White falls at first hurdle

Non-stop round Britain attempt for young British sailor is scuppered

20-year old Lymington-based yachtswoman Hannah White set off yesterday westwards from Lymington in a bid to be the youngest person to sail singlehanded non-stop around Britain.

However last night as she encountered force 7 winds and a 2m swell while crossing Lyme Bay, her Mini Wooden Spoon experienced gear failure in the form of a torn mainsail and autopilot failure.

Solent Coastguard were made aware that White was experiencing some difficulties, when they had received a ‘999’ call from her shore crew at 7:00pm yesterday evening (Tuesday), stating they had been unable to track the vessel.

Portland Coastguard established contact with the yachtswoman after some difficulty at 00:50 this morning and set up ongoing hourly communications with her from then on.

Ros Evans, Portland Coastguard Watch Manager, said: "It was clear that the yachtswoman was incurring difficulty with a ripped main sail and generic gear failure. It was a joint decision between the yachtswoman and myself to request Weymouth lifeboat to escort the yacht into Weymouth harbour, where the vessel could then receive attention later this morning."

Wooden Spoon was towed into Weymouth harbour where she arrived earlier this morning.

While thedailysail applauds White for her ambition to sail non-stop round Britain, one wonders why she left into the teeth of a Force seven or why she is making this voyage in a Mini in the middle of October.