Sir Blake killed by pirates while on exploratory trip
Dec. 6, 2001
SportsLine.com wire reports
PARIS -- Sir Peter Blake, who led New Zealand to the America's Cup sailing championship in 1995 and 2000, was killed by pirates in the Amazon, his race sponsors said Thursday.
The Jour J agency, which represents the Paris organizers of the Louis Vuitton Cup, said the 53-year-old Blake had been on an exploratory trip when he was killed.
Blake and his crew had just returned from dinner on shore when a group of masked men, some wearing motorcycle helmets, rushed aboard their boat, One News, a New Zealand television station, reported. Blake was shot twice, the station said.
"It appears that these fellows, whoever they were, just appeared out of the blackness, the river, the mouth of the river, and before anybody knew anything about it they were at gunpoint," Alan Sefton, one of Blake's friends and a spokesman for his expedition group, told One News. "It would appear that Peter was down below and heard what was going on and came charging up."
Sefton said Blake was shot in the heart and died instantly.
"I've seen comment from local police, that the fact an overseas vessel was anchored-off, and the crew had been in town shopping for supplies, it was regarded as fair game," Sefton said in Emsford, England.
Sefton said that Blake's boat, Seamaster, was anchored off Macapa in the mouth of the Amazon, awaiting customs clearance to leave Brazil after a two-month expedition of the Amazon and the Rio Negro as part of the blakexpeditions program to monitor the effects of global warming and pollution.
Seamaster was scheduled to sail up the coast to Venezuela to meet blakeexpedition's jungle team.
Sefton said the expedition spent two months in the upper reaches of the Amazon and Rio Negro and had encountered nothing but "friendly, warm, hospitable people."
"And as soon as the boat gets back into so-called civilization, something tragic happens," Sefton added.
In March 2000, Blake said he had received letters from someone threatening to kill him and harm his family.
"We've always got crank mail, but it has been going beyond that recently," Blake said at the time. "So we have taken all the precautions we were advised to take."
In November 2000, Blake went on a three-month study of wildlife in the South Pole region. He then traveled to the Amazon for several months of sailing.
American skipper Dennis Conner, a three-time America's Cup winner who was beaten by Team New Zealand 5-0 in 1995, was impressed with Blake's determination.
"He was a hero and role model for the New Zealand people and obviously a winner that was focused and accomplished his goals, whether it was winning the round-the-world race or the America's Cup," Conner said Thursday.
After Blake won in 1995, Governor General Dame Cath Tizard said it was her country's proudest day since Auckland native Edmund Hillary became the first man to climb Mount Everest in 1953.
The America's Cup was the only major sailing trophy that the self-proclaimed "Nation of Sailors" hadn't won, and Team New Zealand beat its archrival with one of the most dominating performances in America's Cup history.
"It's only the second time in history that it's left America," Blake said at the time. "I think that's pretty damn good. I think the Americans are going crazy. It'll be a very popular win everywhere."
Bruno Trouble, an organizer of the America's Cup and a friend of Blake, told France-Info radio that Blake "went through life like lightning. Peter was an extraordinary leader of men ... he had an amazing charisma. I think that he was actually hiding his shyness."
Blake was appointed in July as a goodwill ambassador of the United Nations Environment Program. Before that, he headed the Cousteau Society, an environmental group founded in 1973 by the late undersea explorer Jacques Cousteau.
"I've seen lots of things I want to show kids," Blake said last year. "I've gone, 'wow,' 'fantastic' and 'marvelous.' I want to capture some of those now, and get young people interested in the environment."
Sefton said Blake considered the expedition his last and greatest adventure, hoping to create greater awareness of the need to take care of the environment.
"For him to go this way is inconceivable and hard to comprehend," Sefton said.
Blake, born in Auckland, announced earlier this year that he was relinquishing control of the New Zealand syndicate.
He was knighted in 1995.
Blake, who began sailing at age 5, won the Whitbread Round the World Race in 1989 and took the Jules Verne Trophy in 1994 by sailing nonstop around the globe on a catamaran in 74 days, 22 hours, 17 minutes and 22 seconds. The record fell three years later.
He was the only person to compete in the first five Whitbread around-the-world yacht races, each taking around nine months to complete. Last year, he became the first non-American entry to retain the America's Cup in 149 years after beating Italian challengers Prada 5-0.
