Hexagon returns to Europe

Currently en route to France under the command of new skipper Emma Richards

The Open 60 Hexagon of ill-fated Around Alone skipper Graham Dalton is now back in Europe having been purchased by Emma Richards' sponsor Pindar for their forthcoming program and as a training boat for the next Volvo Ocean Race.

The boat arrived by ship from South American into Tilbury on the Thames estuary and yesterday was being towed to Cherbourg, France. This operation was being performed with the aid of Pindar's famous converted North Sea trawler and party boat, the Hatherleigh and was expected to take 20 hours.

Hexagon is heading for the French yard JMV Industries in Cherbourg where she will undergo the transformation into the new Pindar, ready for her first race in her new colours - November's Transat Jacques Vabre.

Fresh from sailing the Round the Island race on a yellow Euro Prix 45, Emma Richards was on board Hexagon as she was being towed round. "We’re going to do the whole refit at JMV," she told The Daily Sail. "The mast arrives in August. We’ve got a stack of things to do. There are all the repairs down the deck from where the mast came down. We’ve got a few adjustments we’re going to make to the boat - nothing major. The whole thing needs to be stripped."

The damage sustained during Dalton's dismasting is mostly superficial to the deck, but destroyed many stanchions and the toerail. "I can’t wait to get my teeth into it. She needs a little bit of TLC but otherwise she is in good shape."

The new Pindar, a state of the art Open is likely to be one of the favourites for the TJV monohull division alongside Mike Golding's new Ecover.