London - Tributes were paid to Sir Peter Blake, killed by river pirates during an expedition to the Amazon, at his funeral yesterday.
Sir Peter (53), a two-times America's Cup winner, was shot dead in a gun battle with masked raiders.
The gunmen came on board Sir Peter's schooner last Wednesday as it lay at anchor off the Brazilian port of Macapa, at the mouth of the Amazon.
New Zealand's Prime Minister, Ms Helen Clark, who had flown in for the funeral, told mourners of the sense of "immense loss" in her country, where Sir Peter was born.