South African GOR entry Phesheya-Racing relaunched in the UK
by Oliver Dewar 13 May 2011 17:44 HKT
11 May 2011
South African Global Ocean Race entry Phesheya-Racing is relaunched in the UK © Phesheya Racing
Following a winter on the hard standing at Hamble Yacht Services in Hamble, Hampshire, the South African team in the double-handed, Class40 Global Ocean Race 2011-12 (GOR), Nick Leggatt and Phillippa Hutton-Squire, relaunched Phesheya-Racing early on Wednesday morning. The duo has just over one week to prepare for the double-handed Normandy Channel Race and sail their Class40 to France.
Having recently returned to the UK following a four-month stay in South Africa working on their GOR campaign and undertaking yacht deliveries, Leggatt and Hutton-Squire swiftly sanded below the waterline, antifouled the hull and repainted the twin rudders, keel fin and bulb in fluorescent orange before relaunching their five year-old Akilaria. The duo plan to spend the weekend test sailing before setting off across the Channel to Caen on Monday and the busy, pre-event, Normandy Channel Race build-up.
In the inaugural, 2010 Normandy Channel Race, the South African team took sixth place and they are looking for a good result in this year’s event. “I definitely want to be the first girl to finish,” comments Hutton-Squire, who was the only female competitor in the 2010 event. However, the duo will also use the race as a qualifying passage for the GOR: “The first thing is to make sure we get through the race and qualify for the Global Ocean Race,” Leggatt confirms. “We’re only launching a week before the race, so we’re going to look at the systems and see what has to be changed,” he continues. “We’ll race hard and do our best and we’ll assess how we stack up against the other Global Ocean Race boats.”
For the complete update visit the event website.