Emma
Richards Finishes World Yacht Race
Heroic
British Yachtswoman Overcomes Hurricanes, Icebergs and
'Soul Destroying Solitude' To Complete Record Breaking
Solo Round-The-World Voyage
Britain's
latest sailing heroine, Emma Richards, sailed into the
record books earlier today when she completed the fifth
and final leg of the prestigious round-the-world yacht
race, Around Alone, and became the first British woman,
and youngest ever competitor, to do so.
Emma
sailed into Newport, Rhode Island at 21:15 BST and was
met by a large group of friends and family who had flown
over from Britain to cheer her home in the final miles
of her record breaking circumnavigation. She crossed the
finishing line over 132 days after she started in New
York Harbor on 15th September last year. In all, it is
estimated that she has sailed a remarkable 33,000 miles.
During
the voyage Emma survived sailing through the tail-end of
Hurricane Kyle, a terrifying climb of her 80 foot mast
in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, a pirate scare,
hand-stitching her giant kevlar mainsail with 1,500
stitches after it had been ripped in half, and the
icebergs and extreme conditions of the Southern Ocean -
one of the most remote and inhospitable parts of the
world.
Emma,
28, not only had to face the elements, but was also
constantly battling with extreme fatigue - she slept for
just 20 to 30 minutes at a time, managing an average of
less than 5 hours a day throughout the voyage. Emma was
the only woman in the race, but despite her small
stature, proved that she could compete with her 10 male
rivals. In her opinion, she was just another competitor,
'no different from the guys'; which was reflected by the
fact that she finished in a highly commendable fourth
place.
Emma
may have faced some of the toughest conditions
imaginable, but for her, the hardest element of the race
was the loneliness of solo sailing. As a self confessed
'people person' she made no secret of the fact that the
solitude of solo sailing was the hardest barrier she had
to overcome.
Emma
Richards commented from onboard Pindar in Newport at
21:16 BST:
"I can't believe that this is actually over. I have
literally lived, eaten, breathed and slept this race for
nine months and somehow it just doesn't seem real that
I'm finally here. It only seems like yesterday that I
set off, and yet I've sailed over 30,000 miles! There is
no doubt it has been the biggest challenge that I'll
probably ever face. As well as the physical task of
sailing a 60-foot boat on your own, I have really
struggled to cope with the mental challenge of being
alone for such a long period. The solitude can be
soul-destroying, particularly when the conditions were
good and things were going well. It is then that you
really miss not having any friends onboard with you to
share the moment. Needless to say I'm looking forward to
having a few drinks with my friends... and a good
night's sleep in a dry bed that doesn't move in the
night!"
Emma,
who lives in Cowes, on the Isle of Wight, completed the
voyage on board her 60 foot yacht, Pindar, named after
the British based international print and electronic
media company, who have sponsored her for the past four
years.
Andrew
Pindar, Chairman of G.A. Pindar & Son commented:
"Emma's voyage has been an immense triumph, both
for her and for everybody involved with the campaign.
The number one aim was to complete the race safely, and
this is exactly what she has done. More people have been
to space than sailed single-handedly around the world,
which puts her achievement into perspective. We have
supported Emma since she first launched her career in
1999 and we couldn't be more proud of what she has
achieved. She is an incredible person with an incredible
talent, and it has been a privilege and an honour for
her to carry our brand around the world."
Emma's
circumnavigation has generated a huge amount of interest
from all over the world. As well as thousands of items
of media coverage, Emma received an amazing 137,420
e-mail messages from well-wishers during the voyage.
Messages of support were sent from 37 different
countries.
In
addition to her sponsorship from Pindar, Emma also
spearheaded the HSBC Global Education Challenge.
Comprising 34 online weekly modules, the Challenge
enabled schoolchildren to learn about National
Curriculum subjects by following Emma's experiences on a
specially created website - http://www.education.hsbc.com/.
The
Around Alone yacht race begins on 15 September this year
in New York and circumnavigates the globe, stopping
briefly in Torbay, England in late September 2002. The
race takes the skippers through the North and South
Atlantic, the Indian Ocean and South Pacific. Other port
stopovers en route are Cape Town, South Africa, Tauranga,
New Zealand and Salvador, Brazil. The race is due to
finish in April 2003 in Newport, Rhode Island in the
USA.
For
further information on Emma Richards Radii, or Pindar,
please contact:
The
Furniture Show 2005
Kingdom
of Leather
The
Furniture Company
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