Blue Water Black Magic -- A Tribute to Sir Peter Blake, at Voyager Maritime Museum of New Zealand on Auckland's waterfront, commemorates the life, work and achievements of the person widely regarded as New Zealand's greatest yachtsman.
The exhibit, a collaboration with Te Papa museum in Wellington, also recognises New Zealand's prowess as a sailing nation and charts its history of boatbuilding from the 19th century.
"He would have been humbled by the fact that this is here," Lady Blake said today.
"It's also great that it's not just about Peter and Peter's life. It really links in with New Zealand's yachting history, which was important to him. It's wonderful to have it all here in one place."
The centrepiece of the new three-level annex housing the exhibition is NZL32, the boat that Team New Zealand, with Sir Peter as syndicate head, sailed to victory in the America's Cup in the San Diego in 1995.
A space specially devoted to Sir Peter includes personal items, such as drawings by his children, Sarah-Jane and James, at a young age.
There are also his "lucky" red socks, given to him by Lady Blake and which he wore out on the race course during Team NZ's winning run through the San Diego campaign.
His other yachting successes, such as in the Whitbread Round the World Race and the record circumnavigation of the world in the catamaran Enza and his environmental work, also feature.
Also of note is a documentary screened in a tiny theatrette, in which his life is seen through the eyes of those who knew him.
Sir Peter died at the hands of pirates on the Amazon River in Brazil in December 2001 at the age of 53, and Lady Blake's recollection of having to tell the children the devastating news is a particularly poignant segment of the film.
Numerous other boats associated with New Zealand sailing are on show and there are interactive displays for visitors to try out.
One of them is a machine complete with steering wheel and winches, where a group of five people can act as helmsman, grinders and trimmers and race against a computer.
Yachting's status as one New Zealand's most successful Olympic sports is chronicled, as are other successes, such as Rainbow 2's victory in the One Ton Cup in 1969.
The exhibition is the culmination of a six-year project and Lady Blake was delighted with the result.
"I just think it's wonderful and really exciting," she said.
"The whole design concept and the way it's been put together -- it's very contemporary, clean, modern, dynamic." She hoped it would inspire people.
"Pete was an ordinary New Zealander, as were the guys that sailed with him and most of the people represented here," she said.
"Hopefully people, particularly younger children, will get some inspiration -- that if you want to do something, it's possible to do it if you have the right attitude." Maritime museum chief executive Paul Evans said staff were "overjoyed" at what had been accomplished.
"To see it in the flesh is better than I ever imagined it would be," he said.
"Sir Peter is an iconic New Zealander, like Sir Edmund Hillary and Charles Upham. When you do something linked to someone like that, you have to get it right."
Mr Evans said producing a tribute that the Blake family would be happy with had been a priority and it was "fantastic" to have Sarah-Jane spend two months this year helping with the installation.
He said the $9.5 million project, for which the Government contributed $2.5 million and Auckland City Council $2 million, with the balance from fundraising, was finished on time and within budget.
