Emma Richards Sails into the Record Books
09/29/2002
Emma sails into Torbay, England and captures transatlantic monohull record. At 07.06 am (GMT)
on Sunday September 29th she steered 'Pindar'
into Torbay, Devon to become the first woman to complete a single-handed west to east transatlantic
crossing in a monohull.
The record was broken as part of Richards’ brave bid to become the first British yachtswoman to
ever complete the world’s longest, and most gruelling, yacht race, Around Alone.
Richards completed her transatlantic crossing in just 13 days, 14 hours and 6 minutes, finishing
the first leg of Around Alone in fourth place. After a number of technical problems in the early
stages of the leg, Emma has recovered admirably in the second week of the race. Taking a more
favourable southern route, Emma screamed past Graham Dalton on Hexagon and Simone Bianchetti on
Tiscali in the latter stages of the leg, and as she closed in on Torbay she had Patrick de
Radigues on Garnier in her sights. But, in the end, it was too little too late as Emma finished
a frustrating 13 minutes from claiming the third placed position.
Emma was thrilled with the result and her characteristic smile was even bigger than usual as she
stepped onto British soil for the 2 week stop-over.
For up to date race information, check out www.aroundalone.com