He is survived by his wife Pippa and two children.
Dec. 6, 2001
SportsLine.com wire reports
PARIS -- Sir Peter Blake, who led New Zealand to the America's Cup sailing championship in 1995 and 2000, was killed by pirates in the Amazon, his race sponsors said Thursday.
The Jour J agency, which represents the Paris organizers of the Louis Vuitton Cup, said the 53-year-old Blake had been on an exploratory trip when he was killed.
Blake and his crew had just returned from dinner on shore when a group of masked men, some wearing motorcycle helmets, rushed aboard their boat, One News, a New Zealand television station, reported. Blake was shot twice, the station said.
"It appears that these fellows, whoever they were, just appeared out of the blackness, the river, the mouth of the river, and before anybody knew anything about it they were at gunpoint," Alan Sefton, one of Blake's friends and a spokesman for his expedition group, told One News. "It would appear that Peter was down below and heard what was going on and came charging up."
Sefton said Blake was shot in the heart and died instantly.
"I've seen comment from local police, that the fact an overseas vessel was anchored-off, and the crew had been in town shopping for supplies, it was regarded as fair game," Sefton said in Emsford, England.
Sefton said that Blake's boat, Seamaster, was anchored off Macapa in the mouth of the Amazon, awaiting customs clearance to leave Brazil after a two-month expedition of the Amazon and the Rio Negro as part of the blakexpeditions program to monitor the effects of global warming and pollution.
Seamaster was scheduled to sail up the coast to Venezuela to meet blakeexpedition's jungle team.
Sefton said the expedition spent two months in the upper reaches of the Amazon and Rio Negro and had encountered nothing but "friendly, warm, hospitable people."
"And as soon as the boat gets back into so-called civilization, something tragic happens," Sefton added.
In March 2000, Blake said he had received letters from someone threatening to kill him and harm his family.
"We've always got crank mail, but it has been going beyond that recently," Blake said at the time. "So we have taken all the precautions we were advised to take."
In November 2000, Blake went on a three-month study of wildlife in the South Pole region. He then traveled to the Amazon for several months of sailing.
American skipper Dennis Conner, a three-time America's Cup winner who was beaten by Team New Zealand 5-0 in 1995, was impressed with Blake's determination.
"He was a hero and role model for the New Zealand people and obviously a winner that was focused and accomplished his goals, whether it was winning the round-the-world race or the America's Cup," Conner said Thursday.
After Blake won in 1995, Governor General Dame Cath Tizard said it was her country's proudest day since Auckland native Edmund Hillary became the first man to climb Mount Everest in 1953.
The America's Cup was the only major sailing trophy that the self-proclaimed "Nation of Sailors" hadn't won, and Team New Zealand beat its archrival with one of the most dominating performances in America's Cup history.
"It's only the second time in history that it's left America," Blake said at the time. "I think that's pretty damn good. I think the Americans are going crazy. It'll be a very popular win everywhere."
Bruno Trouble, an organizer of the America's Cup and a friend of Blake, told France-Info radio that Blake "went through life like lightning. Peter was an extraordinary leader of men ... he had an amazing charisma. I think that he was actually hiding his shyness."
Blake was appointed in July as a goodwill ambassador of the United Nations Environment Program. Before that, he headed the Cousteau Society, an environmental group founded in 1973 by the late undersea explorer Jacques Cousteau.
"I've seen lots of things I want to show kids," Blake said last year. "I've gone, 'wow,' 'fantastic' and 'marvelous.' I want to capture some of those now, and get young people interested in the environment."
Sefton said Blake considered the expedition his last and greatest adventure, hoping to create greater awareness of the need to take care of the environment.
"For him to go this way is inconceivable and hard to comprehend," Sefton said.
Blake, born in Auckland, announced earlier this year that he was relinquishing control of the New Zealand syndicate.
He was knighted in 1995.
Blake, who began sailing at age 5, won the Whitbread Round the World Race in 1989 and took the Jules Verne Trophy in 1994 by sailing nonstop around the globe on a catamaran in 74 days, 22 hours, 17 minutes and 22 seconds. The record fell three years later.
He was the only person to compete in the first five Whitbread around-the-world yacht races, each taking around nine months to complete. Last year, he became the first non-American entry to retain the America's Cup in 149 years after beating Italian challengers Prada 5-0.
He is survived by his wife Pippa and two children.
