmed. The boat was in the river when it was boarded, it was a pirate attack. There were going to rob him."
ENVIRONMENTAL AWARENESS
Sir Peter, who was knighted by Queen Elizabeth, won yachting's most high-profile trophy - the America's Cup - in 1995 and 2000 with Team New Zealand.
He won the prestigious Whitbread Round the World Race in 1989 and captured the Jules Verne Trophy in 1994 with a record-breaking non-stop voyage.
The Kiwi was involved in the expedition to raise international awareness of the threatened environment.
New Zealand's Prime Minister Helen Clark travelled to the Amazon to visit his ship during a trip to Brazil last month.
"He was a New Zealand hero and everyone will feel a great sense of sadness at his death," Paul East, New Zealand's High Commissioner (ambassador) in London, told Reuters.
Chay Blyth, one of Britain's most accomplished yachtsmen, said Sir Peter would be "sorely missed" by everyone in sailing.
"It's incredible - really, very sad," said Blyth, whose promotions company Challenge Business organises the BT Challenge round-the-world yacht race. "He was a very quiet man, there was nothing flash about him and he achieved so much in sailing."
Sir Peter had kept a daily log on a website about his progress.
The log for Thursday read: "Location-Rio Amazonas. Status-Still motoring. Conditions-pleasant." He said in his log that the boat had been travelling down the Amazon at night.
"Dusk has turned the surface of the river into a greasy grey - with the sky quickly darkening after the sun's orange and golds have gone," he wrote.
"We always hope for a clear night and tonight the moon will be up soon after 9pm but this means two and a half hours of real blackness before then."
A meticulous planner and a gifted leader, Sir Peter's fierce determination to win always inspired immense loyalty from his crews and unlimited confidence from his backers.
The New Zealander was the only man to compete in the first five Whitbreads and his 1989-90 victory in Steinlager 2 came with an unprecedented clean sweep as his team walked off with line, handicap and overall honours on each of the race's six legs.
He was also chosen to succeed the late Jacques Cousteau as captain of the marine research vessel Calypso 2.
In his Seamaster log, he wrote on Thursday: "Again I raise the question - Why are we here?"
Later he answered the question: "We want to make a difference."
