Sailing: Body of yachting legend due for burial

The body of Sir Peter Blake, the champion New Zealand yachtsman killed by pirates in Brazil last week, was today due to arrive in Britain for burial.

A Brazilian Air Force plane brought Sir Peter’s body from the northern city of Macapa to Sao Paulo, where it was last night put on a British Airways flight due to arrive in London later today.

Sir Peter, who led New Zealand to America’s Cup victories in 1995 and 2000, was on an expedition to monitor global warming and pollution when he was fatally shot on Wednesday by attackers intending to rob his yacht, Seamaster, as it was moored in the mouth of the Amazon.

Six people are being held in connection with his death.

‘‘We would like to believe that Sir Peter’s work was not in vain and that his message will continue to be heard and acted on: that of the need to respect and protect our environment,’’ a statement read yesterday by Seamaster crew member Don Robertson said.

Sir Peter and a crew of 10 were returning from a two-month stay in the upper reaches of the Amazon and Rio Negro rivers, and the yacht was anchored near Macapa, about 1,800 miles north west of Sao Paulo.

Robertson and two other crew members planned to accompany the body on the flight. Robertson said a funeral service would be held in Britain within about a week, but that a specific date was not set.

Sir Peter’s widow, Pippa, said last week her husband would be buried in Emsworth, the village in southern England where they lived, and that a memorial service would be held in his native Auckland, New Zealand.

Sir Peter, 53, was named special envoy for the United Nations Environment Programme this year. He was knighted in 1995.