zur Übersicht Net2One meldet: Emma caught in eye of the storm British yachtswoman sails into peril Denis Campbell, sports news correspondent Sunday October 20, 2002 The Observer Battling gale-force winds and giant waves, a lone British yachtswoman was last night caught in the teeth of an Atlantic storm. As Hurricane Kyle whipped up 50ft waves and 80mph gusts off the coast of Portugal, Emma Richards began her struggle after telling friends: 'I am going into battle.' She decided to try to survive the storm after rejecting the option of following many rivals in the round-the-world Around Alone yacht race by seeking shelter in port. 'Emma's having 48 hours of hell,' said her spokesman, Henry Chappell. 'She's unable to sleep or eat until she's through this, and is alone in the middle of a huge storm which has thrown up some of the worst conditions any sailor will ever face.' The 28-year-old and her boat, Pindar, were being thrown around mercilessly as seas made conventional sailing impossible. She was spending most of the time below deck, checking weather patterns and keeping the 60ft vessel on course south for Cape Town in the second of five legs. 'Emma took a calculated risk not to put into harbour and to ride out the storm in an attempt to gain ground on the two boats in front of her, regardless of the fact that she'll endure hellish conditions,' said Chappell. Skippers of six of the 12 boats in the race - a 28,000 mile 'sprint marathon' lasting nine months - thought otherwise and headed into port in La Coruña, northern Spain. Richards, originally from Scotland but now living in Hamble, Hampshire, is the only woman, the only Briton and the youngest competitor in the race. In third place, 60 miles behind the leader, she is only the second woman to compete in the Around Alone and, if she finishes, will become the second British woman in history to sail solo around the globe after Ellen MacArthur, who finished third in the Vendée Globe race last year. According to Chappell, she is already 'incredibly hungry and physically exhausted' after getting very little sleep since the second leg began last Monday when the yachts left Torbay in Devon. 'During the first two days she couldn't take any sleep as she was crossing the Channel, one of the world's busiest shipping lanes,' Chappell added. 'Now she has to contend with this.' Throughout this weekend she will be thrown all around the 10ft-wide cabin. She will go briefly up on deck to check on the mast and sails, always harnessed to the boat to ensure she is not thrown overboard. 'Very few people have experienced sailing conditions like this before, or at least not on their own', said Chappell. Richards is gambling that the storm - which will buffet Pindar non-stop until tomorrow - will leave her in a good position to win this stage of the race to Cape Town. However, the force of the winds means there is little she can do except reindex safe below deck as much as possible and reindex in control of Pindar using her autopilot and bank of computers. She can no longer communicate with friends and family by email as she has lost her internet connection. But she is keeping in touch with her support team by satellite phone. Mary Ambler, spokeswoman for the Around Alone, said: 'The weather Emma and the others are encountering are some of the harshest conditions that the North Atlantic can bring. The trick for the competitors is to get the wind behind them to ensure their boat is going with the wind and waves to make it as stable as possible.' Copyright © 1996-2016 - SEGEL.DE